New restaurant: Italian restaurant will serve deep-fried gelato plus pasta, pizza specials

An Italian restaurant that will specialize in fried gelato has opened in Fort Pierce.

Aunt G’s Italian Kitchen opened July 18 in the Sabal Palm Plaza. Owner O.J. Molinaro named it after his aunt who immigrated from Italy to Illinois.

Molinaro believes he’ll be the one to finally find success in that location, where many previous restaurants have failed recently, including A Touch of Brooklyn, The Hungry Marlin Cafe and Tillman’s Famous Barbecue.

“I think I’m a good operator,” he said. “I’m a numbers guy. Numbers don’t lie.”

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Molinaro, who’s from Toronto, used to own seven restaurants in Canada with his uncle, who runs the Molinaro’s brand of frozen pizzas found in Walmart and Costco.

After Molinaro learned he had cancer in 2010, he sold his shares. He got into the food truck business in 2013, but he sold all but one truck when his cancer came back in 2020.

He was selling hot dogs from his food truck, but couldn’t make enough money charging $5 each. He saw a TV show about deep-fried ice cream and got the idea to use gelato, which is softer.

“I wanted to get out of food and just do the ice cream,” he said. “Every nationality likes ice cream.”

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He went to his friend’s bakery and developed the concept. On Canada Day weekend, they made 5,000 gelato balls and sold out at $8 each.

“That’s when the eureka sign came on,” he said. “I think I found something.”

Molinaro also plans to open Aunt G’s Rotisserie in Palm City by the end of September. The semi-fine dining restaurant with a pricier menu will be in the Martin Downs Village Center, where the now-closed Hwy 55 Burgers Shakes & Fries was.

Both restaurants will have deep-fried gelato.

The gelato in Fort Pierce is made in-house and stored in a gelato batch freezer, he said. The flavors are vanilla, dairy-free lemon sorbet, cherry, banana, strawberry, pistachio, hazelnut and sugar-free chocolate.

The Palm City restaurant will have three meat options: rotisserie chicken, prime rib and porchetta, which is a pork loin that’s seasoned, rolled and roasted for hours. His served porchetta in his first food truck.

He also plans to bring back some of his unique creations, including a potato that’s boiled, cut in half, smashed, deep fried and topped with meat, cheese and gravy. Plus, he created a stuffed Yorkshire pudding with vegetables, potatoes and meat that’s covered with gravy.

“It’s easy,” Molinaro said. “Nobody’s doing it. It’s simple.”

He also wants to find a permanent location for Aunt G’s food truck, and he has a couple mobile units for events.

At the 2,100-square-foot restaurant in Fort Pierce, he serves traditional Italian food.

Appetizers include bruschetta ($6) with toasted bread, garlic, olive oil, diced tomatoes and basil; gamberetto diavola ($14) with sauteed shrimp in a spicy tomato sauce; and Gilda’s calamari di casa ($16) with breaded calamari, pan seared and topped with garlic, olive oil, dived onion and tomato salsa. He also has Italian soups and salads.

Sandwiches range from the panino vegetariano ($8) with lettuce, red onions, tomatoes, roasted red peppers, di buffalo Mozzarella cheese and house dressing to the cotolette di vitello ($12) with fried and breaded veal cutlets, tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese on baked Italian bread.

Pastas include fettucine alfredo ($19) in creamy white sauce Gilda’s pasta e prosciutto ($21) with rolled lasagna sheets of layered brick cheese and cooked prosciutto ham, all baked in a heavy whipped cream sauce.

The entrees, all served with roasted potatoes and vegetables, range from the melanzane parmigiana ($17) with fried eggplant layered in tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese to the frutti di mare con risotto ($27) with sauteed seafood in a tomato sauce over a bed of rice.

He’s not specializing in pizza as previously planned, but he might add personal pan pizzas in the future.

The restaurant offers these specials throughout the week:

• Monday: All-you-can-eat mussels in white wine or marinara tomato sauce ($23)

• Tuesday: Buy one regular gelato, get one free

• Wednesday: Fresh-made lasagna with choice of all meat or meat with ricotta ($17)

• Thursday: 10-inch house pizza special with mascarpone, figs and prosciutto, topped with arugula and drizzled with honey ($17)

• Friday: Baccala cod fish baked for hours in marinara sauce and served with pasta ($22)

Aunt G’s treats ($12) include strawberry shortcake, chocolate Chips Ahoy Oreo Melt, chocolate brownie, banana crave, gelato boat, banana split, gelato spaghetti and pizza dessert of the month.

Gelato sundaes ($10) include apple pie ala mode, banana anna, strawberry delight, peachy orange, Hawaiian pineapple and Nutella chocolate dream.

Aunt G’s Italian Kitchen

• Address: 2331 S. U.S. 1, Fort Pierce

• Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday-Saturday

• Phone: 772-979-5859

Laurie K. Blandford is TCPalm's entertainment reporter and columnist dedicated to finding the best things to do on the Treasure Coast. Follow her on Twitter @TCPalmLaurie and Facebook @TCPalmLaurie. Email her at laurie.blandford@tcpalm.com. Sign up for her What To Do in 772 weekly newsletter at profile.tcpalm.com/newsletters/manage.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: New restaurant: Aunt G's Italian restaurant Fort Pierce has gelato