The Quartiere Debuts in Downtown Stamford

If you’ve cruised down Bank Street in Downtown Stamford, you may have noticed there’s a new Italian restaurant located in the former Cotto Wine Bar space.

The Quartiere—roughly translated is Italian for neighborhood, area, or district—aims to be a go-to spot for pizza, pasta, and the like, in an elevated, casual setting with affordable prices.

“The Q” is owned by Martin Bates, a 30-year industry vet from the United Kingdom where he ran an umbrella of 400 pubs, bars, and restaurants before taking on the role of president at a well-known sandwich and coffee franchise.

“I worked for a brewery in the U.K. that owned all these pubs; I was all over the country driving 60,000 miles a year, living out of a suitcase, I never saw my kids, and they kept buying all these businesses while I was burning myself out,” Bates says. “I took a sabbatical for a year, traveled, went to Spain. I eventually met the founder of Pret A Manger who offered me a job where I ran a chunk of the businesses. I came to NYC in 2007 to run Pret.”

Shared plates are plentiful at The Quartiere

Post Pret, Bates started his own private restaurant consulting firm, Ellis Rowan, and continued to open restaurants all over.

Three years ago, Bates decided he’d eventually like to open up something of his own. “I was looking for my thing,” he says. “I started looking into neighborhood Italian because I love this style of pizza and pasta. I’m a carb freak. I love it.”

Meatballs and grilled bread. The plates and bowls are the handy work of Bates’ sister-in-law, Bracken Feldman, a potter with a studio in Croton, NY. She made the dishware to match the restaurant’s tile.

The Quartiere officially came about when Bates had a few consulting gigs in the city, then the pandemic hit. He saw it as an opportunity to open something from scratch or to rehab a place with “good bones” that fit the concept that he wanted.

When Cotto Wine Bar closed in 2020, Bates knew it fit the bill for what he was looking for. He kept Cotto’s signature wooden walls behind the bar that cascade to the ceiling and the Wood Stone pizza oven was in great shape, too. Bates constructed the new back bar and the tile work himself.

The Quartiere cracked the doors open in late March, fulfilling Bates’ promise of affordable, casual (but elevated) Italian neighborhood cuisine.

Left to right: Americana pizza (red sauce, pepperoni, hot honey, mozzarella, and pecorino), fried calamari, vodka piccante

The Q’s menu begins with Italian shareable staples like meatballs and bread with plenty of sauce to plunge it into, plus, crispy parmesan and rosemary dusted potatoes, and a generous portion of fried, tender calamari topped with Calabrian chilis, briny capers accompanied by ramekins of marinara and garlic aioli for dipping.

There’s more under shared plates, like various vegetable preparations, marinated olives, fries, and whipped ricotta.

Much like Bates, there’s a strong chance you’re all about the carbs, so pizza it is!

Burrata pizza: prosciutto, marinated heirloom tomatoes, EVOO, basil, and of course, a ball of fresh burrata smack dab in the middle.

There are 10 red pies and four white pies to choose from. Each is golden brown with some chew and a light dough. But it’s not Neapolitan, nor is it New York style. “I like Roberta’s and Keste,” Bates says. “Ours is a blend of Italian flours, fresh yeast, salt, and water in an Italian mixer. We (cold) proof it for 24 hours and we cook it at 600°. We’ll call it artisanal!”

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Other desserts include carrot cake and this rendition of lava cake that’s filled with a molten caramel center.

Much like the pizza and everything at The Quartiere, it’s all scratch made every day, including the pasta. Bates joked that they have an old Italian grandmother in the back. It’s actually an old school pasta machine. And the results of the chefs and the machine are shrimp al limone, spaghetti carbonara, Mafalda Bolognese, bucatini amatriciana, and soul satisfying spicy vodka sauce rigatoni.

If you aren’t about the carbs and lean towards protein, there’s hanger steak and fries, seafood risotto, chicken Milanese, and grilled salmon with roasted Brussels sprouts to choose from.

To complement the neighborhood vibe is a balanced craft cocktail menu of spritzy, light, and strong mixed drinks. Additionally, there’s a lofty selection of Italian vino by the glass or bottle and most won’t break the bank, but they make sure to include a few for those special nights. If pizza and beer is your jam, you’ll find lots of Connecticut and New York drafts and cans with some Italian pilsners and lagers in the mix.

The Quartiere—and all its carby goodness—is open for the people every day. They’re not planning to take reservations for small groups and Bates said he’ll never close the restaurant for private events. The goal at The Q is good food and drinks and according to Bates, “It’s all about the neighborhood and the community.”

51 Bank Street; Stamford
203.892.6757; The Quartiere