When Al Di La abruptly closed after two decades, it left a hole in West Ashley that no one quite filled. For five years, the neighborhood's Italian craving meant a bridge and a reservation somewhere else. Joe Walker is about to fix that.
Walker, the restaurateur behind Cafe Roca and The Corner Store, is eyeing an August opening for Bad Bambino, sliding into the former Taco Bartina space across from Home Team on Ashley River Road. The sign is already up and lit, and Walker says it's been drawing curious looks from passersby daily.
It completes a trifecta. With Cafe Roca (breakfast and lunch) next door and The Corner Store (beer, wine and grab-and-go) in the end cap, Walker now has the corridor covered morning to night. "Someone could come there twice a day and have a morning experience and a night experience," he said in the Post & Courier, laughing.
Where Cafe Roca is light and airy and closes at 3 p.m., Bad Bambino leans the other way: 35 seats, a darker room, 4-to-10 p.m. hours. "It's very date-night vibes," Walker said of the walk-in-only spot.
The menu isn't final, but the kitchen lead is. Will Cammer, former executive sous chef at Costa, has signed on. Expect "straightforward" Italian favorites, like chicken parmesan, Bolognese and alfredo, plus an upstate New York-style square pizza in the grandma mold. A wine and beer bar rounds it out, with a heavy focus on takeout for the commuters crawling home on the busy stretch.
There's a smart read of the neighborhood buried in that takeout emphasis. Ashley River Road is a thoroughfare, not a destination, and Walker is meeting West Ashley where it actually lives: in the car, on the way home, wanting something better than a drive-thru. A square slice and a bottle of wine is a low bar to clear and a high one to build loyalty on.
Bad Bambino is the last tenant in a strip that Walker and his wife have quietly reshaped, alongside Shift Pilates, a salon and a dog boutique. "Bad Bambino represents the last piece of the puzzle in that strip center," he said.
For a neighborhood that's spent half a decade without a proper red-sauce table, August can't come fast enough.
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