La Pecora Bianca Brings New York Pasta to Coral Gables

La Pecora Bianca opened at the Shops at Merrick Park, extending a New York Italian restaurant group south to Coral Gables. The original locations built a following in New York around a specific dish: vodka rigatoni, the kind of order regulars come back for by name rather than browsing the rest of the menu for.

What made it famous

Vodka sauce pastas have had a moment across the country, but La Pecora Bianca's version is one of the dishes credited with helping start that wave in New York. The Coral Gables location carries the same recipe south, giving Miami-area diners a chance to try the dish that built the restaurant's reputation without a trip north.

A Merrick Park anchor

Landing inside the Shops at Merrick Park puts La Pecora Bianca in one of Coral Gables' busiest retail and dining corridors, positioned for both a shopping-trip lunch and a proper sit-down dinner. The setting fits the restaurant's broader identity: an approachable, crowd-pleasing Italian menu built for a wide range of occasions rather than a single type of visit.

Why it matters

Coral Gables has absorbed a wave of out-of-town restaurant imports this year, and La Pecora Bianca's arrival adds a New York pasta destination with a genuine track record to that list, rather than an unproven concept testing the market for the first time.