Osteria Vivo Restaurant & Bar , an Italian restaurant providing an exceptional blend of spirited cooking and gracious hospitality, is now open at 254 Church Street in Pembroke, Massachusetts.
Owned and operated by married couple and Plymouth residents Jimmy Burke and Joanie Wilson, Osteria Vivo represents the culmination of their nearly four decades of experience in the restaurant business. Osteria Vivo features authentic Italian cuisine in an elegant atmosphere with seasonal menus that use locally sourced produce, seafood, and meat and showcase homemade pasta and handcrafted sauces.
Burke, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, is an award-winning chef who began his culinary career in the late 1970s, working under acclaimed chef Andreas Meyer. Following a three-year tenure as chef at Harvest in Cambridge, Burke realized he was ready to open his own restaurant, at which time he purchased Allegro in Waltham. In addition to Allegro, he is the former owner of greater Boston-area restaurants The Tuscan Grille, Riva, and Orta, and most recently Vivo in the lakes region of Maine.
Over the course of his career, Burke has received numerous honors, including being selected as one of twelve chefs to create and cook a five-course dinner in honor of Julia Child’s 80th birthday gala. He has received critical acclaim in The New York Times, Food & Wine magazine and The Boston Globe, with renowned chef and cookbook author Chris Schlesinger calling Burke, “the first chef who taught me to have a respect for food, and whatever I was making to make it the best.”
Wilson takes the helm at the front of the house, ensuring that every element, from design and décor to daily operations, reflects the standard of excellence she and Burke have built a reputation on.
The kitchen is headed by Partner and Chef Douglas Rodrigues, who over the past 10 years has worked at such highly esteemed Boston establishments as Clio (learning how French, Asian, Middle Eastern, and Southeast Asian techniques and ingredients come together), Liquid Art House (stretching the boundaries between art and food), North Square Oyster (diving into New England’s seafood culture), and Aquitaine (focusing on classic French cuisine). The kitchen is a fusion of 40 years of Burke’s classic Italian cooking and Rodrigues’s more modern influence with hyper-seasonal touches.
“We’ve had such a warm welcome already from everyone here on the South Shore,” said Burke. “We’ve assembled an incredible team at Osteria Vivo and look forward to sharing our new restaurant with even more guests, whether they come in to spend time at our fabulous bar, share a meal, or partake in one of our monthly wine dinners with guest chefs.”
