Charleston’s appetite for Italian food still raging

Ken Vedrinski is 90 percent sure that his new Italian restaurant, Volpe, will open its doors on Rutledge Avenue this Friday, March 21.

The debut hinges on the city’s issuance of a Certificate of Occupancy, as well as a few other unavoidable necessities, but the longtime restaurateur is otherwise raring to go.

Sure, he’s aware he’s been quoted as saying he had zero interest in opening another restaurant. Vedrinski’s first Charleston restaurant, Trattoria Lucca, closed during the pandemic, following a 12-year run at the address which now belongs to Vern’s. His Isle of Palms, Coda del Pesce, is full almost every night, so he was tempted to leave it at that.

But the combo of location, size, and lease made 161 Rutledge Avenue a perfect spot to take the restaurant plunge again. Vedrinski purchased the business from Laurel Charleston, a short-lived tapas restaurant that switched to catering. Nobody from the company responded to a message sent to Laurel’s listed email address.

“For whatever reason, this lease was written nine years ago, when it was a ghost town up here,” Vedrinski says, referring to Elliotborough-Cannonborough, a neighborhood that once housed few restaurants. “So, the lease is very, very favorable to me.” 

Another peninsula rarity? Parking. Volpe is located next to Longevity Fitness, which is allowing Volpe diners to park after 6 p.m, though the businesses’ owners are still working out specific details.   

For those who dined Monday nights at Trattoria Lucca on Bogard Street, Volpe’s style and menu will be very familiar.

“It’s like Monday night at Lucca every night,” he says, stressing though, that he’s going in a decidedly unfussy direction since he believes “nobody really cares where their carrots are from.” Instead, he’s focusing on creating cozy, Italian-American specialties, served family-style. 

“When you talk to anybody who’s been to Italy,” he explains, “it’s not the Michelin-star dinners in Milan or Rome they mention. It’s almost always the little place down the cobblestone alley; a true family-run restaurant, sometimes with Nonna seating guests or cooking.” 

Volpe, named after Vedrinski’s nonna, will have an ever-shifting menu, but a peek at the opening offerings include a farro salad with rock shrimp and fresh calamari, a Sicilian-style chicken, and of course, pasta. 

The wine list is simple, with all whites by the bottle priced at $44 and all reds at $48, which he hopes will encourage diners to relax and try a wine that they might not otherwise.

For Vedrinski, it’s all about “fun. You know, when we talk about Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas dinner, where you sit around and all the food’s on the table? I always wanted that [in a restaurant]: It’s all there, everybody shares dishes, and talks, and has a good time.”

For a good time, book a Volpe table on Resy.

Sono le cinque somewhere

“For Italians, it’s not about cheap food or bottomless Aperol spritzes, although that sounds lovely,” he says. “Rather, it is an opportunity to connect socially.” 

“Legami” loosely translated means ties or bonds, and it seems that Charleston diners—or at least restaurants who are rightly interested in diners coming in as soon as doors open—are bonding with this Italian tradition of olives and anchovies before dinner. But while Legami and its compagnos are steering clear of screaming bargains, I think it’s probably only a matter of time until bottomless Aperol spritzes join the Charleston lineup.