Meet Valentina Di Pietro and Guido Nistri of Bencotto Italian Kitchen and Monello Restaurants in Little Italy

Today we’d like to introduce you to Valentina Di Pietro and Guido Nistri.

Valentina and Guido, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Guido and I are both from Milan, but we met here in San Diego in 1998. While pursuing my Ph.D., I was working as a server at his Italian restaurant in Pacific Beach. After two years, we eloped and got married in NY. We moved back to Milan for four years, where I worked in fashion PR for Dolce & Gabbana, while Guido continued to work in the restaurant business. In 2004, we moved to NY, where I kept working for D&G and Guido was hired to open a restaurant for an Italian company. Two years later, we decided to move back to San Diego, and open our restaurant. Guido acted as GC and GM while I took care of PR and marketing. We opened Bencotto in 2010 and Monello in 2012.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
We opened Bencotto at the lowest moment of the 2008 recession, and everybody told us we were insane to open a restaurant during the recession. I was five months pregnant when we opened Bencotto in February 2010, and we were alone and we just invested everything we had in Bencotto. It was not easy to be accepted in the old Little Italy neighborhood. Bencotto was not the stereotypical southern Italian restaurant. We were a young generation from the north, with a newyorkish vibe. So it did not go down well with the public that we were deconstructing the Italian restaurant stereotype.

Please tell us about your business.
We are about to celebrate ten years of Bencotto. We produce 1000 pounds of fresh pasta in the house. We have a lot of competitors of course, but as far as we know, there is no other Italian restaurant that produces this massive quantity of handcrafted pasta in house.

We are proud of having found our own identity without copying anyone. We started a new trend of “modern Italian”: no red checked table cloths, no opera music in the background, but upbeat atmosphere while serving recipes that invited the public to abandon their comfort zone where it comes to Italian food.

Ten years after, almost all new Italian restaurants define themselves as “modern”, and we feel that somehow we introduce this concept with Bencotto ten years ago. Monello has been getting attention with the pasta and risotto tossed in a 50LB Parmigiano Reggiano cheese wheel, served tables side. Monello is Bencotto’s young brother, which offers pizza and seafood options to differentiate itself from the older brother. Monello also serves brunch and Italian happy hour.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
My husband’s sense of humor (very subtle) and obsession with details; my city-girl high energy and stubbornness. But above all, success goes hand in hand with the sense of purpose: continue to employee brilliant people, keep the love for Italy alive in the American hearts, and going to work feeling we are not working at all. We are just being Italian.

Contact Info:

• Address: Bencotto Italian Kitchen and Monello
  750 West Fir Street
• Website: www.lovebencotto.com www.lovemonello.com
• Phone: 619.450.4786
• Email: info@lovebencotto.com
• Instagram: @bencotto @lovemonello
• Facebook: @bencotto @lovemonello

Image Credit:
Valentina

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