Fluffy pillows of pasta were the building blocks to the Avondale we know
Much of West Ashley’s revitalization can be traced back to a tiny, delicious Italian dumpling.
And that includes big-time, looming improvements and changes in the Avondale business district.
Sixteen years ago, restaurateur John Marshall opened Al di La, a Northern Italian trattoria in a quiet Avondale strip mall. His signature dish, or at least the one that first blew away local foodies, was his ricotta gnocchi with cherry tomatoes, basil, and local-caught shrimp.
Word got out, lines formed, copycats emerged, and suddenly that strip of Savannah Highway blossomed to the point that subsequent restaurants had to chip in to hire a valet service to keep their customers from parking in adjacent neighborhoods’ yards.
You could argue that those soft, unctuous little pillows were the building blocks for the “model” City Hall now touts as the future of redevelopment in West Ashley, the latest version being spun at the intersection of Sam Rittenberg Boulevard and Old Towne Road (see Dead Pig article page 8.)
If you think that’s a stretch, that combination of semolina and knowing hands would have such a far reach, consider the perspective of Ed Kronsberg, who manages the commercial building that houses Al di La and the other Ashley Shoppes on that side of Savannah Highway, which now include other restaurants such as Mellow Mushroom, Voodoo Tiki Bar, Verde, and Pearlz.
“Oh, absolutely, everything along there, all the current interest, dates back to what John Marshall did,” says Kronsberg. He adds that Marshall showed what was possible in the strip he manages, and that has spilled across the street and around West Ashley.
Marshall, reached at his current venture, Old Bull Tavern in Beaufort, demurred. Instead of taking a bigger piece of the applause, Marshall praises Kronsberg for being a great property manager who gave him and subsequent renters a good rate and good service.
And that little gnocchi tossed into the pond of Charleston continues to ripple out today. Across the street there are big plans to redo the current Children’s Cancer Society Thrift Store into three different retail spots.
Local Facebook pages were ablaze recently with the release of a rendering that recasts the former Rodenberg’s grocery store into an even more upscale shopping strip than what surrounds it.
On the same side of Savannah Highway, a local realtor has purchased the building where West Of Free Press is housed, and huge improvements are planned for the space, located between West Ashley’s first brewery and West Ashley’s first distillery.
Local foodie tongues were wagging recently after it emerged that someone was trying to buy Al di La from its third owners, Giuseppe Mola and Fabio Zedda.
Mola says the restaurant was not for sale, “but everything has a price,” he says with a laugh. Mola says a loyal customer “came and approached us with a great offer, and what do you do, because at the end of the day we are businessmen.”
The deal didn’t work out, and Al di La is still not for sale, and no broker is representing them. “We’re not going anywhere,” says Mola.
A lot of what Marshall started is still in the restaurant, including the gnocchi. The menu is in the same font. The brick oven still turns out perfect rounds of pizza.
Of course there have been changes to Al di La over the years. There have been changes to Avondale. There have been changes to West Ashley. And just think, all this, because of a tiny piece gnocchi.
