Is Fortunato Changing the Face of Roanoke Dining?

The story below is a preview from our Jan. / Feb. 2016 issue. For the full story Subscribe today, view our FREE interactive digital edition or download our FREE iOS app!

The character and depth of Roanoke dining has taken a considerable step forward in this bold, inventive downtown restaurant.

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John Park

Deep winter. Snow, wind, and the post-holiday/resolution-battles blues of January. This is the season when many restaurants slow down, with fewer people willing to brave the cold for a night out. But this is the season to embrace and create community, to discover hygge—starting with Fortunato, a new downtown Italian restaurant masterminded by the owners (plus a new face!) of Lucky.

Hygge: (pronounced “hoo-ga”) is a Danish word loosely translating to “coziness.” More complex than just a cozy feeling, it means to “live in the moment” or “create warmth and make connections with others and yourself.” It’s touted as the secret to winter happiness by the Danes. In its essence, hygge is about families and friends getting together to share a meal, a glass of wine, and good conversation—creating intimacy in the heart of a dark, cold winter.

Since opening in September, Fortunato, an Italian restaurant in downtown Roanoke featuring mostly Central and Northern Italian dishes, has emanated all that creates hygge. Upon entering the glass-fronted restaurant located on the ground floor of the century-old Shenandoah Building, guests are greeted by an open kitchen graced with a cured leg of Edwards ham, a pizzaiolo deftly managing the Italian wood burning oven, and sweeping, oversized paintings. Gold wallpaper, dark wood tables built from salvaged wood from Old Crow Distillery, warm large-format, red-light fixtures and Toobz Muir’s van door wolf painting lend an incredibly cosmopolitan air to the dining space. 

This is the restaurant Roanoke has been waiting for. Every element from the silverware (perfectly weighted) to the tiny, jam-jar wine glasses to the refinished original terrazzo floors is on-point thanks to the design work of co-owner Jake Zuckerman.

The ownership and management of Fortunato is like a perfectly crafted puzzle whose pieces include Jeff Farmer, a chef who has crafted an intensely unique menu of Italian dishes, to Hunter Johnson, a mixologist whose drinks have elevated the Roanoke craft cocktail scene to epic proportions, to JP Powell, a hospitality guru with strong management skills, and Jake Zuckerman, whose eye for design and whose background in real estate development helped build the Fortunato experience. 

After running the extraordinarily successful Lucky Restaurant on Kirk Ave (opened in 2010), the original three decided that, with the help of Jake, it was time to try their hand at something new in town. After being approached for several years by developers, the team pursued a relationship with Bill Chapman (also responsible for Beamers 25), whose background as a restaurateur and developer aligned with their vision.   

“If we didn’t do it, someone else would have,” Johnson explains when describing how Roanoke is becoming a hot spot for developers and restaurateurs. His implication?  If he and the other owners didn’t decide to open another top-notch restaurant in Roanoke, a chef from Richmond or New York or Atlanta would have. Just take Zuckerman’s reasons for moving from bustling Brooklyn to the Star City: “Coming to Roanoke, for me, was awesome because I think the city is growing and growing in a cool and responsible way.”  Right now was the right time for Fortunato. Which makes us here in Roanoke very lucky diners.

The menu at Fortunato is easy to navigate. Separated into antipasti (appetizers), salumi & formaggi (meats & cheeses), insalte (salads), primo (first course—pastas), secondo (second course—meat and fish), and pizze (pizzas), as well as dolci (dessert), it’s easy to sample a bit of everything. In the spirit of hygge, whether you dine by yourself, with one other person, or with a large group, the menu translates well to a communal passing of plates. There’s an intimacy to the menu, as well as the space, which allows you to cozy up to the meal of your choosing, without feeling too led or forced into certain dining tropes.

But before you peruse the dining menu, be sure to order a cocktail from Johnson’s well-crafted cocktail list. Just like at Lucky, what can be made in-house will be made in-house, including gallons-worth of limoncello, a popular Italian lemon-infused liquor. Just look behind the bar and you’ll see shelves of the golden liquor steeping. For a touch of the traditional, order the Barrel Aged Black Manhattan—a slam dunk of a drink featuring barrel aged rye, Cocchi Vermouth, amaro (for that bitter, Italian touch), and fragrant cardamom bitters. More floral options like the Apollonia with its rose hip, lavender and hibiscus infused vodka bring some brightness to dark winter months. Given that Italy is not known for its cocktail culture, Johnson deftly improvises with flavors and truly captures what an evening in Italy might taste, smell, and look like—all in one glass.

Moving on to the meal itself, you’d be remiss to skip the home-cured salumi—ranging from Edward’s Surryano Ham (which with a blind taste test might as well be from Spain given its incredibly well-balanced tang and fat) to house-made nduja (soft and spicy—perfect on some bread) to a peppery salami piedmontese. There’s something for everyone on the charcuterie board, especially if you mix in a few Italian cheeses. Pair with some cured olives and a glass of sparkling wine from the almost-all-Italian wine list, and you’re set for a welcome start to your meal.

