Making its grand opening in West Delray this Tuesday, July 31, in the space once occupied by Cuban Café is Cucina Fra Diavolo (14414 S. Military Trail, 561/266-3322), a new Italian restaurant from Gabriel and Ella Geller.
This marks the second go-round in Delray for Gabriel Geller, a 32-year veteran of the restaurant business, who for almost a dozen years ran the Italian Bistro in town before leaving for a position in corporate catering. He’ll again be manning the kitchen at Cucina, with wife Ella handling front of the house duties.
The couple gave the 140-seat space a complete makeover, giving it a warm, contemporary look with lots of dark wood and earth tones, a blue tile-topped bar and modern art prints. Early birds will be pleased to know that the restaurant will be open for breakfast as well as lunch and dinner, Tuesday through Sunday. And deal-seekers will be equally happy to see that all dinners come complete with soup or salad, choice of side dishes, beverage and dessert.
And speaking of food, the encyclopedic menu covers pretty much all the traditional Italian and Italian-American culinary bases, from caprese salad and gnocchi Bolognese to veal Florentine, chicken cacciatore and, of course, shrimp Fra Diavolo.
