We have a fantastic hamburger, personal pizzas, half-priced drinks and food from the bar menu Sunday through Thursday, 4 to 7. We’re starting a bar menu with small plates. Q: A big difference between the old and new Ciao Bella is that the second location has a full bar.Ī: Yes, that’s one of our challenges too, getting the bar more integrated into the make-up of the restaurant. There’s a whole different level of appetizers and entrees, chicken, veal seafood.Ī: No, but we have fun with a list of 4 to 6 nightly specials, which is also a challenge, and with using a lot of local produce and meat. There’s some Greek food from old family recipes. The menu offers more here, in addition to what was offered at the original restaurant, but the restaurant is larger too. Q: While the “new” Ciao Bella is more ambitious.Ī: Not a doubt. Q: What was the original Ciao Bella like when it opened and you were chef?Ī: It was small and cozy, a place for pizza, pasta and salads, a nice bottle or glass of wine. The owners have an active role but are trying to take some responsibility off them. Q: That sounds more like general manager than just executive chef.Ī: Well, I’m not general manager, but I’m absorbing some of those roles. What does the title mean in terms of duties?Ī: I’m in charge of all menus, all ordering, teaching and coaching the staff, guest relations, publicity, really every aspect of the restaurant. Q: You were named executive chef for Ciao Bella and Carmela’s Café about four months ago. Meanwhile, Steenerson, 32, had cooked in various places, as you will see in the following interview, and was hired in March to be not only executive chef of Ciao Bella and Carmela’s Café, the next-door lunch place, but to take on many of the duties of running the restaurant. Prego, readers, those were different days, and 10 years later, that same shared salad, pizza and a couple of glasses of wine at Ciao Bella Italian Grill could cost all of – $45.įoody left the restaurant business in 2005, and the Tashie family regrouped as sole owners, before moving their establishment to its more expansive space, former quarters of Lulu Grille, and an ambitious menu that included not only their salads, pastas and pizzas but dishes from the Tashie’s Greek heritage and a complement of chicken, fish and meat entrees. When I reviewed Ciao Bella, I asserted that it was about time that Memphians could sit down to a large shared salad, a pizza and a couple of glasses of wine – not in a chain restaurant – and get out the door for about $35. The first Ciao Bella was a partnership between the beguilingly named Lance Foody and his cousin-by-marriage Paul Tashie. If you choose to do business with this business, please let the business know that you contacted BBB for a BBB Business Profile.Īs a matter of policy, BBB does not endorse any product, service or business.Ciao Bella executive chef Jonathan Steenerson, a veteran of area restaurants including Erling Jensen, Ronnie Grisanti’s and Automatic Slims, returned to the East Memphis eatery this year. BBB Business Profiles are subject to change at any time. When considering complaint information, please take into account the company's size and volume of transactions, and understand that the nature of complaints and a firm's responses to them are often more important than the number of complaints.īBB Business Profiles generally cover a three-year reporting period. However, BBB does not verify the accuracy of information provided by third parties, and does not guarantee the accuracy of any information in Business Profiles. BBB asks third parties who publish complaints, reviews and/or responses on this website to affirm that the information provided is accurate. BBB Business Profiles may not be reproduced for sales or promotional purposes.īBB Business Profiles are provided solely to assist you in exercising your own best judgment.
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