New waterfront restaurant opens its doors in West Palm Beach

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Tuesday afternoon, it was a race to open.

“We’ve been busy, we’ve been really busy building this restaurant,” said Big Time Restaurant Group’s Corporate Culinary Director Lisabet Summa excitedly.

As the Front of House was doing last-minute training the cooks were prepping for the grand opening including homemade salumi being portioned out.

T.A. WALKER TOURS THE NEW ELISABETTA’S IN WEST PALM BEACH

“We need to eat,” shouted Summa a few hours before the restaurant opened.

Lisabet Summa, the restaurant’s namesake showed off the chorizo that adorns the entryway, “[It has] my name on it.”

Julia Duresky/CAPEHART

She admitted she drove by the restaurant on Flager Dr. to see her name up in lights, “People were honking at me because I was driving so slowly.”

Julia Duresky/CAPEHART/Julia Duresky/CAPEHART

Big Time Restaurant group (which includes Rocco’s Tacos, City Cellar, City Oyster and others) had the idea to open on the water before the pandemic.

“We [thought] would be out of [the pandemic] by now,” said Summa.

But the partners stayed the course opening one a few waterfront dining destinations in West Palm Beach at the corner of Flagler and Banyan. The venue has 150 seats on the patio must under cover away from the elements.

“We’re lucky enough to have this beautiful outdoor space,” Summa said. “Al Fresco dining is part of what people like about Italian food.”

Julia Duresky/CAPEHART

Her sister lives in California and saw a picture of the new restaurant, “She’s lived in Rome, she said, ‘It looked like an Italian seaside resort.'”

Summa’s first location opened in Delray in June of 2018. Her partners decided to open another despite the pandemic.

“I mean I had my foot on their throat. But it was gracious of them to agree to name the restaurant after me,” joked Summa.

“Come with me, and I’ll show you the pizza ovens,” chirped Summa as she gave WPTV NewsChannel 5 a tour.

Duel golden-domed pizza ovens that can cook a pie in 70 seconds.

Julia Duresky/CAPEHART

“My beautiful espresso machine,” Summa hugged as she showed it off.

The restaurant makes cookies, bread, pasta, gelatos, all handmade in-house.

The menu has, “A list of the greatest hits, great meatballs, great fried calamari, amazing pastas that are all made in-house, we dry-age our own steaks though,” said Summa.

The dry-aged steaks are on the bone, cooked over a wood fire, “We think this is the best way to have a steak,” Summa said.