Photo by Tony Valainis
FOR MANUELA PIZZI, this year’s launch of her northside restaurant Balena Cucina Italiana seems less like a debut and more like a revival. She grew up at the center of the city’s Italian restaurant scene—specifically in the cozy womb of Ambrosia, the Broad Ripple staple her Italian immigrant grandparents and father, Gino Pizzi, established in 1979. Before settling into its current spot on North College Avenue, Ambrosia was located on Westfield Boulevard in the heart of the village, where the kitchen served up classics like spinach-and-cheese Ravioli Della Mamma and zabaglione for dessert. “My father opened many, many other restaurants during the entire time I was growing up, but Ambrosia was kind of my home base. It was part of my DNA, part of the story of my childhood,” Manuela says.
Trips to Italy were just as formative to young Manuela, who fondly recalls spending summers in the Cinque Terre village of Monterosso al Mare where her father grew up. Italian vacation days revolved around the smell of fresh bread, the sounds of fishermen returning, and planning and eating family meals. Still, Manuela charted a different career path after college. She spent 24 years in New York building a career as an educator and school principal. But the pull of family and restaurants never left. Three years ago, she returned to Indianapolis, briefly joining her father at Blu Point Oyster Bar, which has since closed. But the fire was lit.
Now, Manuela is channeling her culinary lineage into a menu that merges family recipes (classic meatballs, Bolognese, and fisherman’s stew) with dishes inspired by those summers spent along the Ligurian Coast, including a pesto-based dish of twisted trofie pasta with potatoes and green beans. “It’s a classic preparation. Some people might wonder why you would put potato with pasta, but it’s fabulous. Anybody who’s ever been to Liguria and has had it will be transported back.”
Dining and Cooking