Given the appearance of the new Del Pietro’s restaurant as of last Friday, no sane person would have bet that it would be ready for guests by this past Monday: Kitchen supplies were strewn about, there was no food in the house, tables and chairs were helter-skelter, and the walls were bereft of any adornment.
Nonetheless, owner Mike Del Pietro confidently announced to his staff and partner Ryan French, “We’ll do soft openings on Monday and Tuesday.”
Find the best food in St. Louis
Subscribe to the St. Louis Dining In and Dining Out newsletters to stay up-to-date on the local restaurant and culinary scene.
Give the 50-year-old restaurateur/chef some serious props for inviting 70-ish friends and family for dinner the first day food got delivered, the same day the kitchen crew (a crackerjack assemblage, granted) fired up the range burners for the first time.
And so it came to pass. Del Pietro was so pleased with the results, he pushed up the official opening to tonight, January 31.
On Monday morning, it was clear that this race would go down to the wire.
Del Pietro’s sister Angela was busy building a mosaic of family photos (four generations worth) just inside the front door. A wall of “intentionally antiqued” mirrors were being hung. Two-wheelers were carrying in food, and place-holder art was being placed.
“The three pieces on that wall were hanging in our house just this morning,” noted Del Pietro’s incredulous wife, Melissa, impressed by her husband’s ingenuity. The interior accouterments are a work in progress, she adds, and will come together over time. Sometimes, owners get antsy playing the “let’s wait a few more days game,” but Melissa said she “was as surprised as anyone” when her husband decided to pull the trigger.
Del Pietro’s is the 2.0 version of the restaurant that Del Pietro’s parents, Michael Del Pietro Sr. and Mary Rose, opened in 1976 on Hampton Avenue. The restaurant was known for serving high-quality Italian fare at reasonable prices. It did so until closing in 2011.
After a successful pair of dinners honoring his parents last year, Del Pietro decided the time was right to revive a little nostalgia by creating a “new-old” tribute restaurant and a bridge between fine dining and everyday eateries.
As mentioned in this earlier SLM article on the new restaurant, the existing bar and elevated dining platform were removed, creating a large, open dining room. Heavy wall-length drapes add old-school elegance and absorb sound. Massive oval bentwood lights cast a proper glow.
As promised, the menu is a mix of Del Pietro family classics (stuffed artichokes, Spaghetti alla Angela, Del Pietro house salad), recreations of favorite dishes (a Linguine Tutto Mare with a light cream sauce), and new additions (a piquant tri-color salad with arugula, endive, and radicchio). The Marsalas, Piccatas, Saltimboccas, and Modegas are all present and accounted for. The menu pricing is sure to garner immediate attention: Pastas average in the mid-teens, and entrées are in the high teens.
The indefatigable matriarch, Mary Rose Del Pietro, plans to work the room alongside her son, with him touching tables (in today’s parlance) and her touching shoulders, in the way only a mother can do.
