Auto MechanicNear Isle of Palms, SC

Charleston’s dining scene is replete with exciting new options. There are ritzy steakhouses, modern American destinations recognized by national news outlets and barbecue restaurants considered some of the country’s best.

With so many options, it can be easy to overlook the longtime stalwarts, especially ones located outside the Holy City. Food as timelessly fresh and thoughtfully produced as Ken Vedrinski’s, though, should remain front of mind.

Downtown diners know Vedrinski for Trattoria Lucca, his Italian restaurant that closed in 2020. The Cannonborough-Elliottborough space has since become home to one of the most hard-to-secure reservations in the area: Vern’s, owned by Bethany and Dano Heinze.

Vedrinski’s Isle of Palms restaurant, Coda Del Pesce, is also a coveted booking. The 30-minute ride from downtown feels fast, though parking can be a challenge. Be sure to find one of the few payment machines to avoid a $50 ticket, doled out during dinner time from March through the end of October.

But once you climb the flight of stairs to Coda Del Pesce’s modest entryway, a relaxing evening of extraordinary coastal Italian fare awaits.

Calm atmosphere

The restaurant’s compact kitchen buzzes with animated energy to the right of the front door. A communal table flanks the bar, where cocktails lean into classics — such as the staffs’ take on a vesper ($14). It’s cool, crisp and refreshing, with strong citrusy notes that mute the taste of gin and vodka.

Most nights, Vedrinski stands at the kitchen’s pass, finishing plates before they’re ushered to one of the tables, where light chatter is almost as hushed as the music playing in the background.

Exposed brick beams break up the main dining room, whose floor-to-ceiling windows overlook the Atlantic Ocean. Some seats are positioned on the diagonal, allowing many to take full advantage of the view. A dining companion mentions the thought of bringing her grandparents here — the calm atmosphere juxtaposes the loud, lively settings of many Charleston restaurants — until we discover the second-story spot does not have an elevator.

During one visit, our server suggested coursing out the meal in three waves, starting with the antipasto plates on the left side of the menu. They’re a prelude to the “secondi” selections, which include weekly changing options like swordfish, tilefish marsala and triggerfish ($40), whose white flesh floats above a cloud of puréed butternut squash, complying with the winter season.

An all-Italian wine list beckons for those looking for a glass or bottle to enhance the fare at Coda Del Pesce, where fish is the focus.

A meal might commence with Maldon sea salt-flaked ciabatta ($8), baked in-house and served with a ramekin of herby olive oil. Diners can follow that with delicacies like the white shrimp tonnato ($22), a stunning plate of prawns laced in a smooth sauce of anchovies and lemon juice blended with olive oil-poached tuna. The same supporting cast shares center stage with thin soft-seared scallops during a subsequent visit.

The vermillion snapper crudo ($20) is served in a stainless steel bowl, its orange hue shining in the reflection. The diced fish is fashioned into a mound that floats in a sauce of olive oil pressed with tangerines.

The dry acidity in the Kettmeir Winery pinot bianco — similar to chardonnay but with less oak — works magnificently here, for the crisp palate pairs perfectly with the crudo’s mild citrusy undertones and unexpected anise essence from Thai basil. While the raw garlic slivers might be a bit abrasive for some diners, their inclusion speaks to Vedrinski’s rustic style of cooking.

Making new friends

The restaurant opened nearly a dozen years ago in the space previously occupied by Huck’s Lowcountry Table. At least one of Coda Del Pesce’s present-day dishes, the braciole ($19), was on Vedrinski’s opening menu.

The starter arrives in a miniature red cocotte, its top removed to reveal a riff on the classic stuffed beef roulade. This seafaring variation is layered in flounder, cheese and a chunky tomato sauce. The fish gains decadence as it flakes in the hot stoneware, the mild bits blanketed by spinach-supplemented softened breadcrumbs, made in-house from the restaurant’s Sicilian bread.

The appetizer demonstrates the kitchen’s ability to walk the line between indulgence and sensibility. That ethos extends to its selection of pasta, which comes in many shapes and sizes with ample sauce.

