Divine Dining: Da Campo Osteria

They say when it comes to the best of Italian food, there's no high road... all roads lead to great homestyle cooking.

At Da Campo Osteria at The Il Lugano Hotel in Fort Lauderdale, it's  where tradition meets a touch if class.

For Chef Steven Acosta it is all about keeping his food authentic with a creative twist here and there.

"It's a cuisine that you want to treat with respect. It's all about fresh ingredients, good technique and cooking with love," Acosta told CBS4's Lisa Petrillo.

The menu focuses on Northern Italian regional specialties. But whenever seasonally available ingredients inspire the chef, specialties from other regions make appearances too. Like his cannelloni stuffed with succulent pig.

"It's all about fresh ingredients and treating it with respect so if I can get a  pig that's 10 miles away,  versus a pig that is 400 miles away, obviously it's a lot more fresh locally and it's just a forum to support our local farmers and purveyors," said Acosta.

While we were there, Chef Acosta prepared a prosciutto and fig flatbread with caramelized onions and gorgonzola that's... well… multi Buena!

"That's sinfully good," said Petrillo as she sampled the dish.

"Italian cooking is all about straight forward seasoned to perfection using proper technique. You'd really have to go out of your way to mess up the dish," the Chef explained to Lisa.

His veal cheeks dish is something most diners aren't accustomed to seeing on a menu.

"We cook it in red wine for a good 6 hours. It's very similar to a ossobucco or lambshank, or short ribs, but again  I wanted to veer away from the traditional norm so I whet ahead and put veal cheeks and I got this local area cauliflower from  Okeechobee," said Acosta.

A  visit to Da Campo Osteria is a journey for the senses into La Cucina Italiana... the Italian Kitchen.  Mange!