By TESS FICCAGLIA
We all know the name ‘Gabriella’s Italian Grill & Pizzeria,’ but have you been there? I had not, and I was so pleased to change that. There is nothing negative I can say about this Italian restaurant.
I sat at the bar and ordered a drink from Michelle Rutkowsi, the bar manager. She is a delight. Her knowledge of liquor, beer and especially wine is one in a million. Rutkowsi is personable. We chatted about Gabriella’s, as well as her background in the bar industry. She has been employed at Gabriella’s for over four years and loves her job. According to Rutkowsi, general manager Louis Diaz is a great guy to work for. The wait staff is proficient and the kitchen staff just as wonderful.
After running some errands, Diaz arrived to my sit-down at Gabriella’s with a hearty handshake and a smile the size of Texas.
The history of a successful restaurant is always intriguing to me. I love to know who came up with the ideas, location, recipes, décor, etc., and Diaz had plentiful knowledge regarding that.
According to Diaz, approximately 20 years ago a woman named Alice opened an Italian restaurant in Port Isabel. She named it Gabriella’s, after her daughter. The names indicate Italian descent, but no one knows for sure. A few years into running her successful business, her husband became ill and they had to move back to their home state of Oklahoma. Therefore, the ‘For Sale’ sign went up.
A small group of investors got together to purchase Gabriella’s. However, in order to purchase the name and the thriving business, there were some contract stipulations on Alice’s part that had to be part of the deal. The new owners could never alter the recipes or change the fact that everything was made fresh daily. The investors agreed to her requirements; and, to this day, that honor has been kept.
Gabriella’s Head Prep Chef, Maribel Morales, and her staff of about eight to ten arrive every morning to start the handmade pasta, meatballs, sausage, ravioli, manicotti, pizza dough, bread dough, etc., that will be served that day. No processed frozen food is served at Gabriella’s.
Gabriella’s is especially known for its pizza. That could be due to the pizza chef, Lorenzo Hernandez making their signature pies in a true firewood brick oven for the last 15 years. In fact, Gabriella’s pizza pick-up grew so much, it was creating traffic jams at the door. To alleviate this issue, a second location was opened, strictly for pizza: Pizzeria Express by Gabriella’s at 2600 Padre Blvd, Suite U, South Padre Island.
Now, tasting the food at Gabriella’s was something of an experience. If I had to sum it up in one word, I’d say “yum!”
Diaz had his kitchen staff prepare a tasting of several items from the menu. The fresh hand-cut squid for the Calamari appetizer is marinaded, breaded and fried with a dusting of Italian spices. When dipped in the homemade marinara sauce, it will melt in your mouth. I always order Calamari if it is on the menu. It is my surefire way to test how good the food will be at a restaurant I am visiting for the first time. Calamari is not easy to master. Cook it too long and it will be rubbery and tasteless. Cook it not long enough, and it will be tasteless and rubbery. Add too much breading and you will taste no squid. Gabriella’s chef has mastered the technique.
I have been trying to find the right words to describe Gabriella’s meatballs and I can’t find any other than delicious. They are large and drowning in marinara gravy. You need a knife and fork to eat these babies!
The Italian Sausage plate consists of sausage grilled to superbness, sautéed peppers and onions mixed with rigatoni noodles and marinara gravy. Just a tad of parmesan was needed to round this dish off. Diaz was generous with the Meat Ravioli because he knew I couldn’t eat just one. Once I bit into the handmade al dente cooked pasta filled with a exquisitely seasoned meat mixture, there was no stopping me from finishing the plate. Gabriella’s marinara sauce is the BOMB. If you haven’t noticed my last name, it is very Italian, so I have tasted some of the best spaghetti gravies around by relatives, friends and restaurants, but I can say Gabriella’s marinara sauce is one of the top two. Alice’s recipe is sweeter than most, but the combination of special spices is so perfect, you will be sopping it up with that homemade bread at Gabriella’s.
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