Michelin-star chef Andrea Marino reopens Salumeria Ovello in Sonoma

After closing temporarily in April, Michelin-star chef Andrea Marino has returned to Salumeria Ovello in Sonoma to once again dice up salumi, prosciutto and focaccia.

Ovello shut its doors so Marino could take a step back to focus on his family, but he returned to the West Napa Street shop on June 29 to the open arms of returning customers and many Italian families of Sonoma.

“Salami is a pretty long process and we are doing this in an old-fashioned style, tied by hands,” he said. “That's our best thing. We don't want to have a big, commercial thing. It's just for Sonoma.”

Salumi, not to be mistaken with salami, is the Italian craft of curing meats. Marino was first introduced to the art of salumi through his grandparents in the 656-person village of Barbaresco in northern Italy where he spent much of his childhood.

Marino’s paternal and maternal grandparents had a friendly family rivalry over their salumi, and they used a young Marino to judge whose was better.

“It was like a competition and I was always in the middle,” Marino said. “And that’s why I grew up with salumi all around.”

Marino eventually attended culinary school and worked in 27 different restaurants before opening his own called Antiné in Barbaresco. The restaurant operated for 15 years, and earned him a Michelin star in 2002 at the age of 30.

Marino then sold Antiné in 2013 and moved to the U.S. before settling down in Sonoma with his 8-year-old daughter to open Ovello in 2019. The freezer is now packed with hand-wrapped meats containing recipes from his grandparents and other items that he’s created himself.

“That’s Italy,” Marino said upon opening the door to the acclimatized salumi aging room with cuts of pork hooked to stainless steel shelves, covered in pepper and pungent with savory spices.

Two salumis on Marino’s menu named Sonoma and Napa were inspired by the local palatte of tastes and wines of the region.

Because what pairs better with a bottle of Sonoma wine than a rustic, wooden board layered with cured meats, aged cheeses and Italian crackers?

“I invented salumi Sonoma and Napa because every kind of salami needs wine, right? And with Napa I decided to do cabernet sauvignon, and it probably is the more complex salumi I’m making with over 15 kind of spices,” Marino said. “With Sonoma, I put merlot wine and different, wintry spices.”

Marino’s commitment to northern Italian cuisine is reflected back through the appreciation of his Italian customers in Sonoma Valley who order “salumi fatti en casa” (salumi made in house).

“There's a big Italian community around,” Marino said. “Every day, we have a customer speak Italian in the store.”

While Marino has left the Italian countryside to bring his recipes to California, the vineyards beneath the Mayacamas remind him of home — even if they don’t quite compare with those of Barbaresco.

“When I moved to Sonoma I feel at home because I had grapes all around me,” Marino said. “I feel at home, because if you looked at my house (in Barbaresco), all around are grapes. Even more than here.”

Contact Chase Hunter at chase.hunter@sonomanews.com and follow @Chase_HunterB on Twitter.