New restaurant owners fired up to reenter growing Cape Coral pizza scene
After three years, wood-fired pizza is back at Trattoria Ciao.
And it’s thanks to the cozy Cape Coral restaurant’s new owners, Melissa and Kieran Fleming.
“We just love pizza,” said Melissa, who met husband Kieran in culinary school almost 20 years ago. “This is a great opportunity for us.”
The couple bought the popular Italian restaurant in January from Jill and Chris Bacus, who opened it in 2011 under the name Ciao Wood Fired Pizza & Trattoria.
Back in the day, they served their Neapolitan-style pizza uncut and knife and fork ready. But when the Bacuses reopened after COVID-19 in November 2020, they no longer served pizza and changed the restaurant’s name to Trattoria Ciao.
The return of the wood-fired pizza oven
Enter the Flemings, who officially moved to the Cape on July 15 with their three daughters.
“A couple of weeks after we got here, I began firing up the oven to see if it would work,” said Kieran. “I’ve been studying up on Neapolitan pizza. I’m making my own dough. It’s only four ingredients, but I’m using high-quality ingredients.”
Six signature pies — thin, light and chewy with a perfect char on the fluffy crust from the wood-fired oven — have been added to the pasta-filled menu.
“I love the chicken, goat cheese and pesto pizza,” said Melissa. “It’s really delicious with spinach, mozzarella and pine nuts. The pine nuts get toasted from the fire in the oven.”
The prosciutto and arugula pizza, with a roasted garlic base, mozzarella and balsamic drizzle, is a best seller in these early days as is the margherita.
“That’s my oldest daughter’s favorite,” Melissa said of the latter pie made with mozzarella, parmesan, basil and marinara.
“The build-your-own is also popular,” Kieran added.
The couple plan to embrace the restaurant’s small, boutique, high-end feel.
“Even when you order pizza, we want it to be fancy and fun,” he said. “We will rotate other ones in. Maybe with lobster or wild mushrooms. Maybe burrata cheese. Something fun that we can change with the seasons.”
Rounding out the pasta-filled menu
As for the rest of Trattoria Ciao’s menu, not much has changed — yet.
“I will tweak it for sure,” Kieran said. “And we may change some things up toward the end of this month or next. A lot of it will stay but there will definitely be tweaks.”
Chicken dishes — chianti, marsala, piccata and parmesan — are popular entrees, as is the lasagna.
Veal, seafood and pasta dishes, soups, salads and appetizers (think vongole, mussels, crab-stuffed shrimp and more) fill out the menu.
“I make fresh pasta for the lasagna and the filled pastas,” Kieran said.
“And I’ll be making homemade desserts,” said Melissa, who has a background as a pastry chef.
Those desserts range from tiramisu, Italian cannoli and panna cotta to a seasonal dessert special ricotta peach tart.
Beer and several wines are also available.
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Previous customers will be greeted with an unchanged interior — black linen-topped tables that seat about 50 in the comfortable dining room with its wood, photo and brick-lined walls. Eight two-top umbrella-covered tables fill the front patio.
Local family includes The Waterfront owners
“We’ve only been here for a month or so,” Melissa said. “It’s our first restaurant and it’s nice to be close to family.”
That family includes Kieran’s sister Nicola Fleming and her husband Declan Kiely, owners of The Waterfront. While their St. James City restaurant remains closed from Hurricane Ian damage (Declan is hoping for a Christmas opening), they watched over Trattoria Ciao from January’s closing until Melissa and Kieran made the move from Washington, just outside of Seattle, in July.
“We just love it here so far,” Kieran said.
“Kieran has always wanted to have his own restaurant,” Melissa said. “And here we are.”
Trattoria Ciao, 823 SE 47th Terrace, Cape Coral; open 4-9 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday; parking is available across 47th Terrace by the bus station; reservations are highly encouraged; (239) 471-0033; tratciao.com; follow on Facebook and Instagram
Robyn George is a food and dining writer for The Fort Myers News-Press. Send news to rhgeorge@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: New owners of Trattoria Ciao bring wood-fired pizza back to Cape Coral
