Find the sweet life in a slice of Roman-style pizza or a plate of tiramisu at Teodora's Bakery & Café in Miami Beach. This family-run spot is the place to chow down on generous portions of Italian-American food, served with pizazz, on a happening strip of West Avenue.

Brooklyn native Umberto Gallo bought the bakery-cafe a couple of months ago from an Argentine friend and renamed it for his mother-in-law. He kept the main baker, Diego Campos, spiffed up the décor and changed the menu, keeping the popular migas (crustless sandwiches), flaky empanadas and Argentine pastries (made by another bakery) and adding crusty baguettes , pecorino cheese and bottles of Argentine wine.

What had been an Argentine hangout now attracts a mixed crowd. Gallo drives back and forth twice a day from Hollywood, where he owns Angelo's Corner, a pizza place on the Hollywood Broadwalk. His son is in charge there, while Gallo oversees the new place with his Portuguese-born wife, Paula.

Come hungry and leave with leftovers. In the morning there are omelets, croissants and bagel subs, nova lox platters and café con leche. Lunch favorites are panino caldo and fredo (hefty hot or cold sandwiches) on fresh baguettes stacked with quality proscuitto, cold cuts and cheeses (build your own).

Pizza -- choose a 16-inch rectangular or a 10-inch round pie called a pizzette -- and can be customized, too. Pagnotta is a variation on stromboli, with tube-like rounds of stuffed dough cut into 10-inch lengths.

The lasagne is an interesting strata of pasta, melted cheese, Italian sausage slices and meatballs the size of a large pea. It's layered with a sauce Gallo cooks from a family recipe. The baked ziti is also a crowd pleaser. Both come with salad and bread.

For a sweet ending, consider Argentine pasta frola, a buttery shortbread crust topped with quince paste and a sweet grated coconut mixture.

There is an Argentine expression, La vida no es ena pasta frola, that loosely means life is no piece of cake. You couldn't tell it at Teodora's.

Linda Bladholm's latest book is Latin and Caribbean Grocery Stores Demystified.

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