Rice & Beans Food Truck Owner Opens Bottega Italian Kitchen + Bar in Bethel

Swanky. And they do have an outdoor patio (not pictured here, obviously) off to the left.

About a year ago, while having a few beers at Decadent Ales, I was formally introduced to Jasson Arias, the owner of the popular Rice & Beans food truck. It was there that I got in on a conversation between he and Chris Gonzalez of Hapa Food Truck. Arias talked about wanting to take that next step in the food industry and open a physical restaurant.

Fast forward to now. Arias has graduated from food truck to brick-and-mortar with his newest venture, Bottega Italian Kitchen + Bar.

Welcome to Bottega. Local time is 4:30 and the temperature is 70 degrees. you've reached your destination! 🛬 🍕 #pizzandsunsets #danburyct #bethelct #woodfired #italian #craftbeer #craftcocktails #ctfoodies #ctbites

Bottega, though, is a completely different concept than the delicious, photogenic bowls Arias has become known for. Bottega, translated from Italian to English, means shop, and at this “shop” they’re firing up Neapolitan style pizza along with reimagined Italian classics, and they made damn sure the bar program wouldn’t be an afterthought.

How Arias got here from that chat at a brewery all those months ago isn’t that crazy of a story. “It’s not as complicated as it might seem,” he says. “The space was open. It used to be a wood-fired concept as well, but it was more traditional.”

The space he’s talking about used to be the Rizzuto’s Italian Restaurant & Bar in Bethel.

Arias noted that he and his partner, Michael Hayek of Square One Bar & Grill in Danbury, saw an opportunity to fill a void in the area. “Aside from Stanziato’s and now us, there’s not much of this (Neapolitan pizza) in the area,” he says. “People who live around here usually have to drive a distance (to Norwalk or Stamford) for a place like this.”

The challenge at Bottega, according to Arias, is setting the right atmosphere, stating he wants it “to feel alive.” To get that feeling, he has pretty much changed the entire dining room. A huge, centralized bar with spirits hanging in a cage of sorts, the walls are exposed brick in some areas, wooden planks in others, and there are pops of pizza parlor style white tile in others. And there’s the massive oven, with viewable flames, that’s built into the kitchen’s wall. It’s the only fixture that remains from the previous occupant, only rebranded with “Bottega.”

That very oven is where Bottega fires up one of its menu’s focal points, Neapolitan pizza. Arias said they went through at least 10 different dough recipes and various fermentation techniques before settling on one that produces a light, airy crust after being cooked at 700°-750° in their wood/gas combo oven.

Some of the pies Bottega is cranking out early on are pepperoni with spicy honey, meatball with cherry peppers, shakshuka (eggplant, zucchini, parm, chili oil, fried egg), and truffle (burrata, parm, pancetta, black truffle, arugula).

Crispy fried mushroom-parmesan arancini with truffle aioli and roasted tomatoes

As far as the rest of Bottega’s offerings are concerned, Arias says the idea was pretty simple. “We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel when it comes to Italian cuisine,” he says. “We want to modernize it and make it better.”

If pizza isn’t enough for your appetite, indulge in a bowl of pasta. Pictured is the campanelle with wild mushrooms, Pecorino, toasted hazlenuts, and pancetta in a white wine lemon cream sauce.

Think along the lines of chicken parm, bone-in pork chop Milanese, seafood fra diavolo, and others as nostalgic as spaghetti & meatballs, all using high quality ingredients and fresh produce.

Additionally, there are plenty of small plates and shareables like mushroom arancini with truffle aioli, a wood-fired veggie board, burrata with charred broccoli, fire-kissed garlic parm wings, and tender octopus with crispy fingerling potatoes and chorizo.

One of Bottega’s intro sweets is a rum caramel budino with those iconic ice cream parlor chocolate crunchies.

Drinks at Bottega are just as much at the forefront as the food is thanks to Jonathan Rodriguez, who served as Mecha Noodle Bar’s beverage director for over five years.

At Bottega, Rodriguez is reunited with Arias with whom he used to bartend, and even further back, they went to high school together in Danbury. “I wanted Jon to get me to that next level bar program,” Arias says.  

And that’s the individual serving! Joking…or not.

Earlier that night, Rodriguez expressed enthusiasm to work with and help out a good friend. “I would’ve done this for free,” he says. “That’s my boy!”

So, what’s that mean for Bottega’s bar?

Expecting a good wine selection is common sense. It’s an Italian restaurant, after all. But they haven’t neglected to include craft beer, including some hyper local choices. Nod Hill’s Mood for a Day IPA, a saison from Broken Symmetry, NEBCO’s Sea Hag, and a brown ale from Newburgh were some of the nearby breweries represented on Bottega’s intro beer list. That trend will continue according to Arias, who mentioned he’d like to get more locally brewed liquid on tap from microbreweries.

And then there are cocktails. Some were created exclusively for Bottega, while others are more traditional with a few creative liberties taken. A Negroni using strawberry infused Campari and an old fashioned using a booze blend of Angostura 7-Year Rum, Four Roses Bourbon, bittersweet amaro, and banana liqueur are a few examples of that. Two sangrias, a margarita, and a sneaky alcoholic “Paradise Punch” are available in pitchers if you’re all partaking in a fun night out.

As of press time, Bottega is open for dinner Tuesday through Sunday. Soon, they’ll expand their hours for both lunch and dinner to take care of your carby, red sauce cravings. 

6 Stony Hill Road; Bethel
203.456.6619; https://www.bottegabethel.com/