The culinary bounty of Bklyn NY, as expressed by chef Joe Bruno, Brooklynite (or "bruculino"). Old-World craft; New-World recipes; Uncompromising quality.
Gorgeous modern venue. Fine cocktails, beers and spirits. Extraordinary wines.
Instagram @bruculino
Chef/Founder Joe Bruno was the first to bring fine dining to South Norwalk, in 1984, paving the way for SoNo to become the destination it is today. His Pasta Nostra Restaurant achieved regional and national acclaim by celebrating fresh ingredients and craft cooking long before marketers imprinted "farm to table" on pop consciousness.
Bruculino builds on this long and principled tradition, just around the corner from the original spot. This all-new venue is upscale yet relaxed, offering fine dining in a crisp, modern room pairing exposed structural elements with natural materials and pleasing acoustics. A beautiful and comfortable bar runs the full length of the room, offering a vast array of select wines, cocktails, beer, and spirits, in addition to our full dinner menu.
"Bruculino" is Italo-American dialect meaning "a guy from Brooklyn," where Chef Joe was born to Italian-American parents. Our food is not Italian. Our food is not American. Our food expresses the intersection of Old World tradition and culture with New World ingredients and the wide-eyed wonderment of the Brooklyn diaspora. Some of our dishes hew faithfully to regional Italian and Sicilian recipes; some are very much American, such as those exploring Joe's profound fascination with Mexico; most fall somewhere in between.
Provenance aside, our cuisine is guided by the principle that the best food is born from simple preparation of the finest ingredients the season offers. The menu changes weekly. The large wine list is carefully curated by Chef Joe himself, featuring nothing but excellence and value from cover-to-cover, at every price point, with several nationalities and many varietals represented.
Bruculino remains as rigorously devoted to quality as was Pasta Nostra over its rich and celebrated thirty-year history. We always demand the best ingredients from our suppliers, and cook with a sensitivity to health rare among restaurants. We do not cook with sugar, avoid overuse of salt, have no greasy deep fryer and -- in keeping with Joe's Southern-Italian roots -- avoid the use of dairy (butter and cream in particular). Real food sustains as well as delights!
