Every dish at Il Porto Italian Ristorante in Alexandria, VA is made from scratch, on premise, including our pasta, all fresh, every day! Our Executive Chef, Miguel Ferman, has been leading the direction of our kitchen since 2013, however, he started working at Il Porto in 2006.
Il Porto Italian Restaurant was established in Old Town Alexandria in 1973. While its roots are traditional Italian, in recent years, there has been a transition to modern cooking techniques led by Chef Miguel, as well as focus on offering a wide range of wines, many by the glass, at a very good value. We host wine dinners as well.
Since Chef Miguel has taken over, he has added his own signature to the Northern Italian style of cooking at Il Porto. His daily specials are not to be missed, always new, always innovative, while still being rooted in Northern Italy.
While Chef Miguel will not reveal the secret to his style, he does attribute it to his Grandmother. She told him as young as 5 years old, he started helping in the kitchen by warming up milk for his younger brother. At the age of 10, he started working in a bakery, and after just a few months, far surpassed his older brother, who had been working there for 2 years!
Chef Miguel uses lots of fresh herbs and creative spices and he believes how you butcher the meat, how you grill a vegetable or protein in a particular way, makes all the difference to a dish.