On the small plates side of things (the antipasti), the Polpetta Agnello is a must-order dish. While it’s hard to proclaim any one dish the dish of Fortunato, this simple, yet rich and complex lamb meatball is one of the memorable ones. Maybe it’s because we can imagine the time and the care that goes into a successful meatball and red sauce—hours in a kitchen on a Sunday afternoon, a grandmother’s recipe, family—but even more than the acquired (and clichéd) vision we all have of the dish, this one tastes like it. All the care that Farmer puts into each dish is evident, but none so much as this—it’s like a hug that you can dip your spoon into. 

Another surprising favorite is the sardines which are lightly fried, served bone in and whole (as all sardines are) with roasted tomatoes and a light and bright salsa verde. While my friends were unsure of how to dig in initially (“Do we eat the heads?”), everyone fell in love with the dish. While sardines are often maligned as oily and pungent, not to mention a little terrifying with all their bones, these ones are accessible in their flavor and form. If you aren’t familiar with sardines, I recommend trying them at Fortunato—they’ll win you over.

Moving on from small dishes, be sure to order a pasta or two from the Primo list. The Cacio e Pepe, with its extruded buccatini (think spaghetti but hollow on the inside) and fragrant pepper, parmesan, and olive oil dressing, will make you forget that you’re eating a vegetarian dish—it’s just that strong on its own. Meat lovers, however, should embrace the Coniglio Ragu, a deep winter dish of rabbit stewed in tomatoes, red wine, basil, and other herbs, served over hand-cut pappardelle. Again, it’s a hygge dish at its core—one you want to take your time with. A more adventurous and guessied up dish, however, is the Pasta al Nero di Sepia—squid ink (yes, pitch black!) tagliatelle tossed with seared Carolina shrimp, white wine, olive oil and roasted tomato. It’s visually arresting and leaves you wanting to try just one more bite, then another, until the plate is empty.

Jumping out of order, more than anything, Fortunato is, rightfully, becoming known as the place to order the best pizza in southwestern Virginia. After experimenting with quite a few batches, Farmer landed on a dough that straddles traditional Neapolitan-style and American-style: a tad bit more doughy, all-purpose flour-based, but with plenty of char and air pockets in the crust. A 72-hour cold fermentation allows the dough to gain a sourdough-like flavor, then is stretched thin, topped, and thrown in the 800-plus degree wood-burning oven. It’s a quick process, and one that ensures a bubbling hot pizza on your table within 10-15 minutes of ordering.

It’s impossible to pick a favorite—there isn’t a bad one on the menu—but standouts include the more traditional Funghi e Prosciutto with its layers of Edward’s ham, sautéed wild mushrooms, cheese and the spicy-hot Mollusco with its Rappahannock clams and guanciale (cured pork jowl reminiscent of bacon). Most surprisingly, though, the Patate, a vegetarian pizza featuring paper thin slices of potato, fontina and panna (burrata) cheeses, and onion stands out as one of the most craveable pies. It’s salty and crispy and satisfying without being greasy or too filling. Fortunato, more than anything, proves that a good meal can be vegetarian without even trying.

Strangely, Fortunato’s smaller plates, pastas, and pizzas steal the show. While two or three entrees (Secondo) are available, they take a back seat to the rest of the menu.  Which isn’t to say that the dishes aren’t delicious—the Whole Roasted Bronzino positively flakes off with the touch of a fork, its salty olive tapenade and bright white bean salad lend a good contrast to the fish, but the sardines or Polpo (octopus with fingerling potatoes) appetizer are more unique. Likewise the Spalla de Maiale, a savory pork shoulder “porchetta” (deboned roulade of pork shoulder), is a great dish, but doesn’t carry the same weight as the lamb meatball or the cured charcuterie. Likewise, the dolci (dessert) falls a little flat, with the only options usually being a cannoli or zeppole (Italian doughnuts). While neither option is bad, they suffer when compared to the rest of the menu (both in terms of savory dishes and drinks). 

What, then, makes a restaurant successful and full of hygge?  For some, it’s the food. For others, the service is key (which is impeccable at Fortunato, by the way). But here, in Roanoke, what makes a restaurant shine is an owner, or, in this case, a group of owners who are invested in helping create a unique culture and community in a restaurant space. Sit at the bar and chances are Hunter Johnson himself will shake a cocktail for you. Jeff Farmer will wave “hi” from behind the kitchen window. JP Powell and Jake Zuckerman will make the rounds and talk with guests. If you sit at a communal table, you’ll strike up a conversation with the couple next to you. If you sit at a two-top by the window, you’ll watch Roanoke’s evening unfold. But this winter and into 2016, Fortunato, more than any other restaurant in Roanoke, is going to change your mind about community and sharing and what makes a city, above all, home. It embraces hygge and it embraces us, one sardine and glass of wine at a time. 

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