Leone’s Pizza fans can end their mourning. The Salem Village shop may have shuttered in October, but its owner and head chef have found new digs at the Osteria at Camelot, in Olde Towne East.
Since his first kitchen position, chef Ryan LaRose has cultivated a craft for pie-making, bouncing from Florida to New York to Missouri in the process. Though he’s serving up flatbreads, not pizza, at the Osteria, his following will feel at home with “the same dough, the same cheese, the same sauce, and all the same toppings,” he says.
He’s also putting out a long list of appetizers, pastas, and chicken and steak entrees. Together with Camelot Owner Janine Aquino, they’re aiming to educate diners on Italian cuisine and the wines to pair with it.
LaRose’s Gnocchi Mushroom Ragu, for example, is made with shiitake mushrooms grown in the Piedmont region, the same area from which their Estate Barolo hails. Says Aquino and LaRose, they’re the perfect pair.
“It’s all about education,” says Aquino. “When you walk in, it’s kind of like ‘What is this place? There’s all this wine, help us.’ That’s what we get when people are coming in. Now we’re able to say, ‘Here’s this food that’s perfect with this wine.’”
Camelot ferments juices from all over the globe to offer roughy 60 varieties of wine to its patrons. Their wine list covers the spectrum, from red and white, to dry or sweet, to what they’re best known for: fruit wine, like green apple riesling, peach apricot chardonnay, and pomegranate zinfandel.
“We have enough variety so that when you walk in, we can give you something you like, versus ‘Here’s our six wines, hope there’s something that you like,’” Aquino says.
They were able to up their production after their move from the Short North in 2016. With limited space and no kitchen, Aquino says their old spot restricted Camelot to serving just charcuterie boards, and they ended up watching patrons leave when they wanted an actual meal.
Their current spot at 901 Oak St. offers four times the production space and a full kitchen. They’re still serving charcuterie, along with dishes like bruschetta, chicken con pepe, meatball parmagiana, and a handful of sweets to round out the menu.
“I mean, carbohydrates and wine go hand in hand,” says Aquino.
The Osteria now operates five days per week, opening for dinner at 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and for brunch at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
For more information, visit camelotcellars.com.