New restaurant at Naples-Bonita border serves up Argentine-Italian cuisine
Why debut a new restaurant post-season?
It’s a strategy that has worked in the past for the husband-wife team Mariano Maldonado and Rocio Navarrete’s other sophisticated South American restaurants, which emphasize Peruvian and Argentine cuisine.
She’s the cosmopolitan Inca from Lima; he’s a gourmet gaucho from Argentina.
New bistro in North Naples from same couple
While sitting down with the eager-to-open Navarrete last Thursday afternoon, she refreshed her phone every few minutes to see if their liquor license had been processed.
She received the good news late Friday and El Gaucho Trattoria opened May 7.
The couple’s other popular bistros include El Gaucho Inca, a Peruvian-Argentine concept in Fort Myers and Estero, where they also have a neighboring deli café. In 2021, JLB awarded the Estero location among its best new restaurants.
Several years ago, their Naples location on Immokalee Road was sold following Maldonado’s heart attack.
New restaurant near North Naples-Bonita Springs border
They’re back near the Naples-Bonita border because Navarrete said many customers at her Lee County restaurants drive up from Naples.
This time, 13 years later, they're doing something different, with a menu focus that pays homage to Maldonado’s Italian-by-way-of-Argentina family heritage.
She shared the story of how her husband’s family left Europe in 1920, when his great-great-great grandfather, a decorated Italian war hero, moved his family to Argentina. A wall of family photos illuminates their journey.
“That's why my husband knows how to prepare everything from scratch, from pizza and pasta to gnocchi,” spelled gnoqui on the menu.
I asked her how they could be in four places at once.
“Every time we open a restaurant, we spend several years training chefs and staff. Then I start thinking about opening another location.”
What to know: Naples restaurant named among top brunch spots in Florida
What to know
Address/phone/website: 14700 Tamiami Trail N., Naples; 239-591-5157; elgauchotrattoria.com
The bar is small but stunning. The covered patio faces east.
Reservations via OpenTable.
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday from 4 to 10 p.m. Sunday from 1 to 8 p.m. Closed Monday.
Menu: Five Milanesas, an Argentine mainstay, are offered and priced from $25 to $36. A dozen pizzas, including an onion fugazetta, are $15 to $19. More than 20 pasta dishes, too, from $20 to $34. Specialty entrees range from $45 for salmon with burrata to Angus filet mignon with lobster at $80.
Etc.: House wines by the glass are $12. Kids entrees top out at $15. Ample parking.
Connect with this writer via diana.biederman@naplesnews.com.
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: El Gaucho's new Argentine-Italian restaurant opens in North Naples
