Bottega and Craft Kitchen Owners Open Quattro Osteria in Newtown

Mussels + garlic parm cream sauce. If you don’t want cream, they do a spicy marinara version.

Bottega Italian Kitchen + Bar, Craft Kitchen + Bar, and now, with the very quiet opening of Quattro Osteria in Newtown, we officially have a trio.

The “we” is the partnership between Michael Hayek (Square One Bar & Grill in Danbury) and Jasson Arias, who was the brains behind the popular food truck, Rice & Beans.

The duo’s third, however, is different from the two that came before it. Bottega’s menu centers around Neapolitan pizza, pasta, and Italian small plates, and Craft is the melting pot known as New American.

Quattro Osteria quietly opened on October 8 directly across the parking lot from Marketplace Kitchen & Bar.

But at Quattro you likely won’t see pizza, nor will you see a bowl of spaghetti and meatballs. Think of it as upscale Italian with dishes like baked cannelloni with black truffle ricotta, pan seared halibut with escarole and cannellini bean purée, and gnocchi in a gorgonzola cream with broccoli rabe pesto and crumbles of spicy sausage.

James Piccolo, the culinary director of all three restaurants—who was part of Joe Bastianich’s Tarry Lodge for 12 years and was Tarry Westport’s executive chef—mentioned that Quattro Osteria is here to bring fine dining Italian to the area. “This is my wheelhouse, and they have faith in me to do what I did for so long at Tarry,” Piccolo says. “People from here would frequently come to Westport or New Haven, and now that all those places have closed, there’s a void of upscale Italian. Let’s give people what they want.”

Roasted cauliflower, tomato, salsa verde, butternut squash, pecorino

Ya gotta have burrata

At Quattro, Piccolo also gets to show off his creative chops. P.E.I. mussels arrive at the table in a garlicky cream sauce, and although it comes with toasted focaccia points, I’d advise you to hang onto one slice of the gratis bread so you can properly wipe up all of that sauce. While the crock of mussels could be a meal in itself, other shareable appetizers include burrata (tangy aged balsamic, arugula pesto, tri-colored heirloom tomatoes), cacio e pepe arancini with saffron aioli, and roasted cauliflower with salsa verde, puréed tomatoes, and butternut squash, Piccolo hasn’t forgotten to include some red sauce joint classics, only done up finer.

Those familiar with Bottega and Craft should be in for no surprise that they have a stellar cocktail program. Quattro’s was designed by Dominic Pagliaro, a former mentee of Jonathan Rodriguez (formerly of Mecha Noodle Bar and The Nomad Bar, now Sienna Ristorante’s GM). Pictured: (left) Negroni Nucci (Empress Gin, Campari, Carpano Antica Vermouth), (top) Stella Bella (Four Roses, Cardamaro—a wine based apertif, clementine, lemon, lime, egg white), (bottom) Little Italy (Sazerac Rye, Cynar, spiced pear, black walnut bitters). Expect lots of Italian wine selections, too.

Chicken parm as big as the plate, topped with fresh mozzarella because Chef James won’t use that “shredded shit.”

Bolognese laced with dollops of stracciatella.

Chicken parm at Quattro is a butterflied whole breast, pounded out, buttermilk brined for a full day, then crusted in panko before it’s fried, topped with a chunky tomato sauce, and flashed so the fresh mozzarella gets all melty. Bolognese here is another red sauce star. Quattro’s version is comprised of veal and ground pancetta for a fatty, porky element and some “secrets,” a few of which are anchovies, an element that Piccolo says, “is a flavor component that people usually overlook” and “a lot of cream.”

Gnocchi in a funky-in-a-good-way gorgonzola cream with broccoli rabe pesto and spicy sausage

Shank me.

Amongst the parms and the chicken Milanese, all revived in a cheffier way, is a wild mushroom risotto, Bistecca, and “Scallopine,” scallops with saffron risotto, sautéed peppers, and crispy, spicy coppa. If you’re me, you go right for the pork shank. It’s braised for five hours, then quickly deep fried for texture, and served with polenta, some of that rich braising liquid, some cranberries for a sweet tart balance, fried sage, and a shaved raw Brussels sprouts salad that brings freshness to this very holiday-eque dish. And yes, the pork is so tender that it forks apart. 

Italian rainbow “cookie” cake is sourced from a bakery in the Bronx

The tiramisu with shaved white chocolate is made in-house

Piccolo teased that there’s a possibility that we’ll eventually see some type of bone marrow dish on the menu soon, seeing how it’s one of the things he’s addicted to, and we should expect him to flex more of his creative muscle at Quattro Osteria in the months ahead.

“People hear traditional Italian, and they think chicken marsala or piccata,” Piccolo says. “I think in terms of more old world Italian but to modernize it as much as possible. I’m making a lot of stuff that I want to eat when I go out. There’s no one holding me back here and the owners trust me. During shutdowns, the time off, it made me a better chef, father, husband, everything.”

32 Church Hill Road; Newtown
203.304.9757; quattroosteria.com