Carbonara Trattoria Italiana
Written by Anna Curtis

It's not just the name of a fancy sauce...

this restaurant's namesake actually owns the joint.

You could fill volumes with the names and titles of all the fundraisers, social programs and community events Tony Carbonara, owner of Carbonara Trattoria Italiana, donates his time, money and food to. "I love the people of San Clemente," he says simply, as if these incredibly generous efforts are a perfectly normal way of showing it. Don't get us wrong. A lot of people like where they live. But it's exceptional to find someone who gives back to the community so abundantly. Maybe it's because, after 19 years in business, he knows most of the residents in the beachside city. "Or maybe they know me," he says with a smile. And they do, of course.

The Italy-born Carbonara and his co-managing wife, Mary, not only run a successful Italian kitchen (complete with catering services), but they've also devoted themselves and their business to causes like breast cancer awareness, helping battered women and saving the environment. Tony even placed first in Dancing to the Beat, a fundraising dance-off much like the popular shows seen on prime-time, which aired on the local television program Around the Town and raised money for the San Clemente Saddleback Memorial Medical Center. The couple's do-goodness doesn't end there. You'd have to count the work they've done for the Sunrise Rotary Club and the Casa Romantica Cultural Center & Gardens, too. They're currently aligned with a local group, Heart-2-Sole Breast Friends, dedicating the entire month of October at the restaurant to supporting a three day walk-a-thon in San Diego. And you thought you had a full time job?

"It's work, twenty-four-seven," Tony says. "But I wouldn't do anything else. The residents here are like extended family." It's certainly a family business all right, with Christina, his eldest daughter, heading up the catering division, and his youngest daughter, Michelle, also having toiled tableside before heading off into the education field. "You create who and what you are, and then you do what you have to do to make it the best," he says.

Nestled in a charming spot on quaint Avenida Del Mar, the restaurant has won umpteen awards over the years for authentic entrees like the taglioline caprini, a delicious dish of chopped tomatoes, spinach and garlic tossed with olive oil over fat linguine; or the filetto carbonara, a grilled filet mignon wrapped in pancetta and drizzled in a dreamy cream sauce. For dessert, even diehard dieters cannot resist the Florentine "love" cup-an edible almond praline basket coated with chocolate and filled with strawberries and chocolate mousse. An extensive wine list accompanies a wide array of Italian cuisine, along with an inviting martini bar.

Carbonara's place is even 90 percent "green," with eco-friendly to-go containers, organic produce and a firm belief in the recycling of boxes, bottles and grease the restaurant puts out. His next bio-conversion will include an overhaul of the lighting. "I want to contribute as much as I can," Tony says. "Most importantly, the people of this community have never failed to support us and we're thankful for that. We hope the next 20 years are as good to us as the last ones were."

Carbonara Trattoria Italana
111 Avenida Del Mar, Suite B
San Clemente l California 92672
[949] 366-1040
www.carbonara.com