Entrepreneur Bill Rizzuto, with eponymous restaurants in Bethel, West Hartford, Westport and Stamford as well as a thriving catering business, has chosen to rebrand his Stamford outlet located on Route 1 near the Greenwich town line. Laughs Rizzuto, “They’ve been confusing my name with Phil Rizzuto for all these years. Now look at me—I’m running a sports bar!”
The restaurant is as handsome as ever, but 15 large, high-definition, flat-screen TVs have been judiciously scattered throughout the spacious, bi-level restaurant. This Rizzuto’s carries all the programming any sports fan could desire. The great regular menu is augmented by a special new “tailgate menu.” And Rizzuto’s is the only Stamford-based location for World Tavern Poker, which is free to play and can lead to great prizes.
Given the shift in emphasis toward sports, beer rules at Rizzuto’s. There’s beer on draft, by the bucket, in a pitcher or out of a bottle or can. Of course, there’s still wine available for regular diners. And one shouldn’t overlook Rizzuto’s imaginative cocktails crafted with housemade infusions.
Despite the sports bar theme, no one would ever confuse Bill’s food with sports bar food. Rizzuto’s menu offerings are—dare I say?—sports bar food on steroids. In keeping with his history of serving terrific Italian-inspired food, his sports bar offerings are neither mass produced nor dumbed down, as so often is the case at sports bars around Connecticut.
Invited by Bill and his restaurant publicist, Linda Kavanagh of Maximum Exposure, I try a number of offerings from the “tailgate” and regular menus with a few friends (and even play a hand or two of Texas Hold ’Em). Of course, Rizzuto’s stone oven-fired pizzas are as appropriate to a sports bar as they were to a neighborhood Italian bistro, and the new Buffalo chicken version may speak to sports fans. We also enjoy classic beef sliders topped with Cheddar, meatball sliders, chicken wings in a spectacular fig barbecue sauce Rizzuto’s should patent, soft tacos, slow-roasted baby back ribs, smoky chipotle bacon mac ’n cheese, fresh salads augmented with shrimp and hanger steak and San Francisco garlic fries. We run up the white flag after a serious slab of cake.
Sports bar fare? And then some!
THE VERDICT: One of Connecticut’s top Italian restaurateurs has created a sports bar that should keep fans, families and foodies all happy.
FEEDBACK: Tell us how you feel about the Stamford Rizzuto’s new sports bar set-up and food.
CONTACT INFO: Rizzuto’s Restaurant-Bar-Sports, 1980 W. Main St., Stamford, 203-324-5900, www.rizzutos.com