Il Posto, Hollywood, Florida

Hollywood is not exactly a foodie Mecca. Sure there are some okay places, and there are the food trucks downtown on Mondays, but generally speaking, Hollywood restaurants leave a lot to be desired. So it was  of great interest to me when Il Posto opened recently at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and 46th Avenue.

Friends had tried it a couple of times and had rave reviews by the time we met them there earlier in the week. Right away I knew things were headed in

the right direction for this neighborhood joint. It is run by Italians (Lino, from Brindisi and Manuela, from Milan) and the menu is extensive, yet reasonably priced. They also have a well thought out and well priced wine list. (Corkage fee is $15, if you bring your own, as we often do). But how was the food? It is not fancy, or overly creative, but the food is very good.

Bread is served with olive oil and balsamic, as well as a delicious eggplant caponata. Appetizers at the table included mussels in an arrabiata sop-up-with-as-much-bread-as-possible sauce, a truffled beef carpaccio (a little over-truffle oiled) and tuna tartar. The tuna was outstanding. Flavored with olives and capers, it was a decidedly Mediterranean dish, and the kind of thing I could eat all the time (and likely will).

Entrees at our table included salmon steamed in parchment paper with vegetables, veal scallopini and a chicken dish with olives and artichokes. Normally, I don’t order salmon in a restaurant, as I find it generally prepared as an afterthought. Unless it is a wild caught, interesting preparation, I usually avoid it. But here, it was delicious. The salmon was flaky and perfectly tasty. There is usually a variation of this dish on the menu, changing the fish, depending on what is fresh.

The veal cutlets are thin, lightly egg washed and slathered in a lemon butter sauce, and you can really never have too much butter. The lemony tang cuts through the butter, and makes it the kind of dish that you just can’t stop eating until it is gone. It was served with polenta and broccoli, but we skipped the polenta, leaving the broccoli to soak up all the extra sauce. Yummy.

We skipped dessert, we were all too full, and some of us (ahem) are trying really hard to lose weight. (Hard enough that I won’t

eat a giant plate of pasta, but not so hard that I have to give up butter, too.)

If you are looking for a good neighborhood restaurant, stop in to Il Posto. Il Posto is located at 4525 Hollywood Boulevard, in Hollywood, Florida and is open for lunch and dinner Monday through Friday, and dinner only on Saturday. They are closed on Sunday.