Pane e Vino

When the landlord of an abandoned restaurant in Hollywood, South Carolina, called Alfredo Temelini in 2021 and told him, “I’m buying this building just for you,” at first he didn’t believe it.

Temelini was general manager at Peninsula Grill before moving over to the now-closed Il Cortile del Re and then buying Pane e Vino in its original location on Warren Street in downtown Charleston, revamping the menu, and investing in high-quality ingredients sourced from Italy,
resulting in booming business for more than a decade. Then, that old familiar Covid-19 refrain: “I lost everything.” After the restaurant closed, Temelini worked as a personal chef and even got into construction before he got the call from a local investor, who said he missed the food at Pane
e Vino and wanted the restaurant to relocate to the vacant property he had just purchased 20 miles outside the city. “What’s the catch?” Temelini asked. “No catch” was the response.

So Pane e Vino was reborn, with Temelini as the head chef and one additional cook who followed him from the previous location. “Nobody [else] was available to work because of Covid,” he says. Although he’s hired additional staff since, he’s stayed on in the kitchen: “People like the fact it’s an open kitchen, I’m Italian, it’s my restaurant,” he acknowledges.

Temelini was born outside of Milan, but his culinary influences come more from his grandmother and mother, who were from Pesaro, in the coastal region of Marche. He refers to casoncelli, a dish of beef-and-pork-filled ravioli with ricotta, sage, and raisins that used to be on the menu of his downtown location: “That’s specifically from the region that I grew up. So I have that and other things—a little Tuscany, a little Romagna, Marche, and Lombardy.”

The menu is anchored by solid antipasti and salad offerings. Funghi fritti (flash-fried shiitake with truffle Pecorino) and carpaccio are mainstays, along with the caprina salad (arugula, goat cheese, black fig molasses, and balsamic) and zuppa di fagioli. Pastas range from familiar lasagna and spaghetti Bolognese to duck pappardelle, and the menu finishes with dishes like saltimbocca alla Romana, sole done piccata style, and a pork chop with Vidalia smashed potatoes.

As he’s added staff, Temelini has slowly been adding options back onto the menu, which he had honed down. Once dishes are on the menu, they’re typically there to stay, with some seasonal tweaks—Temelini holds to the nostalgic practice of offering specials. “I have a ton of specials. Yesterday, cioppino. Today, I’m making a gazpacho.” He also does a pesce del giorno, with “whatever is available and fresh,” often branzino or grouper.

Temelini sources sustainable fish and produce locally whenever he can get it, and brings in wine, beef, prosciutto, and cheeses from Italy, along with every single wine on the considerable menu. Desserts, like the “lighter than air” tiramisu, panna cotta, and Mama’s creamy cheesecake, are made in house, as are the pastas. Temelini says his favorite dishes on the menu are the risotto, a daily preparation, and the gnocchi, served with either a gorgonzola cream sauce or a Bolognese sauce. Both pastas, he says, are easy to make, but also easy to ruin. “Nobody makes gnocchi like me. My wife asked me to marry her after I made the gnocchi with gorgonzola sauce and arugula that’s on the menu. Well, she didn’t ask me, but she wanted to marry me.”

In the past year Pane e Vino added a first for Temelini: pizza, making additional use of the wood-fired oven that had previously been used for lasagna and bread. The restaurant is now open on Tuesdays serving a pizza menu only, and the 12 pie options are also available with the full menu on Fridays.

All in all, added hours are a good sign in an industry that still faces many challenges. The area is growing, Temelini says, but 45 minutes outside of downtown Charleston, it can be a challenging spot to run a restaurant during certain months. Several longstanding casual spots closed in recent years.

But Pane e Vino is offering something special that locals would otherwise have to drive into Charleston or Beaufort for, and Lowcountry residents from all over regularly seek out Pane e Vino’s unique and delicious dishes as well. “I don’t cut corners on quality,” Temelini says. His dedication is clearly paying off.