Great Food Presented Simply

After being in the food service end of the hospitality industry for a number of years — primarily with Hyatt — Bill Rizzuto had been all around the country, opening more than 30 new or reconceived restaurants, including at the Dolphin Hotel in Walt Disney World and at Bally’s MGM in Las Vegas. He knew the kind of restaurant he would want if he ever opened a place of his own.

A couple of years ago, succumbing to the “burning entrepreneurial bug that never went away,” Mr Rizzuto set out to create such a restaurant and decided to do so in Bethel, at 6 Stony Hill Road, across from Target. The Rizzuto family had lived in Bethel during the time he had been the general manager of the Hyatt Regency Greenwich — he was transferred to San Francisco thereafter where he ran an 800-room property — and the family wanted to return to the area.

The experience in San Francisco “cemented what I thought would be successful, and I felt there would be demand for it here,” he said. “It was fresh, natural and authentic.”

Rizzuto’s Wood-Fired Pizza Kitchen opened on December 10, 2004, serving “traditional and gourmet wood-oven pizza, Al Forno pasta specialties, overstuffed Calwich sandwiches, dinner salads, roasted and grilled fare” for lunch and dinner, seven days a week. Believing in “simple presentation of great food” and operating with the motto, “Everyone leaves satisfied,” the restaurant was an immediate success. The pizza was such a hit, in fact, that the March 2006 issue of Connecticut Magazine named it as “one of the best” in the state.

Mr Rizzuto uses “the best, freshest ingredients — food is delivered six days a week” and notes if a customer would like something not on the menu, “Ask; if we have it under the roof, we’ll make it.” Rizzuto’s recently added whole wheat pizza curst, whole wheat pasta, and in season, uses locally grown organic produce. Fresh herbs are always used on the pizzas.

The 84-seat restaurant has a simple, streamlined décor, featuring stone tables and West Coast feel highlighted by lighting from Murano, Italy. The open kitchen on the back wall is the focal point; while all diners can see the open hearth brick oven and rotisserie grill, some prefer to sit at the counter on tall chairs and “watch the show” as Chef Julio Cevallos prepares the meals. Several booths with pendent lighting line one wall, which features some of Mr Rizzuto’s favorite black and white photographs. The large center photo, which always draws comments from first-time customers, highlights Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly in Breakfast At Tiffany’s.

The lunch and dinner menus are similar, offering a range of light to hearty selections including appetizers, meal-sized salads, Calwich sandwiches, pasta dishes, and fish, seafood, and steak entrees. There is also a children’s menu with five offerings under $6, each with a soda and scoop of ice cream.

And of course there is the pizza, which comes in three sizes: individual, medium, and large. Customers can go with the basic tomato sauce and mozzarella, $6.95, $9.25, and $11.95; create their own, adding a single or variety of vegetable and meat toppings — such as roasted peppers or eggplant, broccoli, artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomato or mild or hot Italian sausage, shrimp, clams, grilled chicken breast — each of which can add $2.50 or $3.50 to a large pizza; or order one of the 20-plus specialty pizzas, which range up to $10.50, $15.75, and $21.50.

Among the favorites are Pizza Margherita — fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil; barbecue chicken — sweet and sassy barbecue sauce, grilled chicken, cilantro, and smoked Gouda; garden goat cheese — roasted peppers, artichoke hearts, and sun-dried tomato with Chevre goat cheese and tomato sauce with thyme; and Portofino — shrimp, apple-smoked bacon, basil, oregano, tomato sauce, and mozzarella.

Salads are served in oversized bowls and customers can choose their toppings, adding chicken, salmon, shrimp, or steak to many of them. A favorite is the baby arugula with goat cheese and pears.

Among the entrées customers particularly like the asparagus tortellini with jumbo shrimp and asparagus cream sauce, $16.95; rigatoni al pollo, grilled chicken breast, broccoli, sun-dried tomatoes, pecorino, and roasted garlic, $13.95; and the organic grilled salmon, $16.50.

The full menus can be seen on the restaurant’s website, www.rizzutos.com.

Mr Rizzuto describes the restaurant’s wine and beer program as “ambitious”; ten wines are offered by the glass ($5.25–$6.50) and the descriptive wine list is in order from lighter to more full-bodied. It features 25 wines, slightly heavier on the reds (14) than whites (nine), ranging in price from $22 to $42 per bottle. Full liquor service is expected to begin this summer.

As the weather warms, an outdoor patio area will open that can accommodate 30. Constructed last summer, it features teak furniture and colorful umbrellas.

The restaurant has broken into the corporate and social catering as well, under the direction of Mary Ellen Wallin, sales and catering manager, and anything on the menu can be delivered within a five-mile radius. There is a $12.50 minimum and a $1 delivery fee.

Rizzuto’s Wood-Fired Pizza Kitchen, 6 Stony Hill Road, Bethel, across from Target; 790-4444. Orders can be faxed to 790-4010. Hours are Monday–Thursday, 11:30 am to 9:30 pm; Friday and Saturday, 11:30 am to 10:30 pm; Sunday, noon to 9 pm .