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For more than twenty years, Torre and David Solazzo have crafted an idyllic small-town life while bringing big, new flavors to Covington diners – first, at their fine-dining establishment, Del Porto Ristorante, and more recently at their gastropub, The Greyhound. Torre and David are both professionally trained chefs whose romance began in 1999, when they worked side-by-side on the line at Tra Vigne, one of Northern California’s most prestigious restaurants at the time.

We sat down together in our Louisiana Eats studios to hear the full story of how two of the Northshore’s favorite restaurants came to be. The whole family gets in on the act – even the Solazzos’ only child, 11-year-old Evelyn – who seems to love the restaurant business as much as Mom and Dad.

Big thanks to our sponsor, Visit The Northshore, where you can discover world-class culinary flavors and so much more. Experience the bounty of the bayou and rich culture from award-winning chefs, soulful mom and pop restaurants, extraordinary bakers, and creative mixologists. To learn more, request the Explore the Northshore Visitor Guide for inspirational stories, custom itineraries and event information at VisitTheNorthshore.com.

For Bayou charm, skip bland, boozy Bourbon Street and the voodoo tourist traps of New Orleans and head across the causeway to the other side of Lake Pontchartrain. The Northshore region was rocked by Hurricane Katrina but has undergone a serious rebirth in the past couple of years. In Covington, rent a set of wheels from Brooks’ Bike Shop and hop on the Tammany Trace, a 27-mile rail trail that weaves through the wetlands. Pull off in Abita Springs, where Abita Beer is brewed with the namesake springwater. If it’s a Saturday night, stick around for a bluegrass show at the Abita Opry. If not, head back to Covington to fill up on salumi and mussels at Del Porto, then sip a Sazerac at the Cypress Bar in the century-old Southern Hotel. —Cheney Gardner

https://www.outsideonline.com/2058136/28-places-go-2016

Ristorante del Porto
501 E. Boston St., Covington, 985.895.1006

Unlike the other restaurants on this list, Ristorante del Porto hasn’t moved. It has just grown, having expanded into a storefront neighboring the space it has occupied in downtown Covington since 2006. That was roughly the moment when the lovechild of Torre and David Solazzo, del Porto’s chef-owners, shifted from being a lovable Italian café (which it was when it occupied a smaller space way back in the early 2000s) to one of the most respectable restaurants on either side of the lake. It’s respectable for its serious but unflamboyant attention to seasonality, for its mastery of an array of Italian regional cooking traditions and for being so welcomingly comfortable in its own skin. People almost certainly belly up to the bar unaware that it’s (still) a contender for the title Best Italian Restaurant in New Orleans. The expansion just means there is more space to enjoy those qualities. Don’t miss the shrimp pasta.

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By Brett Anderson, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
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on July 29, 2015 at 1:14 PM, updated July 29, 2015 at 5:36 PM