BON SECOUR — Chef Greg Buschmohle is bringing a fresh take on Italian dining to South Baldwin.
Buschmohle, 72, has lived in Baldwin County since the ’80s and has worked in the dining industry since the age of 10. He started his first business in 1995 with Bayside Grill. Fresco, which is opening in the old Tin Top building, will be the 82nd restaurant he has been involved with.
Since his early years in the kitchen, Buschmohle has been surrounded by Italian cuisine and influences. His mother, Apollonia Cortese, is from Naples, Italy, and his daughter, Amanda, is a world traveler, currently visiting San Marino. Buschmohle himself has also been to Italy five times in the past two years, having returned from Sicily just last month to get ideas and see how the people there do things.
“I’ve always loved Italian food, but being in this area, I worked with a lot of seafood, so I’m going to combine the two of them,” Buschmohle said. “There’s northern cuisine in Italy and southern cuisine in Italy, and the southern [cuisine] has a lot of seafood on there, so the idea of coming up and doing my own restaurant, that’s how it kind of started.”
Fresco has seating both inside and outside with lunch and dinner specials, with lunch being value-oriented and dinner being product-oriented. Patrons will also be able to make reservations, with Buschmohle saying they want to create a little bit of a different environment for dining in the evenings.
“It’s just that we have the opportunity to create a different environment that’s outside, and I really like the idea of people being able to, especially locals that have followed me for years, being able to make a reservation,” Buschmohle said.
Among the food they will serve, Fresco will offer handmade pasta, including around six to seven different noodles every day, along with pizza and sandwiches made with focaccia bread. All of their dough, sauce and cheese is fresh or hand made, with Buschmohle saying they stay away from any canned and processed foods.
Fresco is opening at the former Tin Top location at 6232 Bon Secour Highway. Buschmohle has done consulting work for Tin Top the last three years. He said he expects Fresco to be open next month before the holidays, and they plan to be open five days a week.
“As long as I’ve been doing this, as many restaurants I’ve been involved with, as many employees I have been involved with on everything that’s important, it’s still about quality and freshness and great service,” Buschmohle said, “and we’re hoping to deliver the same high level of quality services that we’re going to deliver in your food.”
Dining and Cooking