Trattoria Stefano. An Italian Restaurant / via Facebook
“The shorter the distance between the field and the fork, the better.”
On one small block in Downtown Sheboygan you can experience three of restaurateur Stefano Viglietti’s four establishments—all using natural, local and organic ingredients, wherever possible.
Viglietti believes where and by whom food is grown deserves the bulk of the credit for how good it tastes. And given all the certifications and endorsements adorning the front doors—from Yelp! to Trip Advisor to localeats.com—customers agree.
Field to Fork Café & Grocery opens first, serving traditional breakfast and lunch. There is no dinner service with the exception of one night a month (usually the first Friday) when the restaurant opens for Latin Night, featuring a changing menu of Latin staples like tacos, tamales and tostadas, but also lesser-known specialties such as pupusas con curtido, a Salvadoran dish of corn flour cakes filled with quesadilla cheese and chicharrón (fried pork rind), served with curtido (fermented cabbage relish).
Feeling like a cross between a rustic café and a traditional diner, Field To Fork takes the term “made in-house” to heart. All baked items (non gluten-free) are made in the onsite bakery, which also supplies bread to the other restaurants. Coffee is custom-roasted in the back corner of the café, right next to the raw juice bar. In another words, the components of your meal do not travel far before arriving to your table.
As for ingredients traveling a bit farther, you can track their commute on a large hand-drawn map of Wisconsin, marking locations of 18 farms and artisan purveyors across the state, supplying everything from meat and dairy to condiments and kombucha.
One of Field to Fork’s coolest features is where a section of the weathered wood flooring was replaced by glass—enabling a bird’s-eye view down to the floor below, revealing a massive inventory of refrigerated cheeses—the origins of which are probably just two locations: Wisconsin and Italy.
Speaking of Italy, Il Ritrovo (restaurant #2) is next door and means “the place to meet.” It serves lunch and dinner, specializing in wood-fired pizza as well as panini, soup and salad.
Pay attention to the “VERA Pizza Napoletana” sign occupying the white subway-tiled wall near the pizza oven. This is not a randomly selected piece of trendy Italian décor. It signifies Il Ritrovo is a VPN-certified pizzeria—serving true Neopolitan pizza—and there is an association in Italy vouching for its authenticity, technique, ingredients and integrity. Fewer than 100 establishments in the country have earned this distinction; Il Ritrovo is one of three in Wisconsin.
Sandwiched between Il Ritrovo and Field to Fork (with accessibility through either establishment) is an Italian specialty store, wine bar and deli where Viglietti offers a retail smorgasbord of local produce and meats, small Italian house wares, imported chocolate, prepared foods and more. So. Much. More.
Viglietti’s namesake (and first) restaurant, Trattoria Stefano resides across the street and features authentic Southern Italian cuisine. The fourth and final sibling in this culinary family is The Duke of Devon, a gastropub located half a mile away along the riverfront, serving authentic English pub food like classic fish and chips with minted peas, toasties and burgers.
So it appears the shorter the distance between Stefano Viglietti’s restaurants and his customers, the better, as well.
