Siena Ristorante Opens Second Location at Hotel Zero Degrees in Norwalk

One of the richer, soul-satisfying dishes on Siena’s menu is this braised oxtail rigatoni with broccoli rabe. Perfect on a chilly evening.

The vacancy left by Mediterraneo at Norwalk’s branch of Hotel Zero Degrees has a new occupant.

Siena Ristorante—owned by Pasquale Conte, Pietro Polini, along with new partners in executive chef Foster Lukas and general manager and longtime bartender Jonathan Rodriguez—have been open since early September serving upscale Northern Italian food that the restaurant has dished out in Stamford for about 25 years.

But Stamford residents, fear not, they didn’t move. This is simply a sequel.

Rodriguez, who you might know from his six-year stint as Mecha Noodle Bar’s beverage directory, clued us in on how it all came together. “Pasquale and Pietro are friends of the owners of the hotel, so they were able to strike a deal and it made sense,” he says. “Foster was the former chef at East End in Greenwich (there’s a close relationship between Hotel Zero Degrees and Z Hospitality Group’s restaurants), so he came on, and I did a small, maybe 8-10 drink program at Siena Stamford, so they approached me about wanting to bring me on as a partner.”

Roasted beets + ricotta

Crostini trio, all sliced for sharing purposes. Left to right: spicy eggplant caponata; burrata with heirloom tomatoes and basil oil; whipped ricotta, sliced peaches, hazelnuts, vinaigrette.

If you aren’t familiar with what to expect from this 130-seat hotel restaurant that provides Silvermine River views, think along the lines of old school Italian marries Tuscan fine dining. The menu can go from light—with a colorful roasted beet salad atop whipped ricotta with salty, chopped pistachios and a beet greens pesto—to soulful and hearty with meatballs, fritti misti (deep fried calamari, eggplant, zucchini, and hot peppers), and a crostini trio that doesn’t skimp on toppings.

There’s pizza, too, and don’t call it Neapolitan. According to Lukas, it’s “artisan.”

“It’s the pizza that I wanted when I moved to Connecticut from New York,” he says. “It’s half 00 flour and half all-purpose, salt, yeast, and a touch of olive oil. It’s fermented for minimum 24 hours but up to two days. We cook it in a combi oven (gas and wood) for some wood flavor. It’s crisp, light, and has no flop.”

The rest of Siena’s menu is chock full of pasta dishes. No, that doesn’t mean spaghetti and meatballs. These carbs include truffle and wild mushroom tagliatelle, duck ragu bucatini, kale and ricotta ravioli with vodka sauce, sweet corn and butter poached lobster risotto, and red wine braised oxtail rigatoni.

“What we’re trying to do it take a Tuscan-inspired restaurant known for years for having good food, where pasta is made in-house, using ingredients you can recognize, that’s as local as possible,” Rodriguez says.

The rest of Siena’s offerings include seafood like wood-fired whole branzino, shrimp and cockles with white bean and broccoli rabe ragout, and grilled salmon. Some of its meatier fare is a wood-fired half chicken, a classic in either veal or chicken Milanese, a grilled Berkshire porkchop with peach mostarda, and your choice of steak with options being a porcini rubbed NY strip or a dry-aged bone-in ribeye. Each steak is accompanied by a stack of parmesan polenta “fries,” sautéed spinach, and a gravy boat full of sweet balsamic shallot sauce.

While you might see Rodriguez on the floor doing his general manager thing, he certainly has an influence on the cocktail creations. At Siena, he’s reunited with head bartender Ben Francis and assistant general manager Ben Fuller. They all worked at Mecha together for years. “It’s like working with my best friends again,” Rodriguez says.

And with Rodriguez involved, Siena’s cocktail program that should not be missed. The 17 crafted drinks showcase riffs, like a New Orleans coffee and cinnamon old fashioned, a sour with a Barolo wine vinegar float, and a version of a bee’s knees that implores spicy scorpion bitters as contrast to the drink’s raw honey sweetness.

“The spirits and wine world has been my calling for the last eight years; bartending for Mecha, the NoMad Bar, and helping with my buddy Jasson’s spots, Bottega and Craft in Danbury, then I did sales for a year during the pandemic,” Rodriguez says.

Wine is a huge focal point at Siena as well, and for after dinner, look for sherry, something Rodriguez will tell you he’s pretty nerdy about and he’s more than thrilled to talk about it should you need help.

As for the stigma that hotel restaurants and bars aren’t good in Connecticut? Nonsense according to Rodriguez and the team at Siena. “We’re pulling inspiration from quality hotel bars across the country and internationally like Italy and all over Asia,” he says. “We’re trying to take that charm and marry it with Italian fine dining. We want you to feel at home and know it as a hotel that has amazing food and drinks.”

353 Main Avenue; Norwalk
203.857.9989; sienanorwalk.com