Trust Restaurant Group’s Cardellino Transitions Into East Coast-Style Italian Chophouse Concept

“Cardellino, as do all our restaurants do, continues to evolve,” explained Trust Restaurant Group Chef & Owner Brad Wise. “I came back from a recent trip to my hometown (East Coast), and was really inspired by these old-school Italian restaurants that had these impressive meat offerings. Together with my team we went into the history of American chophouses in Chicago and New York, Italian influence in these turn-of-the-century cities, Northern Italian culinary traditions, and we decided we wanted to give Cardellino some of these elements without overhauling the restaurant and changing the concept. It’s still Italian-ish – just added more meat, leaned into our Big Green Egg and stone hearth to create something I’m really excited about. We always had plans to add some new design elements (pandemic put a hold on a lot of the finishing design details), so we added those to the space and I’m loving it. I think restaurants should never be stagnant, and what this group does really well is fire and meat and elevated service and Cardellino now has all of those things and it’s awesome.”