Coda Del Pesce’s menu changes often, but you’ll rarely meet noodles you don’t befriend. My maiden meal included a bowl of blue crab bits curled between spiraled fusilli ($34), the ideal vehicle for a sauce this refreshingly light. The shellfish was smooth, sweet and supplemented by colatura di alici, the Italian equivalent of Southeast Asian fish sauce.

A variation of the same dish, with calamarata pasta instead of fusilli, was perhaps even better a month later. Large hunks of crab collected in the thick rings of pasta, spotted with sun-dried tomatoes and sparked by lemon and a touch of saffron.

The bowl might share the table with the duck sausage paccheri ($28), whose tubular noodles are layered in a chunky dark red tomato sugo. Breadcrumbs and basil are showered on top, complementing the slightly smoky sausage hiding inside the flattened cylinders.

Another night might welcome the tagliolini nero ($32), whose spiced broth could be eaten with a spoon. The portrait of balance is filled with local Bulls Bay clams in their shells, which curl between ribbons of jet-black noodles, imparting a mildly sweet essence of the sea. The taste is bright despite its ominously dark appearance.

Setting expectations

Coda Del Pesce’s employees are eager to dish details about the food. One evening, a dining companion was guided through eating here with a nut allergy. Our server explained recipes could be tweaked and food could be prepared in separate pans.

Most of the appetizers, including the delightfully dressed ribbons of Parmesan- and breadcrumb-sprinkled lettuce that make up the Caesar salad ($16), are accessible for those with dietary restrictions, we were told.

Another server struck a different tone during my next visit, when just one entrée, the swordfish ($40), could be modified, they said.

The kitchen can usually work around most allergies, Vedrinski told me, though he admitted “it presents a challenge.” Some dishes, like the braciole, cannot be modified, but the restaurant does take these requests seriously, he said, adding that they recently fashioned a menu for two vegans.

The nut allergy-friendly swordfish, for its part, was cooked in olive oil rather than peanut fat before reaching our table. The sweet, salty notes of Sicilian capers, Gum Drop grapes and Castelvetrano olives infused the tomato vinaigrette that sat beneath the pair of thin but meaty filets.

Far from an afterthought, the entrée was a stunner, though I felt a twinge of guilt as I sliced my knife through the veal scallopini ($56), a crisped cut of New York strip commingling with a cool weather composition of butternut squash and Brussels sprouts, as my dining companion’s eyes wandered to my plate.

When it comes to seafood, Vedrinski and his staff conform to the whims of the water, shifting their offering based on the fish purveyors have pulled in. Though the selections shift near-nightly, you won’t find any QR code menus here — Coda Del Pesce’s are printed the afternoon before each service.

With the protein-forward entrees, the kitchen often leans into sauces that deftly balance acid with fat. A light layer of ground mushrooms coats the snowy grouper ($40) with larger pieces of the earthy vegetable scattered about the plate. The fish is perched atop a mound of small cylindrical noodles, like the ones you’d find in a minestrone soup. It’s a technique-driven preparation, the fish collecting the burst of vinegar infusing the brown butter resting beneath, but it eats like cozy homestyle cooking.

Across the country, some diners are moving away from old-school French sensibilities and toward communal courses with vibrant flavors. Coda Del Pesce promotes this sort of shareable eating, while leaving room for those who want to hunker down with their own appetizer and entrée.

Vedrinski’s forthcoming restaurant, Volpe’s (161 Rutledge Ave.), will bring the of-the-moment, free-flowing format to the forefront with its signature four-course family-style meal. Where Coda Del Pesce leans into chef-inspired seafood and pasta, Volpe’s will be decidedly Italian-American. That means serving dishes cooked by Italian immigrants who made use of the ingredients they could find when they came to the U.S.

Volpe’s will be the less serious of Vedrinski’s two ventures. If the food is as comforting as what’s found at Coda Del Pesce, it’s sure to be a hit.

Reach Parker Milner at 843-830-3911. Follow him on Twitter @parkermilner_. Subscribe to CHS Menu newsletter