14 June 2022
Nearly two years after opening Enzo’s Delicatessen, owner Joe Cardinale is on a new journey — opening a Venetian-style wine bar next door in order to his specialty sandwich store. In the intimate space across the street to Enzo’s, Cardinale was chatting with friends during a personal soft opening event 06 13. Italian wines splendid the floor-to-ceiling shelves sitting down against the dark walls from the bar as Cardinale talked about his new club, Gran Sasso Wine Pub. “There’s nothing like this in the nation. You know, there’s Italian dining places everywhere, but nobody does a Venetian style Bacaro because it’s a very international concept, ” said Cardinale, said Cardinale, referencing the little Venetian bars that function small glasses of wine plus ciicchettos (small bites associated with food) known as bacaros. The particular Italian Bacaro style of consuming and eating is what Cardinale hopes to create in the city’s college nightlife district, after working years working as a cocinero at various bars in the region. Cardinale worked as mind chef of Jake’s Ripper’s kitchen in the same university neighborhood that his meal shop now sits. He or she opened Enzo’s in Aug 2020 and had originally prepared to open Gran Sasso simultaneously, but the pandemic pushed programs back. The wine bar may feature exclusively Italian wine beverages and liquors and notorious Italian cocktails — particularly Negroni, an Italian drink made with gin, vermouth plus Campari, as well as a variety of spritzes. Cardinale’s said his major focus is on the environment of the spot and the consume offerings. In terms of cuisine the location will have small plates mainly made up of small pieces of breads served with various combined toppings like Soppressata (an Italian dry salami) plus sun dried tomatoes or even Ricotta cheese topped along with salmon. “If you go to Venice, this is what it looks like, inch Cardinale said. “They create all this great food along with stuff like fresh fish plus meat and you get a cup of local wine within a tumbler, you know, and it’s therefore cool and so casual. You consume, have a drink. You have 2 bites and you go on to another (bar) and you have a spritz. That’s kind of what wish trying to do here. “Gran Sasso Wine Bar ties a handful of wine bars which have opened in Columbia recently and will be one of the first to focus on Italian language wine regions. Everything concerning the restaurant — from the pictures that adorn the wall space to the house wines the spot will have on faucet — Cardinale has done using the intention of creating a Venetian feel at a price that will Columbia can afford. Glasses of wines will range from around $8 to $15 and containers will be anywhere from $30 in order to $70. Cocktails will float around the same price. “We really want this to be inexpensive. You know, it’s not a steakhouse and it’s not a dive pub. It’s going to be kind of in the middle, inch said Lara Deily, who will be the restaurant’s bar supervisor and moved from Wa, D. C. at the beginning of the entire year to help Cardinale run the location. The Italian wine club is years in the producing for Cardinale, who started his restaurant career cleaning dishes in eighth quality at a restaurant in Ny. He came to Columbia intended for college and after leaving for some time made his way back. Cardinale found his rhythm as being a chef working at Jake’s, a popular college bar within Five Points which was frequently hailed as impressive pub food in the city. Using the doing sandwich pop-ups within the neighborhood and that eventually grew to become a full-fledged restaurant along with Enzo’s. “Most of the children that worked for me (at Jake’s) were from the Northeast, and they just wanted just like a good sandwich and such as chicken cutlets and meatballs, so we would just make this for ourselves, ” Cardinale said. “And then such as the other employees of Jake’s wanted them and then clients saw it so we began doing like late night put ups for Enzo’s and yes it kind of took off and we caused it to be our own thing. “Cardinale expectations to keep Gran Sasso because approachable as Enzo’s plus Ripper’s Kitchen at Jake’s. The wine bar doesn’t have the sommelier and he wants this to be a “casual watering hole” where people can consume wine without it becoming stuffy, a goal that additional wine bar owners in the region have also emphasized. The cafe is set to open after Come july 1st 4 weekend and will be open up four or five nights a week, yet Cardinale emphasized it would be open up on Sunday and Mon because he wants to have a place to get good drinks upon days that are notoriously libation-scarce in Columbia.