![\"\"](\"http:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/bigboom1.jpeg\")
<\/a>Vincent Baressi, with art of Victor Knight III<\/p><\/div>\n
For months now, the windows on the front corner space at 510 Glenwood\u00a0 – once occupied by Red Room (then Krave and then Myst) – have been covered with paper.\u00a0 Then several weeks ago, a sign with no words – just a row of cherry bombs appeared.\u00a0 What IS this?\u00a0 <\/i>neighborhood residents have asked.\u00a0 A club?\u00a0 A video game hang out?<\/p>\n
Vincent Barresi, the new restauranteur in this property would chuckle at this intrigue.\u00a0 You might recognize him as the chef and proprietor, who for the past ten years has warmly greeted families at Vincent\u2019s Italian Cuisine<\/a> on Creedmoor Rd.\u00a0 Or if you\u2019ve been in Raleigh a really long time, you might recall his restaurant that thrived for fifteen years prior to that on Capital Blvd.<\/p>\n So what has inspired him to blast into Glenwood South?\u00a0 It turns out that his story of reinvention matches the theme of many downtown residents, whether they\u2019re downsizing empty nesters or 20 somethings seeking to create lives that feel connected, creative and vital. \u00a0 With his sons Kevin and Dominic both leaving home and his lease running out in North Raleigh, Vincent asked himself what came next.\u00a0 He felt proud of the traditional Italian comfort food that he had perfected and tweaked through the years, including dishes like braciole that few Italian chefs still take the time to prepare.\u00a0 But this time in his life called for a new challenge, an original approach, and a fresh\u2026 well, BOOM!<\/p>\n Enter Vincent\u2019s long time friend Christopher Bender, the chef who started Wicked Smile in the Warehouse District, which later became Five Star<\/a>.\u00a0 Vincent describes Chris as his creative partner, and it\u2019s he – responding to Vincent\u2019s vision for doing something unique, bold and fresh in an urban setting –\u00a0 who delivered the name Big Boom<\/i>.\u00a0 It was only later that Vincent realized that Chris was also referring to the huge-hearted bang of Vincent\u2019s enthusiastic personality.\u00a0 \u201cI get so excited, I\u2019m like a kid,\u201d he admits.\u00a0 \u201cChris pushes me in the art and decorating, and I push him in the kitchen.\u201d\u00a0 Together, they are creating a setting where the food, the art and the atmosphere capture the essence of downtown life.\u00a0 It\u2019s part tradition, part fun, lots of edge.\u00a0 And it\u2019s happily in flux.<\/p>\n