Photo by Tony Valainis.
FOND CHILDHOOD MEMORIES are one of the biggest motivating factors for chefs, with some restaurant owners turning a desire to share glorious dining moments from simpler times into their life’s work. For Dennis Gurnell, the chef-owner of SoBro Italian restaurant Diavola, the challenge is how to translate his earliest years in the ancient city of Vicenza, Italy, to the Hoosier state.
“Food and being together were a daily part of living,” he says of his time in Italy. Foraging was a way of life. “We always went up into the mountains, gathering chestnuts and mushrooms.” For Diavola, which he and longtime partner Laurie Welch took over in
2016, Gurnell has cultivated his own garden at the couple’s nearly 3-acre property. There, he grows many of the toppings you’ll find on the restaurant’s wood-fired pizzas.
Wine was another way of life, a priority you can see on Diavola’s wine list. Gurnell is also a certified sommelier, choosing Italian wines including Prosecco, whites from the Veneto, and complex reds to pair with the menu’s seasonal pastas and charred pies. “We studied for years to get that dough right,” he says of the pizzas.
A new outdoor dining area also offers Italian flair, with a pergola-covered patio that provides much-needed shade. “We built the awning this year,” Gurnell says. “It finally feels like a real extension of the restaurant.”
The new patio coincides with another shift that feels distinctly European: Diavola is now open for weekday lunch, the first time it’s served daytime meals in nearly a decade. “We’re not doing a separate menu,” Gurnell says of the all-day roster of dishes. “If you want pasta, salad, or pizza at 1 p.m., we’ve got you.”
Dining and Cooking