Canyon Cafe to move downtown
Canyon Southwest Café heads to One Door East; Valentino Cucina will become Primadonna
Like musical chairs for Fort Lauderdale’s marquee restaurants, Valentino Cucina Italiana and One Door East are out and Canyon Southwest Café is in – along with a new modern Italian restaurant next door.
Canyon will take over One Door East, and in Valentina Cucina’s place will rise Primadonna, with both restaurants sharing a street address at 620 S. Federal Highway. Both are the brainchild of co-owner/chef Chris Wilber and business partner Mario Di Leo and will debut sometime in mid-August, Wilbur told the Sun Sentinel on Monday.
Canyon broke the news to longtime patrons in a social-media post on July 1, but did not explain why Canyon was moving from its longtime perch at 1818 E. Sunrise Blvd., beside the Classic Gateway Theatre.
One big reason for moving? Answer: space. In taking over One Door East, Wilbur says Canyon will almost double its dining-room and bar seating (115 seats), freeing up the restaurant to offer reservations for the first time in two decades.
“In the old spot, if you got 10 beautiful women at the bar, with their husbands standing behind them, the restaurant was basically full,” Wilber says. “It was a big problem for years, but One Door East has a huge bar and a Canyon-like vibe.”
Over lunch in January, Wilber and Di Leo sat down with Valentino managing partner Robert DiStefano with a partnership idea. Wilber and Di Leo’s Monbos Restaurant Group would take over managing Valentino, while Canyon Southwest Café would replace One Door East.
But talks fizzled as the COVID-19 pandemic forced local restaurants into months of lockdowns, he says. Eventually, Wilber heard that DiStefano planned to walk away from
Valentino. Wilber suspects that “Robert was looking for a way out,” he says. “I think [chef ] Giovanni [Rocchio] left [last October], it wasn’t the same, and he wanted out of the
business.”
DiStefano, who couldn’t be reached Monday afternoon, previously told the Sun Sentinel in May that Valentino’s and One Door East were on track to reopen this fall. Valentino Cucina Italiana and One Door East permanently closed June 22, blaming the COVID-19 pandemic on its decision.
Besides its mouth-puckering prickly pear margaritas, Canyon is perhaps best known for its loose interpretation of the word “Southwest,” where grilled-chicken quesadillas are served next to tuna tartare and smoked salmon tostadas. Beyond extra space, Wilber says nothing about Canyon will change “except the address,” he says.
Wilber says Primadonna, replacing Valentino, is inspired by the Italian restaurant La Perla, the popular Italian spot that locals may remember rebranded as Canyon in 1995. As La Perla’s chef for three years, Wilber, 51, says he wanted a fresh challenge apart from fusing modern Mexican cuisine with Spanish and Asian influences.
Primadonna’s menu is still being finalized but it will include six to eight homemade pasta dishes, limited steak selections, salads, cold appetizers and a rotating bill of weekly specials. It will offer complimentary valet parking and, eventually, a “dining-in-the-dark” option.
“We’re not changing the look of Valentino much because it’s already beautiful, bright, classy and clean right now,” Wilber says, adding that Primadonna will have new light fixtures and reupholstered booths.