Even though there are other pretty great options for Italian food in New Tampa, if you like feeling like family as you enjoy traditional comfort food “Italiano,” you need to visit my friends Pat Ciaccio and Erik Ravenna at Johnny C’s Italian Eatery, located in the small plaza on Cross Creek Blvd. at Morris Bridge Rd. 

Jannah and I — and photographer Charmaine George — have visited Johnny C’s often since it opened in May of this year and there’s no doubt that the restaurant named for Pat’s father Johnny (a long-time restaurateur himself) is more of a sit-down restaurant than Precinct Pizza, the previous eatery in the same space.