Authentic Italian Pastries and Café at Angelo Elia The Bakery Bar, Now Open in Fort Lauderdale

Widely recognized as one of the foremost Italian chefs in South Florida thanks to his flagship Italian restaurant, Casa D'Angelo, restaurateur Angelo Elia is now in the bakery business. In the first week of July, the Italian-born chef opened his first dedicated bakery and café in Fort Lauderdale.

"I have always wanted to open an Italian bakery," says Elia. "Growing up I have met so many talented Italian bakers, and to open my own one day with recipes handed down through generations of the Elia family has been a dream. I wanted to develop a menu that consists of authentic Italian pastries and sandwiches that offer a true traditional Italian experience." 

Angelo Elia the Bakery Bar, on Oakland Park Boulevard, will offer Elia's current customers something new: authentic Italian pastries, breads, panini-style sandwiches, gelato, and coffee.

The all-day casual café is new territory for Elia, whose current roster of dining establishments includes three Casa D’Angelo restaurants, as well as a growing South Florida-based chain of Angelo Elia Pizza, Bar & Tapas with locations in Fort Lauderdale, Weston, Coral Springs, and Delray Beach.

Unlike Elia's casual eat-in chains that offer table service, Angelo Elia the Bakery Bar will be counter service only. Offerings, made fresh and on-premise daily, are available for take-out or eat-in both indoors or outside on the establishment's covered patio.

That includes breakfast pastries, croissant or panini sandwiches, and Sicilian pan pizza. Or do something different with the tramezzini (soft bread Italian sandwiches) and piadine (folded Italian flatbreads, a specialty from Elia's native Northern Italy).

Whatever you do, be sure to try that piadine.

"I was excited to include the piadine on the menu," says Elia. "I remember my grandmother making these. The smell of the flatbread always reminds me of cooking with my family. The parma prosciutto — imported from Parma, Italy — stracchino, and arugula is one of my favorite flatbreads. Simple and delicious with Italian prosciutto of course. The menu is made up of Italian recipes that I remember eating when I was young and I am so excited to finally have a bakery of my very own that everyone can enjoy."

The bakery and café, open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, will also offer an eclectic selection of wines, champagne, and beer offered alongside late-night espresso and cappuccino. 

Angelo Elia the Bakery Bar is located at 2104 E. Oakland Park Blvd., Fort Lauderdale. Call 954-566-6100, or visit angeloeliabakery.com.