Customs Combined with Creativity

Family Tradition and Inspired Cuisine are Served Daily at Carmela's Cucina

Written by Kristen Hampshire | Photography by Jill Jasuta

Stefano Bono with his parents, Charlie and Carmela Bono

There is no ingredient Stefano Bono shies away from when dressing innovative pizzas that are handmade and baked in the stone ovens at Carmela’s Cucina. Creativity is his specialty. Chicken and waffles on a pizza? Order up! Sausage and sweets with ricotta and honey? You got it.

And how about a lattice-topped spaghetti pizza with pasta tossed in-house arrabiata, garlic cloves, fresh basil and sausage? “The stuffed-crust pizza looks like a pie — you can see the layers,” Bono said, calling it “beautiful, delicious and it has some heat to it.”

At Carmela’s Cucina, every dish is made to order and the Bono family uses as many fresh, local ingredients as possible. Pastas are imported from Italy, and a local butcher supplies meats.

“Every single day, there is variety,” added Bono, noting that a constant rotation of pizza types, along with staples that guests expect, offer inspiring tastes for those with adventurous palates and selections for customers who want their “usual.” Though, arguably, there is nothing usual about Carmela’s Cucina. The family-owned business started in Wilmington in 1988 as Charlie’ Pizzaman — a venture Bono’s parents Charlie and Carmela grew for a dozen years before opening their first sit-down restaurant in town in 2000, called Café Luna. In 2012, an opportunity in Cambridge prompted the couple to relocate and start Carmela’s Cucina. The family moved the business to its current location, at 400 Academy St., in 2014, after renovating the space with their own two hands, with the help of family and friends.

Bono and his siblings, Marianna and Michele, grew up in the restaurants. “After school, I’d go to the pizzeria and sit on 50-pound bundles of flour and do my homework,” Bono shared. “It was home.”

In fact, everyone who works and dines at Carmela’s Cucina is treated like family and invited to the table to taste longtime recipes and new selections.

“We keep the tradition alive by using the same recipes my mom started with — and we are also thinking way outside the box,” Bono says of the flavorful, bold pizza types the cucina offers.

“We do a chicken-bacon-ranch with a barbecue drizzle and red onion, and when that comes out of the oven, you can smell that applewood- smoked bacon and caramelized onion,” Bono said

Home Cooking

The majority of Carmela’s Cucina’s menu items are made fresh daily by Stefano Bono.

He even concocted a PB&J pizza with a house-made peanut butter wing sauce and reduced jelly for tossing fried chicken. The first three customers in the shop that day bought up all the slices.

Pasta sauces are made from scratch daily, and the versatile dough recipe is also the base for pretzels, breads, bagels and more. Aside from signature pizzas, Carmela’s Cucina offers signature seafood and veal, a range of pasta favorites, made-to-order subs, wraps, salads and chicken dishes.

Always “on the menu” is a family feel and authentic experience. Guests might hear Charlie break out in song and see Carmela bustle around in the kitchen. Bono’s grandfather likes to sit at a table and watch his favorite Italian soccer club, Juventus.

The legacy at Carmela’s Cucina continues. Bono said, “There is no limit to what we can do.” CS

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