I wonder how many people try to recreate the scene from Lady and the Tramp where the two dogs meat in the middle of a strand of spaghetti for a kiss. That scene from the classic animated Disney movie was the inspiration for this full-service restaurant. How much nicer it would be if the inspiration had been good food.

Sometimes being evicted can be a good thing.

The Townhouse Restaurant — or Town House, you’ll find it both ways, even on its website (or web site, if you prefer) — has been part of downtown Oviedo for decades. Some might even say it WAS downtown Oviedo. It had occupied a little box of a building at the corner of Broadway Street and Central Avenue on a spit of land triangulated by Railroad Street.

To call it rustic would be an understatement. It looked its age and was often unkempt. But it was comfortable, and it had a dedicated and loyal base of customers who were horrified when it was announced, in 2014, that the Townhouse house would be torn down to accommodate the broadening of Broadway.

But it didn’t mean the end of the Townhouse. It found new digs only several hundred feet up Central Avenue and now has more seating in a spacious restaurant with volume ceilings, a pleasant outdoor patio overlooking the Florida Trail bike path and a parking lot (which seemed to be used a lot by bikers who may or may not have been eating at the restaurant). And the old Colonial style sign has even been incorporated into the new building.

The first thing that should be noted is that there is no fettuccine Alfredo on the menu. That’s noteworthy because the restaurant that occupied this space for so many years was Alfredo d’Originale di Roma, an offshoot of the restaurant that invented the dish. Maybe the Patina Group, which now operates the restaurant, wanted to keep their menu more authentic and didn’t want to add Alfredo, which is largely an Americanized dish.
But that didn’t stop them from delivering the bread basket with a dish of olive oil, which is largely an American practice.
I started my lunch with a bowl of pasta e fagioli, the beany soup with bits of pasta blended in. It was fairly bland, but I fixed that by spooning in some of the olive oil meant for the bread.
For my entrée I had the dish with the unfortunate name stinco di maiale, which is more aromatic than it sounds. It was a massive pork shank braised into tender submission. It was quite good, and the portion was ample. In fact there was too much to finish in one seating, and at $24 I hated to waste it. (Wouldn’t it be nice if you could have doggie bags waiting for you at the front gate like purchases from gift shops so you don’t have to lug them around?)
I had also shelled out $8 for the lunch contorno, which was a braised fennel. Actually, it had to be a joke the kitchen was playing. No serious chef would have sent out a hunk of raw fennel with some melted cheese on top.
Service, which, like most of the pavilion restaurants, is proffered by natives of the sponsoring country, was affable but not very attentive. The most authentic part of the dining experience!
The atmosphere of Tutto Italia is boisterous. The main dining room is a huge space that wants to look elegant but just can’t, not when it’s filled with ill-clothed tourists – not a fault of the restaurant.
 

Patina Restaurant Group, which runs this restaurant as well as Tutto Italia next door, imports the water it uses to mix with its imported flour to make the pizza dough. The flour is from Italy; the water is from Pennsylvania. But, the chef told me, the minerality most closely resembles that of the water in Naples, so they figure it’s worth it. I think the pizzas are better simply for the super-hot ovens (also from Italy) which give the pies a quick crisping. Besides pizza, the fritto misto is worth trying.

In the odd location of the Prime Outlets mall on International Drive, Vinito is serving authentic Italian dishes, classically prepared by Naples native Raffaele Marsilio. Have the spagetti Geraldina, named for Marsilio’s mother, who taught him to cook. Or have the veal Marsala, one of the best renditions in town.
The calamari was quite good, too. The squid was tender and the breading was light and fried just so, then sprinkled with a little salt. Perfect.For my entree I chose the green pepper filet mignon, a wonderfully tender steak cooked to a perfect medium-rare and served with a tangy peppercorn sauce tinged with rosemary. A truly delicious sauce.
Desserts are worth lingering over.
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