At the hot new Italian joint in town, everything is made from scratch, the owners say.
The menu at Pelato, located in the former Butcher and Bee space on Morrison Drive, is characterized by recipes developed at home, according to members of the Scotto family – Theresa, Anthony Scotto Jr. and Anthony Scotto III
And for the record, the family isn’t shy with garlic or warm hospitality. That comes from years in the restaurant business, starting with Italian-American restaurants in Brooklyn in New York City.
Among the items on the extensive menu: perfect Italian meatballs in a red sauce. Baked clams in oregano. Standards like richly-sauced pastas, chicken parmesan and calamari. Appetizers that include stuffed mushrooms, anancini and creamy burrata.
The recipe for crunchy-but-fluffy potato croquettes, for example, is Anthony’s grandmother’s creation. She still stops into the restaurant’s original Nashville location.
Here, as in Nashville, the menu changes seasonally and often more frequently, and all changes are reviewed by the family before they are finalized.
The core of the restaurant is just that: family.
“The photo wall that we have [displays] actual family photos and [features] our ancestors’ photos from Brooklyn and Manhattan, where they were raised,” Anthony Scotto III said. “We don’t have stock photos of Frank Sinatra or anything like that,” he joked.
Patrons of Butcher and Bee may not recognize the space as it has had a full facelift. The kitchen and bar have both been relocated and the dining room has been extended. Scotto III said this is the family’s most expensive project to date.
The restaurant initially opened two-thirds of the space to gauge Charleston’s response. When the space is fully open, reservations will be easier to make.
Scotto III said the restaurant is determined to accommodate walk-ins with a minimal wait, adding that it is “not the place that will tell you it’s a four hour wait or to say no.”
“We’re going a little bit slower just to get it right,” Theresa said.
Pelato also operates a bar that is first-come, first-served allowing guests to grab a bite or a drink while they wait for a table. For those looking to spend time al fresco, the restaurant has a pergola with a drink window.
As for the Scottos, they’ll be happy you’re there.
“I’ve never seen an outpouring of appreciation and love for what we’re doing like I saw in Charleston,” Scotto III said.
Getting started
The Scotto family opened Pelato in Nashville in 2023. Scotto III said Charleston’s location in the NOMO corridor is similar to Germantown, the Nashville neighborhood where Pelato’s flagship is located. Both areas are home to many residential neighborhoods which generate high traffic for the restaurants.
Pelato opened on May 13 in Charleston. Service begins daily at 5 p.m. and the restaurant is open until 9 p.m., except Fridays and Saturdays when it closes an hour later. For the Scottos, the restaurant looks to make affordability a priority.
“After COVID, all the prices shot through the roof,” Scotto III said. Everything got super expensive.”
He isn’t wrong. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, food prices have risen by over 20% since 2021, with continued increases still predicted.
The consistent rise in food costs prompted an idea for the family: to open something more approachable instead of a fine dining restaurant. They believed that if prices were more palatable, their clientele would savor the product more – or at least more often.
“The biggest thing for us is we set up a restaurant to do volume because ultimately that’s how we’re able to provide the prices that we do to our customers, which has resonated a lot with the people in Charleston,” said Scotto III.
Editor Andy Brack contributed to this story.
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