Is it just me, or are we seeing a shift in the culinary landscape where Italian cuisine is taking the lead? For at least five years, American comfort has been the inspiration for some of the nation’s best restaurants and the backbone for making casual dining the preferred style of hospitality compared to fine dining. 

Lately we’ve been seeing a nationwide increase in chef-driven pizzerias, aperitivo-style restaurants, and red-sauce diners. In North Carolina, Vivian Howard opened Benny’s Big Time Pizzeria last year, and Ashley Christensen is opening Poole’side Pies later this year. In Charlotte, there are plans for Cicchetti, a Venetian-style aperitivo bar and restaurant, to open this year and Osteria LuCa, a new casual Italian restaurant and pizza bar, will open in Park Road Shopping Center this fall. Capiche in South End opened late last year and has become a popular fast-casual place. 

Comfort and casual dining do not seem to be going away anytime soon, but the type of comfort food is changing. I’m not surprised to see so many chef-driven pizzerias popping up; we’re in a generation of chefs who are pulling from their childhoods and letting nostalgia lead the directions of menus. The late ‘80s and early ‘90s were big pizza parlor, salad bar, and red-sauce supper times, and the kids of those decades are the leading chefs of today. 

I predict we’ll see several chef-driven Italian and pizza restaurants opening in the next couple of years, and expect Charlotte chefs to follow the trend of Italian comfort. Which chefs will take the leap? We know Michael Shortino, chef and owner of Futo Buta and Lincoln’s Haberdashery, has a pizza joint planned for South End. We’ll have to wait and see who else will follow. —Justin Burke-Samson 

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