Restaurant News: Villagio Rises in Sunrise, Stork's Born in Davie, a Real (Alleged) Wine Thief

• Tommy Billante's restaurant empire just keeps growing. The SoFla restaurateur, whose stylish, accessible, and wallet-friendly Italian eateries give new meaning to the phrase "familiarity breeds content," has opened his fourth local Villagio, this one in the Colonnade Outlets at Sawgrass Mills in Sunrise (1760 Sawgrass Mills Circle, 954-846-2176). Expect...

By Bill Citara

February 22, 2010

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•   Tommy Billante's restaurant empire just keeps growing. The SoFla restaurateur, whose stylish, accessible, and wallet-friendly Italian eateries give new meaning to the phrase "familiarity breeds content," has opened his fourth local Villagio, this one in the Colonnade Outlets at Sawgrass Mills in Sunrise (1760 Sawgrass Mills Circle, 954-846-2176). Expect the usual assortment of antipasti, pizzas, pastas, and moderately priced entrées.

•   Look what the Stork's brought. The Wilton Manors bakery and café has opened a second location at 3325 S. University Drive in Davie, 954-473-4460. All the coffees and teas, pastries and desserts, sammies and soups and salads available at the original location are on the menu at the newbie, along with a selection of gelati.

•    Every cork dork knows a wine thief is a long glass tube that enables the winemaker (or anyone, for that matter) to sample wines aging in barrels. According to Delray cops, Alberto Velasco Moran is another kind of wine thief -- one who ripped off two expensive bottles from Tramonti Ristorante on Atlantic Avenue. Reportedly Moran stuffed a bottle of Jordan Cabernet ($110) and Sassicaia ($350) in his pants and walked out of the restaurant, where he was promptly busted. Hey, at least he's got a taste for the good stuff.

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