Chef Francesco Coli is bringing the Southern Italian seas to this Sound Shore city. That is, much of the food he serves at the newly-opened Vento Bistro, at 282 Huguenot St., comes straight from those crystal blue waters.

“I import a lot of the fish myself," Coli said. "I have direct contact with fisheries overseas," including in southeastern Italy, Greece, Portugal and Spain. Coli, born in Italy's Puglia region on the Salentine Peninsula, known as the heel of the geographical "boot," grew up spearfishing from an early age.