SHORELINES Profile
“H
ouse of friends” is the translation for Casa D’Amici, the restaurant that has reopened once again at Downtown Moneta. Owner and manager Gil Smith is determined to make dining there feel like “having dinner at the home of friends.”
Smith described the dining atmosphere as “upscale casual.” “You can comfortably wear shorts and a T-shirt even though the decor is more elegant than that,” Smith said of dining there in summertime. “Wear what you’d wear to a friend’s home.” Smith is now at the lake full time after retiring last August from a recruiting firm. “That job had me traveling all over the world — 20 different countries in 2017 alone,” he said. “In 2011, I was on the road 47 of 52 weeks.” Smith made the decision to close Casa D’Amici in 2015 after realizing that the
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S M I T H M O U N T A I N L A K E R | March - April 2020
quality of food and service could not be maintained to his standards while he was away so much. He reopened the restaurant during the summer season in 2018 before closing it again for the winter. Now Smith is staying put and keeping the restaurant open year-round. “Since I’ve retired and can stay at the lake, I can give my undivided attention to the dining experience we offer,” he said. Indeed, Smith is actively cooking and supervising the kitchen, working with head chef Raine Spradlin and greeting diners every night that Casa D’Amici is open — Wednesdays through Saturdays