After spending many years working the Charleston nightclub circuit, Jo Meli grew tired of the grueling lifestyle. She longed to open a smaller establishment with more manageable hours, and with her upbringing in Boston, she sorely missed good Italian food. He thought of Davide Davino as the most natural choice and the ideal man to share his vision of a small, family-style Italian restaurant where customers are treated like friends, encouraged to peek into the kitchen to chat with the chef and ask questions, and Place personal requests if you experience a special longing. Meli and the rest of the staff clearly achieved this goal, as some regulars have gone so far as to bring their own homemade sauce into the kitchen for the chef to taste and critique, often lingering for hours over dessert and the Limoncello. homemade in the cozy dining room. room surrounded by shelves of Italian wine while the soft glow of candlelight casts shadows on the butter-colored walls.

Jo and Davide first crossed paths about ten years ago on the Charleston culinary scene, where Jo came to believe in Davide’s special talent. Authentic Italian cuisine is Davide’s birthright and a passion for culinary excellence runs through his veins. When he was a little boy growing up in Naples, Italy, he grew up in the restaurant business. As a boy, he watched his mother, Michela, in the kitchen preparing family favorites like eggplant parmigiana and fritto misto for the traditional Sunday dinner. At the age of fifteen, he was working at his uncle’s restaurant, testing sauces, learning about flavors and slowly perfecting his own unique style. Davide’s uncle still owns a thriving restaurant in Naples and will soon appear as guest chef at Cuoco Pazzo for a private dinner later this summer, when approximately 45 family and friends will gather to enjoy a very special array of Naples delicacies. . Two things are certain: the Italian wine will flow like water and waves of laughter will fill the cozy establishment as twilight turns to night and the golden hue of candlelight descends on the dining room like a warm winter blanket. .

Davide first considered Charleston as a potential destination after a friend from Naples, who also worked in the restaurant business, settled in the lowlands. However, his life first took him in a different direction. His uncle in Naples had a friend at Marino Ristorante in Los Angeles, where Davide spent 6 years cooking for the rich and famous, giving the likes of Joe Pesci, Sylvester Stallone and Mickey Rourke a taste of his Naples heritage. In the likely event that you find Davide for a tableside chat (Davide and Carlo pop out of the kitchen periodically to mingle with the customers), be sure to ask him about his boxing matches with Mickey Rourke in Los Angeles. Jo Meli, who seems to have enormous respect for Davide, commented that Cuoco Pazzo’s veal is so tender it can be cut with a spoon. Meli quipped: “Davide used to train with Micki Rourke; now he beats up the calf.”

Davide left Los Angeles in 2005 to settle in the lowcountry, where he soon crossed paths with another friend from Naples named Carlo Colella. It’s amazing how fate works. As children, Davide and Carlo rode motorcycles together in Naples. Now, years later, they are a professional team bringing a taste of their homeland to the Charleston community. If you had a chance to read my previous column, you probably know that Carlo is the second “crazy chef” and culinary talent behind the scenes at Cuoco Pazzo. Carlo started cooking at the age of 18 and also learned the business from the family, mainly a cousin who had a restaurant in Naples. He moved to Charleston in 1996 and found work at Bella Napoli on Dorchester Road in North Charleston, where he worked with Davide for a year before returning home to his family in Italy. He returned to Charleston in 1999, the same year as Davide, and took a job at La Fontana at Sam Rittenberg in West Ashley. However, his time there was short-lived and he left the city again before finally settling in Charleston in 2007. Carlo is accompanied by his wife, Melinda, who is a friendly and attentive waitress at Cuoco Pazzo.

When I asked Jo Meli about her experience working with Davide and Carlo, she couldn’t say enough positive things about the two men. She spoke of his strong Italian work ethic, claiming that he literally has to force them to take a day off. “They come in in the morning, get ready, go away for a while, then come back and work until closing time. Watching them work in the kitchen is like watching a well-choreographed ballet,” Meli said. When I asked Davide and Carlo about the secret to good Italian cooking, they told me about the virtues of ‘fresh ingredients’, ‘simplicity’, ‘old style’ and ‘authentic Italian’. According to Carlo, the real secret to an authentic Italian dish is “finding someone who knows how to do it.”

On my most recent visit to Cuoco Pazzo, I tried zucchini for the first time in my life. This is not to say that I have never eaten zucchini, because I have, but I have never actually tried zucchini. I have always found zucchini to be soggy, tasteless and quite frankly a waste of time and space. That is, until I tasted zucchini so delicious that I still crave the stuff. It was sliced ​​paper-thin, marinated in olive oil and spices, and sautéed until golden brown. I would return to Cuoco Pazzo for a plate of sautéed zucchini and a glass of Montepulciano, not to mention the other fine dishes that landed on my table: tender veal and fresh asparagus sautéed in a lemon butter sauce, sliced ​​chicken with mushrooms, and pasta. with a perfect carbonara sauce. The sautéed pancetta is present but not overpowering and the dish is creamy and smooth, rich but not too heavy, with a subtle hint of pepper to balance the flavor.

For dessert, I just can’t get past the sinfully rich gelato, which takes me back to twenty-one years old, standing in the middle of a crowded market in Rome in the scorching heat of summer with a dollop of pure heaven melting into my face. my tongue. Yes, certain flavors and aromas can certainly evoke powerful memories. At Cuoco Pazzo, two hard-working chefs are here to share their own treasured memories of Napoli heritage; a heritage rich in warm family gatherings and colorful dishes brimming with delectable delights created from years of tradition and lots of love.