A New Table
Ambrosia Hospitality Group has turned a downtown Carmel space back toward Italy this fall, as the Pizzi family's nearly 50-year-old restaurant makes its second home in Carmel.
Ambrosia has a second home, and this one sits in the heart of downtown Carmel. Gold trim and cafe curtains still catch the light in the dining room, evoking a Parisian scene that Ambrosia Hospitality Group built for French wine when the space opened as Josephine in early 2025. Now, the same corner of downtown Carmel tells a different story, one the family believes fits this community even better, and one that started decades earlier and a few miles south.
Ambrosia, the Italian restaurant Gino Pizzi founded in 1979 alongside his parents, Giuseppe and Anna, has opened its second location inside the former Josephine space. The original restaurant still operates on College Avenue in Indianapolis, where three generations of the Pizzi family have kept the same recipes and the same welcome at the table since Gino passed the business to his daughter Anna and her husband, Dan Cage, in 2019. Now Cage has brought that history north. "Italian food is where our family's story began, so bringing Ambrosia to Carmel feels like a true return to our roots," he says. "It allows us to share everything people have loved about the original Ambrosia at College and Kessler—the food, family history and welcoming atmosphere—with a new community."
The move revives something else from the original restaurant. Gino's Broad Ripple location opened in 1979 with a full oyster bar built into the dining room, a detail that faded over the years. In Carmel, it returns as Accanto, a room of its own next door to the main dining room. "Accanto gives us an opportunity to reimagine the oyster bar from the original Ambrosia while offering something new and exciting to Carmel," Cage says.
The menu carries the family recipes forward, the same dishes that have anchored College Avenue for generations. "Guests can expect the traditional Italian flavors Ambrosia is known for," Cage says. Closing Josephine wasn't a small decision for a family that spent months living near Paris before opening it. Cage doesn't describe it as an ending. "This transition isn't about forgetting Josephine," he says. "It's about carrying what we learned and loved from that experience into the next chapter while returning the space to the Italian food, family history and hospitality at the heart of who we are."
Almost 50 years after Gino Pizzi opened his first restaurant, the family is treating Carmel as a continuation rather than an expansion. "Ambrosia Carmel is more than a second location, it's the continuation of a family story that began nearly 50 years ago," Cage says. "We are excited to welcome the Carmel community and create a place where guests can gather, share a meal and feel like part of the family."
Ambrosia Carmel opened on September 26 at 110 W. Main Street, Suite 100, in the Carmel Arts and Design District. Learn more at ahgindy.com and follow @ambrosia_carmel on Instagram.
Ambrosia, the Italian restaurant Gino Pizzi founded in 1979 alongside his parents, Giuseppe and Anna, has opened its second location inside the former Josephine space. The original restaurant still operates on College Avenue in Indianapolis, where three generations of the Pizzi family have kept the same recipes and the same welcome at the table since Gino passed the business to his daughter Anna and her husband, Dan Cage, in 2019. Now Cage has brought that history north. "Italian food is where our family's story began, so bringing Ambrosia to Carmel feels like a true return to our roots," he says. "It allows us to share everything people have loved about the original Ambrosia at College and Kessler—the food, family history and welcoming atmosphere—with a new community."
The move revives something else from the original restaurant. Gino's Broad Ripple location opened in 1979 with a full oyster bar built into the dining room, a detail that faded over the years. In Carmel, it returns as Accanto, a room of its own next door to the main dining room. "Accanto gives us an opportunity to reimagine the oyster bar from the original Ambrosia while offering something new and exciting to Carmel," Cage says.
The menu carries the family recipes forward, the same dishes that have anchored College Avenue for generations. "Guests can expect the traditional Italian flavors Ambrosia is known for," Cage says. Closing Josephine wasn't a small decision for a family that spent months living near Paris before opening it. Cage doesn't describe it as an ending. "This transition isn't about forgetting Josephine," he says. "It's about carrying what we learned and loved from that experience into the next chapter while returning the space to the Italian food, family history and hospitality at the heart of who we are."
Almost 50 years after Gino Pizzi opened his first restaurant, the family is treating Carmel as a continuation rather than an expansion. "Ambrosia Carmel is more than a second location, it's the continuation of a family story that began nearly 50 years ago," Cage says. "We are excited to welcome the Carmel community and create a place where guests can gather, share a meal and feel like part of the family."
Ambrosia Carmel opened on September 26 at 110 W. Main Street, Suite 100, in the Carmel Arts and Design District. Learn more at ahgindy.com and follow @ambrosia_carmel on Instagram.