Essenza Italian Eatery and Market opens in Fort Lauderdale with 19 pastas

Essenza Italian Eatery & Market opened on Commercial Boulevard with a pitch that goes well beyond a standard red-sauce dining room: 19 pasta options, a full-service market, bakery cases, gelato, and an all-day schedule that runs from breakfast to dinner. At 2831 E Commercial Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, the new spot is built to serve as a neighborhood stop for a quick espresso, a sit-down lunch, or a full Italian dinner without forcing diners to choose just one format.

Maria Avallone said the restaurant is a personal project she shares with her husband, Roberto Junco, and that Junco gave her the restaurant as a 40th-birthday gift. The opening itself landed on her birthday, which gives Essenza a family story that fits the rest of the concept. The business was filed in Florida on February 3, 2026 under the assumed name Essenza Italian Eatery&Market, with Calabrisella Gourmet LLC listed as owner at the same Commercial Boulevard address.

What makes Essenza stand out is how much it packs into one footprint. Inside are 94 seats, table service, a bar area, bakery cases, gelato, desserts and the market component. The kitchen leans hard into handmade pasta, with fresh pasta made in-house and 19 pasta choices on the menu. Sauces include carbonara, puttanesca, pistachio pesto and tortellini with panna, and fresh pasta is also sold by the pound with sauces available to take home. That makes Essenza as much a retail stop as a dining room.

The rest of the menu backs up the same idea. Diners can grab focaccia filled with tomato, pastries, gelato and Italian entrées such as osso buco with polenta, rabbit with rosemary and olives, and swordfish with caponata. Avallone said many of the staff members are Italian, including people from Tuscany and Naples, which reinforces the shop’s authenticity claim. Essenza also carries her Passion Tiramisu brand, with more than 20 tiramisu flavors and custom tiramisu cakes for events.

For anyone planning a visit, Essenza’s website lists breakfast from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., aperitivo from 11 a.m. to noon and again from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., lunch from noon to 3 p.m. and dinner from 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. The contact page lists Monday as closed, Tuesday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Friday through Sunday from 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. The phone number is (754) 328-1818, and the email is info@essenzaitalian.com.

That breadth is the point. Essenza is not just launching another Italian restaurant on Commercial Boulevard, it is trying to be the place where Fort Lauderdale can get a morning pastry, a market haul, a pound of fresh pasta and a full dinner in one stop.