Pomodoro Grill Serves Up Comforting Italian Favorites

There are restaurants that seek to be cutting-edge, challenging the clientele to try bold, trendy experiments. And there are restaurants that take the opposite tack—providing consistency and comfort. Pomodoro Grill is firmly in the latter category, and that is its secret; it provides a sense of nostalgia and family, along with comforting Italian favorites.

“We haven’t changed much in the past 30 years,” says Amedeo Amelio. Pomodoro Grill was started by his father; Amedeo himself started making pizza there when he was 15 years old. Eventually, he spent about a decade as chef before moving to the front of the house. Now, Pomodoro’s chef is James Speth, who also comes from a restaurant family and appreciates the traditional nature of Pomodoro.

“We maintain that same comfortable atmosphere,” Speth says. “It’s like having dinner with your family.” Indeed, family recipes carry over. “If I make something for my kids and they like it, it transfers here.”

Amelio agrees. “Anything we make here is something I would make for my family at home. “My dad and my older brother Mario taught me consistency. No matter how we got there, the sauce was going to come out the same.” The Amelio family is an Italian dynasty on the Vero Beach culinary scene, with Scampi Grill and Johnny D’s Market & Bistro also part of “la famiglia.”

The lessons in consistency mean that experimentation, while it does exist at Pomodoro, is usually saved for specials and summer dishes. “With anything culinary, you pick up ideas as you go along—you think, ‘These two things would pair really good together,’” Amelio says.

Nevertheless, he makes sure not to disappoint customers who might be returning with a specific dish in mind, like the famous eggplant Parmesan. “They say it’s the best in town. I tend to agree,” he says with a smile. “People love that their favorite dish is still going to be here.” Then there are the homemade salad dressings, which some customers buy by the quart to go.

Amedeo loves the restaurant life—“I’m not into desks,” he says—and he appreciates the loyalty of Pomodoro’s clientele. “We have customers who have been coming in for 30 years,” since the restaurant first opened, and who are elderly now. “They ask for my dad, they ask how he’s been. It makes it a family atmosphere. I’m hoping to carry this on for another 30 years.”

Appetizer: Mussels Fra Diavolo

Calabrian chili pepper and crushed red pepper add heat to this familiar Italian dish.

Serves 3

• 14 to 16 large Prince Edward Island mussels
• 1/2 cup chopped mixed herbs (equal parts sweet basil, scallions, and curly parsley)
• 4 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp. coarsely chopped garlic
• 4 oz. white wine
• 2 oz. melted butter, unsalted
• 1 tbsp. pesto
• 1 tsp. Calabrian chili pepper
• 4 oz. clam juice
• 8 oz. house marinara
• Pinch of crushed red pepper
• Pinch of salt
• Pinch of black pepper

Place the oil in a pan and sweat the garlic briefly on high heat.

Add the herbs, wine, butter, pesto, spices, peppers, clam juice, and marinara. Cover and simmer on medium heat.

Add mussels. Sauté and toss until shells are open.

Entrée: Penne Oscar

Garlic, sherry, and pesto make this seafood medley savory and full of flavor.

Serves 1

• 4 large shrimp
• 6–8 sea scallops
• 6 oz. crab meat (claw)
• 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp. green onion, chopped
• 1 tsp. basil
• 1 tsp. coarsely chopped garlic
• 4 oz. sherry wine
• 2 oz. unsalted butter
• 1 tsp. lobster base
• 3 oz. roasted red pepper puree
• 4 oz. heavy whipping cream
• 1 tsp. pesto
• Pinch of salt
• Pinch of pepper

Place the oil in a pan and sweat the herbs and garlic briefly on high heat. Add the sherry wine and butter.

Add the shrimp and scallops and sear until scallops are golden brown. Flip and continue to sear until they are golden brown on the other side.

Add the lobster base, roasted red pepper puree, heavy cream, pesto, and crab. Reduce to medium-high heat and cook until sauce is hot.

Toss and serve over penne pasta.

Dessert: Tiramisu

A classic dessert that exemplifies the Italian comfort food of Pomodoro.

Serves 4

• 10 ladyfinger cookies
• 1/2 cup espresso
• 4 eggs
• 3 oz. + pinch of granulated sugar, separated
• 4 oz. mascarpone cheese
• 2 oz. coffee liqueur
• 2 oz. amaretto liqueur
• 1 oz. almond extract
• Soak the cookies in the espresso.

In a metal mixing bowl, break the eggs and separate the yolks from the whites. Keep the egg whites in a metal bowl.

In a separate bowl, combine the yolks with sugar and mix well. Then add the mascarpone, coffee liqueur, amaretto, and almond extract. Mix well and refrigerate.

Return to the egg whites and add a pinch of sugar. Mix until very light, fluffy, and airy.

Take egg yolk mixture and carefully fold the egg whites in until fully blended.

Serve chilled over the espresso-soaked cookies.