Todd Lyon
They’re young. They’re in love. They just moved here from Italy, and they’ve brought their favorite recipes with them. Say hello to Alsin DeRenszi and Chef Freancesco d’Amuri, co-owners of L’Orcio (say lor-CHO) on State Street in New Haven. Located in the building that once housed the New Haven Athletic Club and taboo, the new restaurant features Italian cuisine, but not he kind that one usually finds on the menus in New Haven. I can’t think of one local restaurant that has penne with duck meat sauce, or baby asparagus risotto, or stewed wild boar with polenta. “This is how people are eating in Italy,” explained Alison. “It’s modern, simple, eclectic.” She should know. Five years ago, the Staten Island native was studying art history at NYU and decided to takes a semester abroad. She decided on Florence, and on her fourth day in Italy, she met the handsome Francesco at a club. It started to rain, he gave her a ride home and they’ve been together ever since. As for Francesco, he was born in southern Italy and was well on his way to a career in business and economics when a twist of fate turned his life around. “I was 17 years old, on vacation in a resort town with my friends,” he explained. “We ran out of money, so I started washing dishes in a restaurant.” He enjoyed the environment and the excitement of the kitchen , and so he decided to stay on. “After two weeks I was roasting meats and working in the pantry,” he said. Young Francesco was hooked, and soon he was part of a restaurant team that took him all over Italy. “I never went back to school,” he laughed. But he did cook in Rome, Bologna and Florence. “it was amazing,” he said, “like being in a rock band.”
At 21, Chef Francesco was called to mandatory military service, and was assigned to the kitchen to the kitchen of an aviation school, cooking for officers. (In case you were wondering, wine is served with meals in the Italian army. White or red-your choice.)
After the standard year of service, his officer friends helped land him a job at the five-star Hotel Baglioni, and then with Ciabatti, one of Florence’s top caterers.
By 2000, Alison had graduated from school, turned down a job at the Guggenheim Museum and moved to Italy with Francesco, and married him there. The couple had dreams of opening their own place, and Francesco had already started a business- a woodworking and furniture restoration company-in order to fiancé their future restaurant. “We wanted to open a nice bar with food to start slowly,” he recalled. “I had been dreaming about it for 10 years.” But rents n Florence were prohibitive. And so, they set their sights on America. And so, they set their sights on America.
Alison’s mother, Lorraine Doyle, is a real estate maven from Staten Island whose life and work were terrible impacted by the 9/11 attack. She was all too happy to find a location for her daughter and son-in-law, and was enchanted by the State Street building, which had originally been the Polish-American Veterans Club. “I saw the pictures,” recalled Alison, “and flew to see it in person, and called Francesco and said, “This place is home.”
They’ve certainly made it their own. The couple moved to Connecticut in late September with nothing but some suitcases and their dog, and got to work remodeling the interior. They named the restaurant L’Orcio, after a type of Tuscan vessel. “It’s a symbol of our food because it works,” explained Alison. “Farmers are still using the urns the way the ancient Etruscans did. It can’t be improved upon.”
L’Orcio opened on February 11 and diners were treated to a s first glance at warm, glowing walls, a handsome lounge/dining area on the first floor and an attractive dining room on the second floor with exposed brick and exuberant posters. The real surprise is the kitchen and the wine list, which give new meaning to the word “authentic.”
Alison and Francesco are the first to point out that their food isn’t the type of Italian cuisine that New Haveners are used to. Rather, said Francesco, it is for people who miss the food in Italy; in Alison’s words, it offers “a true European dining experience.” |
