Featured in the Richmond Times-Dispatch Dining Guide

Where do people find love these days? In the dairy section at Ukrop’s? At gallery openings? Online? In a romantic little Italian restaurant? At work? When the last two venues are one in the same, sparks are destined to fly. And that’s just what happened for Amici Ristorante owner Carlo Gaione and manager Kate Turpin. 
Turpin began working at Gaione’s restaurant in 1996. She was moonlighting to subsidize her income at a small, but well-known paper and party store in The Village shopping center. Turpin had been bartending and managing restaurants for nearly 20 years, including her brother Carter Turpin Jr.’s restaurant, Rudee’s, in Virginia Beach, and she was immediately recognized as a great addition to Amici’s small, tight-knit staff.
Over the years, Gaione and Turpin have shared a love of fine food and wine from all over the world. During one of their trips in August 2004, they became engaged.
When the couple isn’t serving up top-notch Northern Italian cuisine and great wine, they enjoy being served. One of their favorite pastimes is traveling around the Commonwealth and beyond and sampling the local fare.
But Turpin readily admits that her fiancé’s cooking is hard to beat. Her favorite dish in Gaione’s wide repertoire is duck, which isn’t on the regular menu at Amici but makes an appearance quite often as a dinner special. Gaione pan roasts his duck. Once it has been seared on both sides, he peels off the skin and finishes the dish off in the oven.  On the side, he prepares the sauce that includes shallots, blueberries, port wine and just a touch of his homemade demi-glace, which he reduces to intensify the flavors. Gaione often serves the dish with mashed potatoes and fresh green beans, which he sautées in Sambuca to achieve a slightly spicy, cool anise flavor.
Gaione and Turpin are not likely the only couple to have fallen in love at Amici. The quaint, authentic Italian restaurant has been a popular destination for engagements, anniversaries and other special occasions for 17 years, providing a romantic atmosphere and fabulous cuisine.
But Amici is also a great choice for lunch, casual dinner and simply getting away. The covered patio offers ample sitting room. And the locale, situated at the west entrance of Carytown, provides for superb people watching. A faction of faithful regulars has already deemed Amici prime territory for comfortable, friendly, everyday dining and hanging out.
Both Gaione and Turpin, who have developed close friendships with many of their customers, agree Amici’s regulars are the true heartbeat of the restaurant.
“Our regular customers are like family,” Turpin said earnestly, with her fiancé nodding in agreement at her side.

In fact, the couple plans to invite some of their closest customers to attend their wedding someday in Gaione’s native Italy. It will certainly be a family affair.