Vincenzo’s is about to turn 40. Writing at Louisville Business First, Michael L. Jones offers a birthday consideration for an establishment long recognized as a downtown Louisville bellwether.
With Humana tower news, what’s next for Vincenzo’s?
Agostino (and) Vincenzo Gabriele opened the authentic Northern Italian restaurant in May 1986 after David Jones Sr., then chairman of Humana, invited Vincenzo to take over the former Columns location in the Humana Conference Center at 150 S. Fifth St. in Downtown Louisville.
Vincenzo’s 40th anniversary comes at a time when the future of the Humana Building and Downtown Louisville are in flux.
Here’s the crib sheet version for those without LBI access: Vincenzo’s helped make downtown Louisville what it was, but now downtown is evolving toward something different, and the brothers must find their niche amid coming times.
Three years ago, I was honored to pen a Food & Dining Magazine feature about Vincenzo’s, with photos by Dan Dry. It remains one of my favorite assignments.
Read my piece at issuu: Vincenzo’s Italian Restaurant.
The best part for me was meeting the legendary Gabriele brothers for the first time. What a treat! Here are two brief excerpts that to my mind summarizes what the brothers have brought to the collective area table for these many years.
Leave it to co-owner Vincenzo Gabriele to remind us that mercurial celebrity is only a pleasant coincidence when it comes to longevity in the restaurant business. “My father used to say the most important thing in hospitality is sincerity,” he says. “We treat everyone as if they are a guest at our family’s table.”
And:
Today, after a lifetime of achievement, when Agostino Gabriele is asked what is meant by Italian cuisine his answer doesn’t cite recipes; rather, he recalls what he learned from his mother as a boy: “Fresh meat, never frozen; fresh vegetables, cooked fresh, every day—the tomato sauce and stock, fresh every day.”
Diana and I have an anniversary coming soon. I think it’s time to head back to Vincenzo’s, and do it up the right way.
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