The Good Table | written by: PAMELA DEY VOSSLER | photo by: BAMBI RIEGEL | riegelpictureworks.com
from left: Aquino Policarpio, Dan Camporeale, Rose Dione and Juan Pinzon at Molto Darien
So how does a new restaurant go from zero to Mach 5 practically upon opening its doors? Stop by
Molto Darien in Noroton Heights and you will find out. If running into a close friend you’ve not seen for ages were a restaurant, it would be this place. Open for less than a year, it’s got that kind of energy.
Molto takes you as you are, however you arrive for whatever you come for …date night, girls’ night or simply a night off from your own kitchen …a quick bite, a lingering meal or any manner of celebrating you may have in mind …weekend brunch, prix fixe lunch, or easy time with your grown up kids home from wherever they live …with younger kids too, any time really, or to catch a game at the long marble bar (…and yes, those are full bottles of Belvedere vodka, 17 cases in all).
It’s the setting for sure, the overall feel of the place. And the cocktails too—like the Spicy Blood Orange Margarita, or the Smoke Signal – a mix of bourbon, fresh pressed lemon juice, rosemary simple and pomegranate juice, to name just two specialties on a drinks list guaranteed to put the happy in any hour. The food does the rest.
Molto serves up a long menu of small plates, plus fresh handmade pastas, pizzas, parmigianas and more. It’s versatile, reliable Italian food, consistent in taste and quality, great for sharing and the added camaraderie that comes with that. It aims to please, and it does—with a no-one-is-special-because-everyone-is approach to service, work and everything they do.
A case in point: when asked for his title, co-owner Dan Camporeale said, “managing partner.” In fact, he’s also the CEO of a six-restaurant group including Molto Darien, Spiga (New Canaan), Molto (Fairfield), Lugano (Old Greenwich), Zucca (Westport) and the soon to open Waveny Place in New Canaan. Referring to Rose Dione, manager of Molto Darien and another owner of the restaurant group, he said, “She’s also a managing partner. It’s the only title we can really give ourselves. I’m also the pizza man. Rose is also the hostess …whatever the day calls for is what we are,” Dan added.
“We do a little bit of everything,” agreed Rose. “We’re very hands on.”
It’s an old school, mom-and-pop ethos fueled by Gino Racanelli, now 82 years old and the manager of Spiga. He and his nephew Alex Racanelli are the other two owners of the six restaurants. Gino and his four brothers – a big Italian family, straight off the boat, brought the hospitality and ability to conjure delicious food that is practicality in the water in Italy to a deli they opened in the Bronx shortly after arriving in the U.S. A slew of Pizza and Brew restaurants throughout the Bronx and Westchester in the early 1970s followed. The Racanellis worked hard. They served good food. They knew people’s names. They cared about every single customer, no matter who they were. They knew what they liked, and what they didn’t.
Dan, now in his forties, was just 18 years old when he started with Gino who he calls the founding father of all this restaurant success, a hospitality super hero of few words who leads by example, the guy you never want to disappoint.
“You want to please him, make sure that you get it right, because you know he’s doing it right every day,” said Dan.
Rose joined the group 11 years ago. A graduate of Greenwich High School and FIT in NYC, she traded a career in fashion for the restaurant business after “falling in love with it” (as she says) while working as a hostess during college. Then she met Gino and Dan. They saw in her what they have—the grit, the drive, the commitment to creating places that feel like they’ve always been there nearly as soon as they open, places with soul that stick around and become the spots you return to, adding a new layer of good every time you go.
Throughout the changing mix of partners and restaurant groups as the family grew, moved, followed different paths, sold most of the Pizza and Brews and established new eateries throughout the area, what stayed the same was the foundation of it all—Gino’s value system built on hard work, humility and making sure every customer is okay. No one is too good for any task. You jump in where you’re needed. You’re in it together.
“In a lot of restaurants, they call it ‘front of house’ or ‘back of house,’” said Dan of the dining room and kitchen. “We just call it house. Because a lot of our energy and fun go into the kitchen and a lot of their energy and fun come right back out,” he continued.
No wonder the cooks, the dishwashers and busboys stick around—seven, 12, 13 years and more, according to Dan, including Aquino Policarpio, the Molto Fairfield chef who Rose, Dan, Gino and Alex moved to Darien to assure consistency. His nephew Juan Pinzon is his righthand man. He’s been with the group for more than 10 years. It’s tight at Molto, in so many ways—as personal as the staff is personable.
“We’re not on a culinary journey. We’re giving you some solid food at a great price and a cool atmosphere,” said Dan. A journey it may not be, but it is a destination, one we most definitely want molto – very much, in every way.
