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Husband-and-wife duo Gianbattista “Gianba” and Marlo Vinzoni have relocated their Italian restaurant, Cinque Terre West ATX, from California to Austin. There, chef Gianba Vinzoni serves scratch-made dishes inspired by his heritage and Marlo Vinzoni runs the front-of-house.
Together, they are serving up fresh food to locals in the Rosedale neighborhood starting in July.
“This is our new community,” Marlo Vinzoni said. “Austin has been really great to us.”
A closer look
Gianba and Marlo Vinzoni lived in Pacific Palisades for 23 years, which is where they initially established Cinque Terre West in 2019. After the fire, the owners moved the restaurant, wine bar and deli to a ghost kitchen, and then to its final California destination in Venice.
After opening in Venice, the restaurant didn’t have the same regular customers and clientele that it had in the Palisades, Marlo Vinzoni explained. After one year in Venice, the co-owners decided to move the restaurant to Austin, making it Cinque Terre West ATX.
The Italian restaurant joined the couple’s other venture, Ciccio Bomba.
On the menu
Cinque Terre West ATX is open five nights a week serving food from scratch, including pastas that are made in-house daily. The restaurant offers dishes like Spaghetti Vongole E Bottarga made with Manila clams, garlic, Fresno chile, white wine, parsley and shaved dried mullet roes. Other entrees include the Tagliata d’ Anatra, which is a pan seared sliced duck breast, farrotto, spinach, cherry tomatoes with red grapes sauce.
The restaurant is named after Cinque Terre, a coastal area of Italy where Gianba Vinzoni’s family has lived for centuries. As an homage to the name, Cinque Terre West ATX serves a lot of seafood-based dishes including ahi tuna crudo and branzino, Marlo Vinzoni explained.
Cinque Terre West ATX also has a full bar and wine menu.
Meet the chef
The cuisine at Cinque Terre West ATX is led by chef Gianba Vinzoni who was born in Broni, Italy and discovered a passion for cooking while watching his grandmother in the kitchen. He furthered his culinary career after moving to Los Angeles in 1995, serving as Head Chef at Soho House in West Hollywood, Executive Sous Chef at the Beverly Hilton Hotel and as Executive Sous Chef at the Golden Globes for three consecutive years.
Staying local
Before the co-owners relocated Cinque Terre West from California to Austin, they partnered with comedian Tom Segura to open Ciccio Bomba at Fareground in downtown. The first location opened in November before its second iteration launched in March at the Scarbrough building in downtown. Most recently, the flagship Ciccio Bomba opened on South Lamar in May, bringing Italian pastries, a full service bar, breakfast and lunch.
The menu is stocked with pizza, sandwiches, omelets, focaccia and cornettos. Cinque Terre West ATX uses the same focaccia made fresh at Ciccio Bomba in its dishes.
Up next
Starting this weekend, the Ciccio Bomba will sell its pastries at Cenizo, a local Austin coffee truck. The co-owners look forward to growing the brand with more locations in the future, Marlo Vinzoni said.
