My final lunch of the only-six-day event that is New Haven Restaurant Week brought me to Scoozzi Trattoria & Wine Bar, whose entrance proved to be obscured by construction.
Apparently, Scoozzi’s once-popular courtyard
is undergoing a major renovation, but the restaurant wants everyone to know that it’s still open for business as usual.
Despite the exterior tumult, we had no trouble accessing the elevator
that leads to the subterranean restaurant.
We checked in at the hostess station,
to the left of which was an attractive bar area
and to the right of which was a sinuous banquette with seating for waiting customers.
However, we didn’t have to wait. My wife and I were led to a nice corner table.
Two Ann’s are better than one.
We were well received by general manager Jeff Horton
and well tended by our cheerful waitress, Amy.
However, executive chef Jeff Caputo sent regrets but had no chance to pose for a photograph during an incredibly busy lunch service.
A basket of focaccia and flatbread was accompanied by first-rate extra virgin olive oil and a roasted red pepper and garlic hummus.
Here’s a close-up of that hummus.
There were three appetizer choices on Scoozzi’s Restaurant Week menu. We didn’t get to try a Caesar romaine salad with focaccia croutons, anchovy and a Pecorino Romano frico. We can vouch, however, for the mista salad of Urban Oaks Farms organic greens, Piave cheese, grilled fennel, oven-roasted tomato and red onion in a shallot-balsamic vinaigrette.
We also liked the daily soup, a seemingly creamless rustic asparagus purée with chopped chives, focaccia croutons and shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano.
There were four main course options, of which we tried two. We didn’t get to try the spaghettini “scampi” with Laughing Bird shrimp, San Marzano tomato and spinach in a white wine and garlic sauce. Nor did we manage to sample the sweet potato, walnut and raisin ravioli with sautéed spaghetti squash, local organic mustard greens, dried cherries and red onion in a sage butter sauce. However, when I recognized old friends Mary Logue (wife of former New Haven mayor Frank Logue) and Sylvia Golomb,
I snapped a photograph of their ravioli to record how the dish looked.
We greatly enjoyed the dishes we did order, including pan-roasted chicken thighs in a sauce natural with a spinach, mushroom and Romano cheese risotto,
as well as a wonderful fettuccine alla Bolognese made with plenty of ground beef, veal and pork, not to mention tomato, cream and Pecorino Romano cheese.
Two desserts were offered for Restaurant Week, both lovely. One was a dense and fudgy but not overly sweet chocolate torte,
the other a lemon tartlet with raspberry sauce.
Although the courtyard looked like this,
no sound reached us from outside to disturb our serenity. You can see lots of happy diners blissfully unaware of the exterior turmoil,
including this large party in the bar area
and this family right by the main window.
I don’t know what the courtyard will look like when the project is finished, or even when it will be finished, but Scoozzi lovers definitely shouldn’t let the construction deter them from enjoying one of their favorite haunts.
Scoozi Trattoria & Wine Bar, 1104 Chapel Street, New Haven, 203-776-8268