CityView Magazine

All the while, Liz held down the fort at the original Bella Villa, cooking the way Vinny taught her. Charleston-style house in the heart of Haymount, she bakes. “I’ve got 10 pounds of butter and 20 pounds of sugar in the fridge,” she says and laughs. “But I couldn’t make you a ham and cheese sandwich. “I’m a baker at heart.” Sometimes, it’s hard to believe she has much time for the kitchen – either one of them. Varnedoe is a bright bubbly blonde who drives a zippy silver sports car and is involved in a slew of community organizations. She is chairwoman of the Crown Center’s governing board, chairwoman of the Stanton Hospitality House, past president for the Professional Women of Fayetteville and weekly host for the Cumberland County Business Network which meets at her restaurant every Tuesday. In its former life, Bella Villa Italian Restaurant was a drive-thru Biscuit Kitchen, but it has always had the heart of an Italian bistro. White table cloths and fresh flowers adorn booths lining walls of windows or clustered in the center, inviting family dining just the way Vinny would have wanted. Vinny Vindigni stowed away aboard a ship making its way from his native Italy to Ellis Island when he was only 18 years old, bringing with him the famous Sicilian temper and way with food. “He’d cuss you out in a second,” Varnedoe said, “and feed you the next.” And boy did he feed Fayetteville. Vinny was an entrepreneur – he opened restaurants all over Cumberland County: Bella Villa II in Spring Lake, the Lobster House downtown and Bella Italia on Ramsey Street. All the while, Liz held down the fort at the original Bella Villa, cooking the way Vinny taught her. And then, in 1999, Vinny succumbed to a long illness. Two years later, Liz married David Varnedoe after meeting him in, you guessed it, her restaurant. He was the one who suggested the fresh flowers and white tablecloths, and the two of them ran the business together. But on her way home from a cruise with a girlfriend in 2004, she received the terrible news that Top | Varnedoe takes pride in homemade sauces, pizza dough and dishes made to order. Above | Spaghetti Vinny Style is one of her most popular entrees, named in memory of her husband and longtime Bella Villa chef Vinny Vindigni. CityViewNC.com | 51

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