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Winter Park, FL has long been a hot food destination for Orlando residents, but it’s finally gaining traction among tourist as well. This is great news for the city, but not so great for finding parking or traffic on 1-4, but I’ll suffer.
Winter Parks newest (and perhaps only) Bratalian restaurant is a wonderful addition Orlando’s highly underrated restaurant scene. I should probably add the disclaimer that Bratalian is a totally made up (by me) word that the restaurant has not (yet) adapted, but it is a Brazilian style Italian restaurant, so there you go.
Braccia Pizzeria & Restaurante is located on Morse Blvd, just off of the Park Ave. main drag.
The restaurant consists of an intimate dining room with quirky additions like exposed brick and grass on the walls, and charming patio for warm Florida evenings.
Braccia has only been open for about a month, and I was invited last week to sample some of their offerings. It was perfect, because I got to try a little of everything, but their pizzas are the star of the show.
But I’ll get to that later, and the other courses were nothing to scoff at.
We started off with appetizer portions of some of their menu items.
First up was the Braccia Shrimp. A delicious grilled shrimp dish with a pesto swirl.
Then we sampled the Beef Carpaccio, which was perfectly tender thinly sliced beef with slightly bitter mixed greens and a thin cracker made from their amazing pizza dough.
We followed that up with at Tropical Salad, with (yay!) more shrimp! The tropical salad is served with fresh mango and pineapple and topped off with a honey mustard dressing.
Now on to the best part…the pizza! You know its going to be a serious pizza when the restaurant offers plastic gloves to eat it with, complete with table side cup for disposal in case things get real.
On the menu for tonight was a sampling of 4 different pizzas.
The Chicken with Catupiry, with pomodoro sauce, mozzarella, shredded chicken, catupiry (a Brazilian cheese), and oregano.
The Portugese Pizza, with pomodoro sauce, mozzarella, turkey, ham, hard boiled eggs, green olives, onions, and oregano. Finally a pizza for breakfast!
Brie with Apricot (my personal favorite!)- with pomodoro sauce, mozzarella, brie, and apricot jam.
Canadian Ham with Mango Chutney (my other favorite)- pomodoro sauce, mozzarella, canadian ham, and mango chutney.
As you can see Braccia Pizzeria & Restaurante offers lots of interesting and unique pizza options to choose from that you’ll probably not find anywhere else (for a full list check out Braccia’s menu), but the best part of any of their pizza’s is the amazing crust.
The crust is light and crispy, making it dangerously easy to eat a TON of it! It’s also the closest thing I’ve found to my dad’s dream of a pizza made on crackers, which admittedly sounded like a terrible idea, but this is great! Their crust is a bit better than saltines.
After 2 appetizers, a salad, and 4 slices of pizza, I somehow found the tenacity to push through and make it to the main course. It’s a hard job.
Lamb with Red Wine, two of my favorite things! A rack of lamb with mashed potatoes and a red wine reduction and mint.
I’m a huge fan of lamb and this was perfect, and luckily a much smaller portion that what is normally served.
Now finally dessert! We sampled both the Braccia Special, a soft cheese ice cream with guava syrup and chestnut, and the homemade Churro with Dulce de Leche. Normally these are two separate desserts, but they work perfectly together.
I wasn’t expecting to like the Braccia Special as much as I did. It sounds fine, but it’s nothing I would have ordered on my own, so I’m glad I got to try it. It was amazing, rich without being overly sweet and perfect with the guava. The churros are obviously great, how could they not be?
These were obviously tasting portions, but we did get a sneak preview of the actual presentation at the restaurant. Adorable!
All in all a fantastic meal. A big thanks to the guys at Braccia Pizzeria & Restaurante for hosting us. Their passion for the food shows and I’m certain Braccia will soon become a Winter Park staple. I will for sure be back, probably with my dad to fulfill his cracker pizza dreams.
The meal was graciously provided for review, but of course all opinions are my own. Now as an added bonus, here’s a behind the scenes look at what it’s really like to dine with a room full of bloggers.
‘Bratailan?!’ I love it haha! I love the presentation too and how unique the menu is: high five on eating all that awesome pizza 🙂
Alice Teacake recently posted…Uncovering Green Island Prison Taiwan
haha. Thanks. I have to admit I was a little proud!
What a cool restaurant. I really like the look that they’ve gone for with the decor. And the Canadian Ham with Mango Chutney sounds like a strange mix but it sounds like it would work.
It absolutely works. It’s so good!
Bratailan or Bratalian? That is an awesome pairing of cuisines! I will look for this unique restaurant when we get back to this part of Florida!
It’s definitely worth a visit, and the Winter Park area is super cute.
Those pizza toppings are so creative! How fun to try so many things on the menu!! Question though, can’t every pizza be a breakfast pizza? 😉
Jen Joslin recently posted…Teaching English in Vietnam
Sure it can. I went to college. I’m no stranger to last nights cold pizza for breakfast!
haha great concept, a bratalian… also the gloves for eating pizza, what an interesting touch, can’t eat pizza with knife and fork, cannot taste the same
Mar recently posted…Fabulous High Tea at The Plaza, New York
So true! Knife and fork pizza is unacceptable.
I love your idea of a ‘breakfast pizza’! lol. It looks a great place to eat, with a fantastic range on offer.
Dave from Daves Travel Pages recently posted…Nicopolis – Discover Greece With Dave’s Travel Pages
It really is so good, and now I can eat pizza for every meal.
Italians are fussy about pizza. I am fussier than the fussy Italians when it comes to pizza. Just the look of it, and I know that pizza is not done right. The crust is thin – which I like – but the edges would have to be puffy and bubbly and chewy. The shrimps and the other dishes though look YUMMY 🙂
Claudia recently posted…Stunning and funny pictures that will make you want to visit Bolivia
It’s certainly a little different than Italian pizza, but in my opinion just as good. There’s a time and place for each, this pizza was a little lighter and less filling which is nice.
You ate all that in one sitting? Pizza looks amazing and the staff looks friendly! I love the last photo where all the bloggers are taking photos of the pizza! Xx
Trisha Velarmino recently posted…Is it worth to quit school and travel the world?
I sure did. It’s a hard job, but someone’s got to do it!
Yum! What a fun restaurant and all the food looks so nicely presented + delicious! I’m hungry now. And I love Bratalian!
Alyssa recently posted…World Peace Day
It really was so good. There’s always room for pizza!
Everything does look delicious, though I can absolutely see how the pizzas stole the show. I’m a big fan of Hawaiian myself and love any place that serves brilliant pizza 😀 I was actually really surprised by how big Orlando’s resturant scene was when I last visited – will be sure to check out Braccia when we’re back 🙂
Orlando’s restaurant scene is highly underrated in my opinion. There is lots of great international food if you just look a little beyond the theme parks. Definitely check out Braccia though, it won’t disappoint!
We love Winter Park! One of our favorite towns in the Orlando area! Thanks for sharing this spot, we will have to add it to our list for our visit next month. The food all looks amazing, especially the pizza!
Jenna recently posted…10 Tips for a Successful Road Trip
I’ll have to add Winter Park to my stops next time I’m in Orlando. That Braccia Shrimp looks so lovely!
Jeh-C recently posted…5 Reasons To Go To TomorrowWorld 2015