Fort Lauderdale will soon be home to a new pizzeria and Italian restaurant. Verino’s Pizzeria & Grill will open with pizza, pasta, meat-off-the-grill, and more on Sunrise Boulevard, half a mile from Fort Lauderdale Beach.
“We are trying to bring New England Italian to Florida,” owner Brian Turnbull told What Now in an email conversation on Thursday. “Our pizza is brick oven thick crust pizza. We also have grill items as our special such as skewered steak tip, chicken, lamb, and homemade sausage. Our lasagna is phenomenal, and so is our espresso Martini.”
Turnbull has built experience working in the casino and hospitality industries in Connecticut and in Boston. He served as Vice President of Player’s Development at Hard Rock, where he met his wife.
“My wife is from Tokyo Japan and her family owned a seafood restaurant over 150 years in downtown Tokyo. She moved to Florida and went to college here at FIU and received her Bachelor of Science degree in hospitality management.”
Now with two kids, the couple is looking to move into the food and beverage space her in South Florida.
“I know several successful restaurant owners from North End Boston and they were kind enough to share some of their recipes to us. Frank DePasquale and Mauritzo Badaolato are some of them who helped me,” Turnbull said, describing the friends that have led him into the restaurant space.
But of course, the real reason to get into food is always the food itself.
“We love the art and science of making pizza,” says Turnbull.
Verino’s Pizzeria & Grill is expected to open in January, setting up shop at 2465 Sunrise Blvd.
