A First Look at The Italian Boy (After Dark) | Listen

A Q&A with Anthony Marini of The Pass and his latest concept, The Italian Boy (After Dark)

In early 2024 a car crashed into The Pass, a deli and market in downtown Charleston and a beloved lunch spot for both locals and visitors. After many months of takeout and delivery only, The Pass has not only reopened their dining room for lunch but also debuted a new dinner concept, The Italian Boy (After Dark), in the same space. Wednesday through Saturday at 7 p.m., the dining room transforms into The Italian Boy for this 2-hour experience ($110/person) which includes a cocktail, antipasti, crudo, pasta, and panino imbottito, with reservations on Resy. We spoke with chef Anthony Marini, who has a background in fine dining, to learn more. 

The Local Palate: Was the car accident an opportunity for growth?

Anthony Marini: Not initially. I was looking for a restaurant property a year before the accident. When the community latched onto our story, I bagged the idea (for now) of a more traditional restaurant in favor of expanding The Pass to several locations [in the Charleston area].

The Local Palate: What inspired the new dinnertime concept?

Anthony Marini: Seven months behind a plywood wall tends to do something to the creative spirit. I missed cooking and I was bored, so I decided to offer up a nighttime concept at The Pass. It’s a bit of a “restaurant inside of a restaurant” called The Italian Boy (After Dark). It will definitely be different.

The Local Palate: Tell us about some of the recent dishes on the rotating menu.

Anthony Marini: We wanted the food to emulate more of a dinner party, as opposed to a traditional tasting menu. The first course, antipasto, is typically a few dishes to give you a taste of everything. The taleggio cheese with roasted orange and pistachio gives you a taste of something sweet and creamy, and then with the boar sausage, you get a little bit of sharp salt flavor as you do with the marinated anchovies. 

We will have a crudo for every menu and it will change often. I keep saying animal, mineral, and vegetable crudo (in my head) which means that you may have a fish crudo, a meat based crudo, and something akin to a salad or vegetable crudo. It will be something very sharp and fresh.

Because at our core we are still a sandwich shop, we wanted to make sure to have the quintessential Italian-American hoagie that I would have from my home neighborhood in Philadelphia. We will (from time to time) also do another sandwich, which will be somewhat more elevated in its ingredients. [We did] a sandwich based on a dish that we have had many times in our home called “gagootz,” which is really a hearty zucchini and potato dish sauteed down with lots of garlic and chili flakes. 

The last savory course is our “macaroni” course, [like our] cavatelli with “Sugo di Maiale” which is a rich, long cooked tomato sauce with marinated and braised pork shoulder. It was topped with Locatelli cheese.

We wanted to give you something a little salty and a little sweet for dessert and not have it be a full dessert. [We served] a small morsel of parmigiano reggiano cheese dotted with the smallest amount of black garlic molasses and a single cannoli filled with rosemary lemon curd, traditional ricotta filling, and crystallized rosemary on the ends.

The Local Palate: What is the tradition behind scarpetta, a recent menu item?
Anthony Marini: Scarpetta is an Italian technique for using bread to mop up sauce left on a plate or in a pot. The term literally translates to “little shoe.” The practice in an Italian household is that everybody sits down to eat a meal, and towards the end of the meal, all of the men of the group usually went to smoke cigars outside and play bocce or cards and the women would often sit and talk and use the leftover cooking pots to mop up the sauce with the bread used for the meal. I realize this is a bit of an outdated tradition, but it did exist in the history of an Italian household.

Keep Reading

Culinary Class

How to Make a Sandwich with Anthony Marini | Video

Anthony Marini of The Pass in Charleston walks us through how to make a sandwich, featuring the shop’s infamous Such a Nice Italian Boy.

First Look

A First Look at La Cave | Listen

Patrons are ushered through a tunnel from Félix’s dining room into La Cave, for a slower, natural reprieve from the bustle of King Street.

First Look

A First Look at Lillian’s Petite Market & Eatery | Listen

With a legacy spanning nearly a century, Lillian’s Petite Market & Eatery, could easily be titled “the little market that could.”