An era comes to an end as we say good-bye to Al Di La
by Bill Davis | News Editor
Al Di La, the “forebearer” of the Avondale Business District’s rebirth, has closed for good after a 20-year run. It is an end of an era
Ironically, “al di la” in Italian means “on the other side”- initially a sly reference to it being located off the peninsula – it now also refers to a secondary meaning: “to have moved on to heaven.”
Bob Stracke, the fourth and final owner of the influential local Italian restaurant, has closed Al Di La and put the Magnolia Road business up for sale.
Stracke could not be reached for comment, but the recent closing came at a tough time for restaurateurs across the country that are trying to maintain quality while facing a thin labor market and supply chain issues in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ed Kronsberg, the Addlestone International property manager in charge of the Shoppes at Avondale, the strip where the restaurant is located, confirmed at the end of last month that the restaurant had been sold, and that a new suitor and tenant had been identified.
Kronsberg released that Bearcat, a lauded pop-up restaurant that has taken up residence at multiple downtown businesses, has signed on for Al Di La’s former site as their first brick-and-mortar.
The founder and executive chef of Bearcat, George Kovach has spent years working in Michelin-starred restaurants. The new restaurant plans to, much like its predecessor, bridge “the gap between casual and fine dining.”
The menu will likely feature dishes like heirloom tomatoes with milk bread croutons, heritage pork shoulder, and lamb carpaccio.
Kronsberg says that it is important that Al Di La’s replacement not be a duplicate of anything else that’s in the area.
“Everything has come since Al Di La first opened; Avondale Wine and Cheese, Mellow Mushroom, and all the others,” says Kronsberg, before rattling off a longer list of, of what he referred to as “cool and funky, locally-owned spots.”
One of the cornerstones of Al Di La, had been its gnocchi. Hand-made with parmesan, ricotta, flour, and eggs.
It has proven so popular and successful, it is on the menu of Old Bull Tavern in Beaufort, the current restaurant owned by John Marshall, who first opened and owned Al Di La.
Mark Cumins, one of the owners of Pearlz Oyster Bar a few doors down in Avondale, says that whatever restaurant goes into that location will succeed with “the right food and price points.”
Despite presently being dark, the impact Al Di La has had on the local food scene continues to ripple out like a single gnocchi tossed into a pond.
Jason Wheless says he teaches “some of the techniques I learned there” to his students at the culinary department he chairs at West Ashley High School.
Wheless was a cook under first owner Marshall, and chef de cuisine under the second owners, Mark and Gillian Kohn.
Another former chef de cuisine at the restaurant, Michael Scognamiglio has gone on to owning and running two separate Italian restaurants of his own – Bacco in Mount Pleasant, and Alfredo’s on Folly Beach.
“It was the business model for what I’ve wanted to have as a restaurant,” says Scognamiglio adding that it “tremendously” affected how he set up his two businesses.
Hanna Raskin, the food editor at the Post & Courier from 2013 until 2021, says Al Di La “was where I go on a Friday night, where I could be left alone, and be guaranteed a great meal.”
Raskin, who now publishes and edits a twice-weekly foodie newsletter, Food Section, praises Al Di La, as a “really great neighborhood place.”
If Bearcat is as successful and can have the same impact as Al Di La did, perhaps more upgrades are in store for the West Ashley dining scene.
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