Valentino, One Door East to shutter

Fort Lauderdale eateries cite virus for closures

The days of Sunday dinners, housemade lasagna and top-flight wines are over at longtime Fort Lauderdale restaurant Valentino Cucina Italiana.

Late Wednesday afternoon on its Facebook page, Valentino – the sophisticated Italian restaurant south of the New River – announced it would close permanently, along with its next-door eatery One Door East.

“We are very sad to have to announce that the COVID-19 Pandemic has claimed our businesses, and we will not be reopening,” the restaurant posted on its Valentino and One Door East pages.

Describing the decision as “excruciatingly difficult and heart-wrenching to make,” the Facebook post continued, “We’ve explored every option for continuing but unfortunately we could not find a feasible path forward.”

Managing partner Robert DiStefano originally told the Sun Sentinel in May that Valentino and One Door East had plotted a reopening, possibly this fall, although he was circumspect about timing.

“It’s a difficult balancing act for us, I must admit,” DiStefano said in May, adding he wasn’t comfortable reopening unless Valentino could do so at full capacity. “But full capacity isn’t happening anytime soon.”

DiStefano said a lack of patio seating – considered prime real estate as pandemic weary restaurants reopen at half-capacity – limited Valentino’s options. As of late

May, the restaurant was still awaiting a federal Payroll Protection Program loan that would help put workers back on payroll.

In 2006, then-chef Giovanni Rocchio debuted Valentino on a South Federal Highway strip mall, upgrading to its current 100-seat storefront in 2012. The COVID-19 shutdown caught Valentino Cucina Italiana at the end of a transitional period: Citing burnout and fatigue after 13 years of hand-making pasta and working the line every night, Rocchio abruptly called it quits last October, elevating One Door East’s Joel Ehrlich to the top post. The restaurant tinkered with Sunday supper and an upgraded menu earlier this year before closing in March.

One Door East, the loudand-proud global small plates restaurant next door, first opened in August 2016.