No Pasta? No Red Sauce? No Problem

In April, Ristorante Primavera of Wayne celebrated a quarter of a century in business. 

Owners Umberto and Alane Degli Esposti told Radnor Patch that their key to success has been consistency in providing classic favorites prepared in homemade and traditional ways.

The restaurant’s clientele “want to come here and find their favorites,” Umberto said, like the Osso Buco, a veal shank on a bed of linguine with vegetables and tomato sauce ($29.95). And although he boasts that you can dine happily at Primavera without eating pasta and “red sauce,” he also said that their Marinara sauce is raved about.

Umberto describes the restaurant as serving classic Italian trattoria cuisine while staying “homey and rustic.” It’s not modern, and it’s not Southern Italian, which many people think of when referring to Italian food.

Because Primavera’s diners return often for their favorites, Umberto does not change the menu a lot, but he does add a lot of specials every day, he said. Primavera’s key to success, he said, is actually staying the same. One of the popular specialties is whole branzino in lemon and olive oil.

For those interested, the restaurant offers an early dinner menu every day from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

“We still make our demi glace from bones,” he said. “Some things you can’t rush.” Many things they still do like they did 25 years ago.

So how did Umberto and Alane, his wife, get here?

After studying in restaurant school in Rome, Umberto traveled to Monte Carlo, where he worked as the personal waiter to the royal family there. From there he worked in Paris, Normandy, London and Bermuda in various roles in the food and hospitality industry.

In 1981 he came to America and the following year opened the Monte Carlo Living Room at Second and South in Center City. It changed Italian cuisine in the city, the couple said.  It was fine dining with a Northern Italy tilt and French overtones. They even used cloches. On the second floor of the building they ran a nightclub.

In 1985 they opened Primavera next door to Monte Carlo, and offered more inexpensive fare. Shortly after he was looking to open an even more casual spot and created Primavera Pizza Kitchen in Ardmore, which featured brick ovens and turned a former bank into a huge dining space, complete with frescos of Italian scenes.

In 1988 Ristorante Primavera was opened in Wayne. Eventually, Umberto said, he realized that working to keep the high level he expected in all his restaurants was “not for him.” By 2007 all of his restaurants except for the one in Wayne had been sold.

Umberto and Alane have been together for 28 years. She is a native of Berwyn (he’s from Lucca, a picturesque city in Tuscany). The Malvern residents have two children.