Lots of Italian restaurant owners like saying they serve authentic cuisine. But Meridith Mambelli, whose husband Remo is the chef at their Bradenton restaurant Arte Caffé, puts the sentiment another way. “He is unapologetically Italian,” she said, explaining that Remo cooks what he grew up eating in his mother’s kitchen in his native Italy. Remo was born in Genoa, but moved to Padua, near Venice, as a child. He left home for the United States in his 20’s, back in 1990. Now he’s realized his lifelong goal of owning a restaurant, and says he’s truly “living the American Dream.” Many of Remo’s recipes are his mother’s. He describes his cooking style as that of Emilia-Romagna, a province in northern Italy known for, among other dishes, stuffed pastas. For example, in Arte Caffé, Remo often offers a special featuring borsellini pasta (in English, “purses”) stuffed with mixed cheeses and white truf��es, in a light cream and onion sauce, topped with fresh, locally grown arugula. Another Chef Remo signature is his pesto, prepared in the traditional Genovese style. He uses only five ingredients - basil (grown in the restaurant’s garden), pine nuts, olive oil, parmigiano reggiano cheese, and, as a bit of a twist on the original, a handful of walnuts. He offers the sauce on fettuccine pasta, or as a special, on gnocchi, which he handcrafts using 75 percent potato and very little ��our, making the gnocchi light and airy. The focaccia bread Remo bakes daily is another popular menu item. While focaccia is today offered across Italy, this ��at, oven-baked bread, is thought to have originated in the country’s northwest region. Chefs usually “dot” the bread, making wells in the unbaked loaf using a ��nger or utensil, and then brush the dough with olive oil to preserve moisture. It’s often topped with salt and sometimes herbs like rosemary. All Arte Caffé’s sandwiches are made using Remo’s focaccia. You can also order the bread as an appetizer, topped with chopped fresh tomatoes, olive oil, basil, and garlic. In addition, you can buy whole loaves to go. Arte Caffé is only part restaurant. It’s also an Italian market, deli, and bakery offering meats, cheeses, and olive oil imported from Italy, plus cookies, muf��ns, scones, biscotti, tiramisu, and chocolate chip cannoli. The Savory & the Sweet Meridith Mambelli makes all Arte Caffé’s baked goods, other than the breads, from scratch, in small batches daily. The only things she doesn’t bake herself are the cannoli shells, which she imports from Italy. “He does the savory, I do the sweet,” Meridith said of the couple’s roles. Arte Caffé’s customers come for a variety of reasons, whether it’s to sit at the handmade wooden bar with a scone (gluten-free or regular) and espresso when the cafe opens at 10am, or to linger over a long dinner with friends and family. “It’s a mom-and-pop, casual, ‘you’reat home’ kind of feel,” Meridith said, adding that while the food and service are top-notch, the atmosphere is never intimidating. The staff at Arte Caffé is tiny. While Remo cooks, Meredith manages, hosts and serves, and they have only a few other employees to help. At the end of the night, Meridith said her husband often emerges from the kitchen asking, “Now, whose party am I going to crash tonight?” By closing time, their customers have become their friends. The chance for patrons to interact with the owners personally is one of the secrets to the Mambelli’s success… and possibly the fact that her husband’s a “charmer,” Meridith said. And then there’s the
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