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Di Bruno Bros. steps it up in Rittenhouse with Alimentari, an Italian cafe

It’s a full-service restaurant extension of the location at 18th and Chestnut Streets, with pizza, sandwiches, charcuterie boards, snacks, and drinks. Di Bruno's also is adding a catering venue at the former Bank on Spring Garden Street and a bottle shop in South Philadelphia.

The lounge area at Alimentari on the second floor of the Di Bruno Bros. store at 18th and Chestnut Streets.
The lounge area at Alimentari on the second floor of the Di Bruno Bros. store at 18th and Chestnut Streets.Read moreCOURTESY DI BRUNO BROS.

“My wife made me promise I would never get into the restaurant business,” Bill Mignucci Jr. of the South Philadelphia-rooted Italian grocer Di Bruno Bros. was saying the other day.

Mignucci had been telling her of a project that he and his cousins/partners, Emilio and Billy, were working on — transforming the second floor of the Rittenhouse store by adding a mozzarella/wine/coffee bar, pizza bar, comfortable seating in a lounge area and dining room, and an all-day menu served by waiters.

Karen shot him a look.

Bill denied that it would be a restaurant. “I’m allowed to call it a cafe and bar,” he said.

Alimentari, as the space is known, soft-opened last week.

However you define it, Alimentari — Italian for “nourish” — could be viewed as Di Bruno Bros.' home-grown answer to Eataly, the syndicated, one-stop Italian food emporium. It’s an extension of the mini-supermarket at 18th and Chestnut Streets, with a vast collection of cheeses, cured meats, oils, and groceries.

Up the flight of stairs, in what had been a lightly trafficked cafe and event space, the design firm Cohere set up a Euro-looking, subway-tiled eatery with counters bearing sandwiches, Roman-style pizza sold by the slice, and other prepared foods; a marble bar with an espresso machine, a selection of wines, refrigerator cases for meats, and the fixins for mozzarella salads; and waiter service. Most of the menu can be prepared from products sold downstairs at retail; there’s a dedicated kitchen with a full crew. (Lunch menu is here, and dinner is here.)

“The idea is for people to spend two hours [on the premises] and not 20 minutes," Mignucci said, adding that the company is taking a risk with this approach. “We have plenty of experience with food service, but this is a different world,” he said, describing the move as an “evolution” of the company as it marks its 80th anniversary.

Di Bruno’s has been on a hiring spree of late. Among the newcomers are general manager Nancy Benussi (a 10-year veteran of Vetri), managing director of culinary Ashley James (a veteran of Starr Catering and the Four Seasons), and Alimentari chef Charles Vogt (most recently at Main & Vine and Barcelona).

Among the projects due this fall are a catering venue at the former Bank nightclub at Sixth and Spring Garden Streets and a bottle shop next door to the original Di Bruno’s location, on Ninth Street between Christian and Carpenter.

For now, Alimentari is open from 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday to Saturday, and till 7 p.m. Sunday. Brunch and later hours will be added this fall.