Roma

KINDALL AND TONY MAKOLLI’S LOVE STORY PLAYS OUT EVERY DAY IN THEIR FAMILY-CENTERED RESTAURANT, ROMA ITALIAN BISTRO.ON THE QUAINT, HISTORICAL STREETS OF ANTIQUE ALLEY IN WEST MONROE, THIS ITALIAN EATERY HAS DELICIOUS FARE THAT WILL LEAVE YOU SAYING, “THAT’S AMORE!”

ARTICLE BY VANELIS RIVERA AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY ANDREW BAILEY

The quintassential Lady and the Tramp moment seems to be created from the stuff of fairy tales—a moonlit chef’s table, an Italian serenade, and a serendipitous bite-and-slurp into the same spaghetti thread. It’s bella notte: the moment when you are side by side with your loved one, enchanted, weaved in a spell of love. This juncture of good food and romance doesn’t just belong to cinema, though. On the quaint, historical street of Antique Alley in West Monroe, an Italian eatery will hit your eye like a big pizza pie and make the world seem to shine like you’ve had too much wine, because the owners of Roma Italian Bistro believe that’s amore!

Kindal Makollli’s story at Roma began in the form of a blind date, which she wasn’t particularly enthused to attend. On February 2016, she was set her up with now husband, Tony Makolli (owner). She only agreed to attend because it turned into a group outing instead of the awkward first date. Eight months later, he proposed to her at the restaurant under the guise of a family vacation. He asked her to meet at Roma with her daughter, Kinley Batby. She arrived to bouquets of flowers on the back patio, tables dressed, and her mother in attendance. “He proposed to me, and then he turned around and asked [Kinley] if she would be his ‘forever girlfriend’ and gave her a ring too,” fondly recalls Kindal. Good things often show in threes, and such was the case for Kindal when she married at the restaurant in June, 2017. With the spacious dining hall cleared, the rough-hewn brick fireplace served as the couple’s altar. “We do everything here,” says Kindal, referring to their relationship developing around her husband’s work hours. Work and play intertwine as the ebb and flow for this couple, as the day after their wedding they opened Tony’s Pizza in Monroe.

The extensive Makolli family roots hail from Sicily, but originally sprouted from Albania, a country in Southeast Europe with cuisine influenced by Italian, Turkish, and Greek cooking. World traveling and living in places like Holland, Germany, and New York resulted in varied culinary influences that periodically sneak their way into the menu. The first Roma opened in Duncanville, Texas, and ten years later, the Makolli family, between Texas and Louisiana, have amassed ten locations total. Vicksburg may be next: “We’ll see how this year goes,” says Tony. His brother, Ylli Makolli, was the first Makolli in our area. He opened the West Monroe location on September 22, 2015, while also working as a CenturyLink engineer between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. “You gotta enjoy the chance and opportunity that you have,” claims Tony, emphasizing the importance of making the journey greater than the destination. He attributes the restaurant’s success from the greater commitment to the restaurant than to themselves: “The business is going to take care of you, the way you take care of the business.”

Remnants of recipes from a savvy line of Makolli female cooks inspired the Roma menu, constructed by Ylli. It’s a triumph of sauce-topped pasta and sautéed meat dishes. Their pink sauce, a Roma specialty, headlines the Stuffed Mushroom appetizer—mushrooms stuffed with crab meat, bread crumbs, and parmesan cheese, topped with pink sauce and adorned with picturesquely plated lumps of crab meat. “They never say no to the pink sauce. Pink sauce nobody makes in this town. It doesn’t matter how Italian they are as long as they are not part of my family, they can’t do it. It’s legit,” says Tony. The House Speciality Pasta dishes are designated based on the noodle used, each aptly named for their shape: spaghetti (little twine), rigatoni (large lined ones), manicotti (sleeves), cannelloni (large reeds), and tortellini (small little pies.) You can’t go wrong ordering one of the traditional plates, like the beef lasagna or spaghetti and meatballs, but if you want a bit of oomph on the classics, BayouLife recommends adding ricotta cheese! Among the cheese-stuffed dishes to choose from, like the Cheese Ravioli or the Tortellini alla Panna, you may want to go veggie. The Eggplant Rollatini is stuffed with ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan, a cheese and veggie lover’s daydream.

