Martini Italian Bistro is now locally owned and operated.

Robin great idea... I'll even throw in a little color!!!

From left to right-
Not pictured but also in the kitchen with Chef Allan is Chef Wayne who was at Ramsi's for over 14 years.)

I worked with Wayne at Ramsi's. I love Wayne!!!! Tell him Jamie says hello if you see him!

What's Wayne's last name, guys?

It's Wayne Blakey

Super excited, I started working there about a month after they opened, developed many awesome friendships....in a twist of irony, they are now one of my biggest customers. I am super excited to see how things evolve as we move forward.

uuugh, turn off, not there.....ever .... No offense to Rob whatsoever, I know that you are a good guy and need to make a living. However, when I see a "Sysco" truck pull into a restaurant's parking lot I am very hesitant to give it a true "locally owned" label. Sorry.

Went to a little get together at Martini Italian Bistro after they closed Tuesday to celebrate the new beginning and taste some awesome dishes.

Next Monday they will offer an additional menu titled "tastes of the season" featuring:



We tasted the Mac e Formaggio tonight from that menu and it was outstanding!





But that was just one of many dishes Chef prepared tonight. Please keep in mind that Martini already had an excellent menu so don't expect any major changes to the main menu immediately. That doesn't mean they won't tweak their current offering as Chef sees fit.























So many great dishes that I can't do it justice here For the entire group of photos I shot please go to my Zenfolio site at: http://jzegart.zenfolio.com/mit11111 Enjoy...

Food looks delicious and these photos are spectacular. More please!

Jerry, just checked out your website. Every restaurant in town should consider having you do their website photos. Don't know how I'm going to concentrate on working the rest of the day!

Congratulations Jim, Gary, Chef's Allan and Wayne!! It's been a long time coming! Sorry I missed the party last night, heard it was a great celebration
Best of Luck! and hope to see you soon!

uuugh, turn off, not there.....ever .... No offense to Rob whatsoever, I know that you are a good guy and need to make a living. However, when I see a "Sysco" truck pull into a restaurant's parking lot I am very hesitant to give it a true "locally owned" label. Sorry.

Hmmm. An interesting thought just came to mind. I would be really curious if there are ANY restaurants (local, chain etc.) that don't use a large purveyor like a SYSCO/Gordons/Mattingly/US Foods etc. to source the absolute basics.....but hey, what do I know? Maybe there is a guy in a local restaurant that sits in the back stuffing sugar packets and folding local to-go boxes out of recycled Kentucky cardboard...?On a side note, I think SYSCO is the only "large" purveyor that carries body bags...those guys think of everything!!

uuugh, turn off, not there.....ever .... No offense to Rob whatsoever, I know that you are a good guy and need to make a living. However, when I see a "Sysco" truck pull into a restaurant's parking lot I am very hesitant to give it a true "locally owned" label. Sorry.

Hmmm. An interesting thought just came to mind. I would be really curious if there are ANY restaurants (local, chain etc.) that don't use a large purveyor like a SYSCO/Gordons/Mattingly/US Foods etc. to source the absolute basics.....but hey, what do I know? Maybe there is a guy in a local restaurant that sits in the back stuffing sugar packets and folding local to-go boxes out of recycled Kentucky cardboard...?On a side note, I think SYSCO is the only "large" purveyor that carries body bags...those guys think of everything!!

I was thinking the same thing when I read Heather's post. I can't imagine any restaurant not doing business with one of the larger distributors if for nothing other than their dry goods and cleaning supplies.

Mattinglys, is local at least it was, it used to be called A. Thomas, and John Thomas was the rep.

Mattinglys corporate HQ is in Ohio. If you don't consider a locally owned establishment that purchases supplies from an out of town source to be local enough, I'm not entirely sure that there are any businesses in town that fit your exacting standards.

Mattinglys, is local at least it was, it used to be called A. Thomas, and John Thomas was the rep.

Indeed, I know John and he is still (thankfully) still there, albeit under the Mattingly umbrella. A truly fine rep and a genuinely great guy.....but....Mattingly is a large purveyor and even A.Thomas (prior to the buy-out when it was still A. Thomas) carried Nugget/Roland....etc. etc. and very little, if any of there product line was local. If you can show me a local place where the Chef is grinding his own flour from a local wheat field (maybe Harvest?), I'll take it all back and hang up my coat for sure. So, back to my original question, is there really ANY restaurant that doesn't use a large purveyor? I would suspect that if they say no, I will see them standing in line at some (un) local Sam's Club/Costco/Restaurant Depot etc. to buy the basics yes?? (on yet another side note, I currently use Mattingly for service and price-point but over the years have used them ALL and would even bid them out against each other....that's business right?)

Waitaminnit, you mean you don't make your own flour from wheat you have personally grown in your back yard and hand ground between 2 slabs of Kentucky limestone?

Waitaminnit, you mean you don't make your own flour from wheat you have personally grown in your back yard and hand ground between 2 slabs of Kentucky limestone?

Sadly, no, and if Sysco has AP flour for cheap, I'm heading for the phone (the horror....). What's really sad is I can remember companies like Monarch, Sexton, etc. that were once independent, only to be gobbled up by bigger fish ( S.E.Rykoff, then US foods). I guess it is just a matter of time before Mattingly (and it's subsidiaries A.Thomas, Irish Hill etc.) also get gobbled up by the big boys on the block. It's kind of a circle of life thing I guess....

Clancy, your beginning to get MY Irish up, you know what I mean dammit.
Clayyyyyyy, where have you been ? Haven't seen you around these parts, since you uh, fir.. uh since one our our esteemed board members left your fine establishment.