Chef Ilario Suppa, Executive Chef and Owner at Café Allegre, continues to carry on his father’s legacy of traditional, authentic Mediterranean style cuisine while adding his special own creations as well. He had worked side-by-side with his parents at Café Allegre as General Manager for 15 years before taking over the business.
Ilario literally grew up in the restaurant business as his parents, Chef Silvio and his wife Vittoria Del Monaco Suppa were partners at Del Monaco’s famed restaurant on Wooster Street in New Haven from 1972 to 1997. As a young boy during those years, he would head over to his parents’ restaurant after school with his brothers and join his father in the kitchen while Silvio prepared nourishing meals for his family to dine on before the dinner rush began. Ilario loved watching the process while his father taught him why certain ingredients worked together to create the perfect taste or texture. He would spend many hours there, even doing his homework in the restaurant, while absorbing the operational mechanics that made their place so successful. Silvio and Vittoria taught their sons invaluable lessons…the importance of being together as a family unit, to break-bread together each day, to talk to each other, while they also prepared meals for hundreds of patrons who they would also welcome into their establishment as extended members of their family. “Growing up Suppa” meant hard-work and balancing family time!
You’ll find the Cafe Allegre team warmly greeting you as a guest in their “home” as they’ve done for 20 years in Madison and beyond!