The Italian dish names in the chicken, veal, and seafood entrees generally refer to the stand-out ingredient or the type of preparation. For instance, the Chicken Marsala salutes the Sicilian sweet wine produced in the surrounding city of Marsala by using it as a sauté sauce. Any piccata dish means the preparation of the meat or fish is sliced, sautéed, and served in a lemon juice and butter sauce. Artichoke hearts are the pulse of the Chicken Carciofi: sautéed artichoke hearts and mushrooms in a sherry pink sauce. Chicken Cacciatore, an involved plate of mushrooms, onions, mixed peppers, capers, and black olives in a spicy marinara sauce, is said to derive its name from the hunters’ wives who traditionally cooked this dish on the eve of a hunt. Italian words add ‘un tocco in più’ (an added touch) to any dish they dazzle, but don’t let unfamiliarity retract you from familiar tags like the Grilled Chicken. Here, a colorful assortment of sautéed mushrooms, zucchini, broccoli, mixed bell peppers, and red onion form a bed for a juicy grilled chicken breast, as well as the Chef’s Special, which is chicken, shrimp, and scallops in a pink sauce.

Pane (bread) is not a requirement but a gentle suggestion for pleasuring your taste buds. It’s presented before every meal in the form of giant breadsticks in a basket. Though difficult, you can skip all the pasta dishes, and turn to the doughier side of the menu. Choose from three calzone options (sausage, pepperoni, or spinach) or the stromboli, a close relative to the calzone that is more sandwich than pizza. Roma’s stromboli is stuffed with pepperoni, canadian bacon, sausage, ground beef, and mozzarella. Rolling, spinning, and throwing dough professionally, the Makolli brothers boast an impressive selection of New York style pizzas. Coming in small, medium, large, or giant, you can choose from the Chicken Alfredo, Florentine, Veggie, Meat Lovers, Hawaiian, Mexican, BBQ, and Margarita. “They wanted to perfect the art of their ambitions,” says Kindal about their artfully formed pizza pies. At one point, to practice while not wasting so much dough, they bought fake dough from Amazon. Dough pressing machines are practical, but sometimes the experience—disks of dough flying into the air—bows to the relevance of craft, though it may look like a circus trick.

Naturally, repeat customers have their favorite dishes when they come in, even when they come in ten times a month. Tony wants to encourage exploration of the menu, and customers always find a new food crush when they find their way outside of their favorite. “You gotta’ take time to cook something,” says Tony. He always tells his staff, “If you cook something, make sure you cook it like you’re cooking for yourself.” It makes a difference when a kitchen strives to make meals to order. You won’t find a microwave in the kitchen or sauces sitting in pots. Even the desserts are made in-house. Start with the Sicilian pastry that has become an American favorite, the cannolis: shells of fried pastry dough, filled with sweet, creamy filling. Another Italian classic is the coffee-soaked tiramisu, made from ladyfingers dipped in coffee and layered with a sweet whipped mixture, and flavored with cocoa. A zesty option is the limoncello cake, a bright and refreshing flavor of fluffy sponge, saturated with a limoncello syrup (lemon-flavored Italian liqueur), and of course, they craft flavors of one of America’s favorite delectable desserts, cheesecake, in plain, strawberry, chocolate or turtle.
“In order to own your own business you’ve got to be able to know, understand, and deliver on every aspect of that business,” says Tony. Kindal never worked in the restaurant business until she joined the Makolli family. She was in project management at Chase for ten years, but in lieu of her husband’s business mantra, she learned the ins-and-outs of serving and managing. Meanwhile, Tony walks the line, occasionally assisting as cook. Kindal vouches for her husband’s cooking, praising his ability to design dishes, like their off-the-menu sautéed penne noodles (for an added crisp), topped with red pepper, feta cheese, and shrimp or chicken. He adds some Tony pizzazz!

Roma’s wood floors, worn industrial wood beams, and brick-lined walls invite customers to intimately connect with what they’ve deemed, “Nothing fancy, just great Italian food.” Going three years without a vacation or official day off seems drastic, but the Makollis of West Monroe have found themselves in this town. They have felt accepted, loved, and supported. “God bless them for everything they have done for us,” beams Tony.

This month visit Roma Italian Bistro and share a pasta thread with someone you love.

Roma Italian Bistro is located in 400 Trenton Street, West Monroe. The restaurant is open Tuesday to Sunday between 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.. Follow them on Facebook for information on lunch specials, served between 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and stay tuned for their Valentine’s night soirée. Call them at 318-410-5050 and make your date-night or family lunch reservation.