In 1984, chef/founder Joe Bruno brought a new level of dining to South Norwalk with his Pasta Nostra restaurant . Not only did it redefine dining in Fairfield County, but it helped South Norwalk to become the destination it is today. Recognized by regional, national, and even international, critics, his culinary celebration of fresh ingredients and craft cooking long preceded pop notions like "far
m to table" and the like. In 2015, with the help of architect Roger Ferris, he built his dream restaurant, also in South Norwalk. He called the new place bruculino (a guy from Brooklyn) as he wanted to offer a wider array of foods in addition to his much loved pastas. It was a difficult transition, some people loving the new place, others hating it. But it was a great culinary adventure. After six year the effort of all that cooking and the higher and higher costs of running a fine food establishment mitigated against the ambitious venture. It was time to throw in the towel and return to the Pasta Nostra concept. So the new place is now the old place. Pasta Nostra rose on the ashes of bruculino in September 2021. The upscale venue--relaxed, casual, elegant and cosmopolitan--offers Joe's original Good Old Pasta Nostra creations in bruculino's modern, clean room with great LED lighting, a top-class ventilation system and pleasing acoustics (a great improvement over the original where you had to shout to be heard). A comfortable terrazzo bar runs the full length of the room, offering a carefully chosen array of wines, cocktails, beer, and spirits, in addition to the full dinner menu. As for either place, bruculino or Pasta Nostra, being Italian restaurants, chef Joe often demurs. HIs food, he says, is not Italian. It's some kind of weird American that expresses the intersection of Old World tradition and culture with New World ingredients and the wide-eyed wonderment of the Brooklyn diaspora. Some of our dishes hew faithfully to regional Italian and Sicilian recipes; some are very much American, such as those exploring Joe's profound fascination with Mexico; most fall somewhere in between. Provenance aside, our cuisine is guided by the principle that the best food is born from simple preparation of the finest ingredients the season offers. The menu changes slowly but often. The wine list is carefully curated by Chef Joe himself, and features nothing but excellence and value at every price point. Pasta Nostra and its 'bruculino' chef remain as rigorously devoted to quality as ever as we approach our 40th birthday. We always demand the best ingredients from our suppliers, and cook with a sensitivity to health rare among non-health-food restaurants. We do not cook with sugar, avoid overuse of salt, have no greasy deep fryer and -- in keeping with Joe's Southern-Italian roots -- avoid extensive use of dairy (butter and cream in particular). Real food sustains as well as delights!
