Piccolo Buco – Estero

This is a new concept from Cooper’s Hawk Winery. Just opened a few weeks ago and I think we were actually there during the first week they opened. Which may explain some of the problems we had. But don’t worry, I’m sure with a little time and training under their belt, the staff is going to do a bang up job!

When we first arrived, we were a little early and had to kill some time at the wine tasting bar. Just like at Cooper’s Hawk with Cooper’s Hawk wines on display. When we were shown to our table we were informed that they had run out of pizza dough. So, sorry, no pizzas! That’s one of their main identities so I thought it was kind of funny that they would run out. The manger came over to talk and I joked around with him about how he should have a guy chained to a prep table back there making pizza dough all day long. We had a good laugh. There were lots of other good things on the menu, so no problems, or so we thought.

Ordering did take a while. Our waiter looked as though he was just out of high school, but I’m sure you have to be of a certain age to serve alcoholic drinks, so he just must have barely made the age criteria. I ordered a Calamari to start and it was as good as any Calamari I’ve had! Delicious! We then were waiting what seemed like forever for our salads, but the entrees came out first! We told the food runners that we didn’t get our salads yet. They looked confused and disappeared with the food. Our waiter came over and apologized that he forgot to put in the salads. So he put in the salads. Then we were informed that they now had pizza dough, so we ordered a pizza too! When we got our pizza, they apparently do this table side cutting ceremony. While cutting the pizza with scissors the waiter said out loud “so I’m supposed to engage with the customers while doing this”, and then he looked up and smiled. So much for engagement! But we were all smiling and gave the kid a break. The place was packed, extremely noisy and the stress was palpable! He did a good job overall. Doesn’t the crust look fantastic? The outer edge was nice and crispy, but the center part with the toppings on it was a total flopper! Very tasty, but they should somehow get the middle a little more firm. I think they had great heat from the top, but the stone they put it on to cook should be hotter and that would firm up the crust in the middle. Maybe. I;ve got a Grozny pizza oven and it gets up to 800 degrees. I don’t have a problem with non crispy crusts!

I don’t remember the salads! Ther other couple we were with got one and I think my wife ordered one, but I don’t remember seeing or eating any of them. Let’s check for pictures! Nope! No pictures of the infamous salads, but I got pictures of two of the drinks and the inside space. My drink, a Negroni, was $18. And guess what, I ordered a second one! I don’t know. Usually when I spend $36 on drinks while out I get hammered, but not this time. Its kind of like $20 for a piece of Carrot Cake at Bruno’s of Brooklyn. What is going on with these prices?

Next up are the entrees. Finally! And again! I hope these weren’t the same ones delivered to us an hour ago? But they tasted great and looked great! I got the braised short rib, which is the big picture down below. Delicious! Kind of a small serving. I finished the whole thing which I usually don’t do. My wife got the Pappardelle with the Bolognese Sauce. Good stuff. The other cuple got a spicy rigatoni dish and the star of the night, Truffle Fondue Cappellacci was extremely delicious, if you’re into mushrooms. That dish is in the upper left of the pics down below.

So would we go back? Yes! Its quite the drive down to Estero, but in the off season its totally doable. The roads were quite empty when we came back around 8:30pm. If you want to check out their menu and website, here’s the link. If you’ve been there let me know what you thought and if you’ll be going back.

P.S. We did get a dessert. Chocolate Cake. Good. But we’ll try something else next time.