Indulge in sharable plates, including an especially seductive Sunday Sauce
Pelato
In an evolving Charleston, Pelato slips into the scene like a well-dressed stranger at a Southern soiree. Opened last May on Morrison Drive, Anthony and Theresa Scotto’s New York-Italian trattoria whisks you to a Brooklyn corner where red sauce flows freely and family stories are served alongside the pasta. After operating Manhattan’s renowned Fresco By Scotto for many years, the family brings their Italian heritage south.
The dining room is a nostalgic space with photos of the Scottos pinned to the walls like pages from a scrapbook, green leather banquettes, concrete floors, and a lively back bar that seems ripped from the streets of Bensonhurst. It’s warm, inviting, and loud, as if a roomful of New Yorkers is trying to outshout a Flatbush Avenue rush hour. Serenity awaits on the enclosed patio stuffed to the gills with women in sundresses sipping neon yellow limoncello martinis.
The menu is built for sharing, a nod to the communal spirit of Italian-American dining. The potato croquettes are a triumph, golden crusts cracking open to reveal a creamy, savory heart as comforting as the nonna who passed them down. The menu largely improves from there: chicken Parmigiana, meatballs, and broccolini charred black with aggressive machismo. Fresh, warm mozzarella caprese is a white cloud gently smothering fat, local tomatoes.
But the Sunday Sauce is a revelation. Overflowing with meatballs, braciola, sausage, and spareribs as tender as the last page of a love letter, this pile of meat for two could easily swagger into the barbecue joints just down the street. A second platter holds more gravy—silky, sexy, aromatic, and studded with pine nuts’ alpine redolence—clinging to soft fusilli. The spread is heaped so generously that you’ll likely tote some home.
The Scottos offer a homestyle “bisinisse” that’s distinct from the myriad Italian influences dominating the local scene. It’s already a favorite of visiting New Yorkers and worth a Sunday visit from locals if for nothing but the only legitimate red sauce in town.
1085 Morrison Dr.
(843) 936-1085, pelatorestaurant.com
Monday-Thursday, 5-9 p.m.
Friday-Saturday, 4:30-10 p.m.
Sunday, 4:30-9 p.m.
