Naples restaurants: At Angelo's Southern Grill, Albania meets the Deep South
Angelo's Southern Grill in North Naples has a story as quirky as the restaurant's setup, but this immigrant family is making it work — deliciously.
Albanians serving Southern comfort food in a restaurant with an Italian name — that just begins to tell the quirky story of Angelo’s Southern Grill in North Naples.
The Albanians, the Brisku family, came to Naples directly from Europe. The restaurant they opened in November 2019 in a former LuLu B’s outpost, is actually two restaurants in one.
That means you can eat eggs Benedict, omelets, tuna salad melts (the best this author has ever eaten), and other sandwiches by day, while the dinner menu lists shrimp and grits, jambalaya, fried chicken. Yet perhaps the most interesting fact in this story full of twists and turns is that, two years before opening Angelo’s, the Brisku family's chef knew not one thing about Southern cuisine.
There is, however, a thread that stitches together the food of their homeland with the Southern fare they’re now preparing, according to manager Karmela Brisku: Both depend upon making everything without cutting corners. Angelo's tuna salad, its sauces, grits, ribs and pot roast are all made from scratch.
“Everybody’s happy,” Karmela said in her bubbly way. “The customers love the food and feel safe here.”
The Briskus' story began 14 years ago, when Leonardo Brisku moved his wife Rudina and two sons from Athens, Greece to Naples. The family had been in the restaurant business for many years in Europe.
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Karmela, Leonardo’s niece, lived in a small Greek village with her husband Clirim Bilaj, better known as Jimmy. Karmela was a restaurant server, Jimmy worked as a chef. In 2014, they too moved to Naples.
“Back then, you would hear mostly about New York and California,” Karmela said. “My uncle told me Naples is a developing place where it’s quiet. We were used to peace in our little village.”
The name Angelo’s came from Leonardo’s eldest son, who worked in the kitchen at first, before heading off to college. His other son, Martin, also joined the family enterprise. They had planned on specializing in Mediterranean or Italian cuisine but realized Naples was already sated with those genres. They noticed that their early clientele, holdovers from the home-style LuLu B’s, wanted that same American comfort food, and many of them hailed from Georgia — the state not the country.
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So, with the previous owners’ permission, they kept some of LuLu B’s favorites, such as the cinnamon roll and French toast combo, but gave them new names. From there, the family moved in a new direction. Head chef Jimmy went to Tampa for special training in the dishes the South has made famous — from chicken pot pies to biscuits and fried okra.
“It was different, no one was doing that here in Naples,” Karmela said.
They took the restaurant from a breakfast-lunch diner to an all-day affair with two distinct parts. Part one remains diner-like with its row of booths, classic swivel chrome stools at the counter and plastic light blue beverage glasses advertising local businesses.
The family renovated the dinner space on the other side of the wall themselves. Uncle Leonardo, a carpenter, did the redesign. Its more formal look of wood flooring and walls, with brick and wine bottles lined up over the L-shaped bar, sets it apart from the breakfast-lunch space. The family hopes to have a full liquor license in place by season.
They originally had planned to renovate the entire restaurant until COVID-19 hit, though they haven’t completely abandoned the idea of taking out the wall between the two rooms.
In the meantime, nearby Pelican Bay residents, snowbirds and locals keep Angelo’s busy. Last year, the restaurant did mostly takeout and delivery. Now they’re back to in-person dining, and they're getting to know their regulars.
“People in Naples need attention, they need someplace to go to talk to someone because their kids are not around,” Karmela said. “Our servers do a very good job. (The customers) always notice when one of our family members is not here. During season, the snowbirds come back and always bring friends.”
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And so, the Angelo’s family grows as Naples has welcomed Jimmy, Karmela, Leonardo, his wife and their sons. The slightly confusing name, once you get to know the gregarious, hard-working family, makes perfect sense.
Chelle Koster Walton is a freelance writer covering food and restaurants in Southwest Florida. Connect: chellekwalton@gmail.com.
Angelo’s Southern Grill
Address: 8795 Tamiami Trail N., North Naples
Hours: Monday to Saturday 8 a.m.-9 p.m., Sunday 7 a.m.-3 p.m.
Menu: Breakfast entrees $4.49-$16.49; lunch entrees $7.49-$16.49; dinner entrees $14.99-$24.99
More: 239-594-5330 or angelossoutherngrill.com
Hours and prices subject to change