The kitchen was once a home base for concocting hot dog creations. Now, a 2-foot-tall pot sits in the room, filled with 30 quarts of ruby-red marinara sauce. Misshapen loaves of bread sit on a countertop next to the pizza oven, some burned more than others.
The inside of Bella Donna’s Italian Eatery resembles a Tuscan home: The walls are a rustic orange, cracked tile covers the floor and grapevines dangle along the window.
Joey Feulner, his wife Jodi and their son Jacob opened the Italian eatery, located at 1023 W University Ave., on March 10 in hopes of serving their family’s Italian dishes to residents.
The business took the place of Gator Dawgs, a mom-and-pop hot dog restaurant that shut down in November.
On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Joey ladles his red sauce over pasta, onto pizza dough and across subs stuffed with freshly breaded chicken or eggplant from noon until 3:30 a.m.
The countertop restaurant is open from noon until midnight Monday through Wednesday and from noon until 9 p.m. on Sunday
“This is a labor of love, you know,” Joey said in an accent reminiscent of Rocky Balboa’s. “I’m just a cook, you know. I’m not a chef. I’m just a ham-and-egger.”
Marinara sauce, or “red sauce” as some Italians call it, is the secret to Italian homestyle cooking, Joey said. His sauce is so dense with tomatoes and herbs that it forms its own layer when added to a chicken parmesan sub.
Though Joey, who worked in home improvement, and Jodi, who was a fitness instructor, hadn’t managed a restaurant before, the family always wanted to open a family bistro. The question was always when and where.
Joey came across a “For Rent” sign in the window of the vacant Gator Dawgs in November when he and his wife were visiting Jacob. The 18-year-old is a premed student at Santa Fe College.
The address of the empty space was 1023. Jacob’s birthday is Oct. 23 — 10/23.
The space was affordable, Jodi said, and they loved the city.
They moved to Gainesville a month later.
“My intent was not to go to college with my son, but when you look at the number of mouths to feed down here,” Jodi said, “this was a no-brainer.”
Joey’s grandmother is from Sicily, and his grandfather is from Calabria, a city at the southern tip of the boot.
“In Calabrese, you know, the man makes the gravy on Sunday,” Joey said. “So I would always hang around the kitchen and watch my grandfather cook.”
During those days, he learned the family’s marinara recipe. Joey perfected the sauce and his signature broccoli bread, which is on the menu, when he was a teenager working at his Aunt Marianne’s restaurant in upstate New York.
Before he moved to Gainesville, his Aunt Marianne bequeathed her favorite apron to him. Joey wears the red, white and green-striped linen apron all day as he cooks.
Patrons can get a slice of cheese pizza for $1. Joey makes the dough fresh every morning.
Subs cost $7, and dinner dishes such as spaghetti cost $10.
Erik Schineis, a 21-year-old UF advertising senior, tried Bella Donna’s for the first time Friday night.
He was back at 4 p.m. on Saturday for another slice of Joey’s pizza and his chicken parmesan.
“It’s like my grandma’s kitchen,” Schineis said. “Actually, it’s better than my grandma’s kitchen.”
Contact Adrianna Paidas at apaidas@alligator.org.
Joey Feulner, owner and cook at Bella Donna's Italian Eatery, cooks 30 quarts of marinara, or "red," sauce.
