Leonard Giarraputo opened his Sicilian restaurant in September in a suburban strip mall in Mandeville, never imagining so many paisans(OK, we know the Italian word is actually compaesano, but play along) would walk through the door.

The restaurateur was born in Santa Margherita di Belice, Sicily, where he grew up in the restaurant business, learning to cook when he was just 7. As a young man he moved to Orlando to work in his uncle's restaurant, and went on to work at Disney's Animal Kingdom and resort hotels, finally opening his own restaurants.