Pausa Caffè Italian Coffee Shop Opens, Bringing Napoli to Norwalk

“Everything we have here is straight from Italy — besides the Poland Springs” quips Stefano Cutugno, manager and part-owner of Norwalk’s new Pausa Caffè. On March 6th, Cutugno’s family opened the doors to Main street’s youngest coffee shop, applying the expertise gained from years of operating restaurants in Sicily and Naples to craft an authentic Italian dining experience.

Pausa’s menu offers a robust selection of coffee and pastries, reading like a list of Italy’s most popular drinks and sweets. From marocchinos to double espressos and crostatas to cannolis, there’s an option for every customer. For their coffee beans, Pausa uses Borbone, a Naples-based company that Stefano says is “quickly [becoming] the most famous brand in Italy.”  “We started with a different company, but after two weeks, we changed it, and [our customers] knew right away that it was better,” explains Stefano, illustrating Pausa’s commitment to quality.

The dessert offerings include biscotti, tiramisù, affogato, and more. While the pastries are baked right in the store, they’re prepared in Italy and delivered frozen weekly. According to Stefano, this is necessary in order to ensure the authenticity of the sweets. “People have tried to make them in America, but they can’t — the [difference in the] water changes [the pastries] a lot,” he says. “We’ve had Italian customers try our babà and say ‘oh my god, I feel like I’m in Italy.’”

Just as big of an attraction as the quality drinks, authentic desserts, and Italian hospitality is the miniature market of Italian delicacies that Pausa offers. Right behind the register are shelves filled with groceries from “the best brands in Italy.” You’d be hard pressed to find such a robust selection of traditional treats, including fresh mozzarella and kinder candies, elsewhere in Connecticut. “We have a lot of people come in just to buy some of [this] stuff,” Stefano tells me.

The Cutugnos’ efforts to emulate the authentic Italian coffee shop experience has paid off. Pausa’s location was chosen simply out of convenience — SoNo presented an available venue with manageable rent. But the Stratford-based family, who relocated to America eight years ago and remained unfamiliar with the Norwalk area, was pleasantly surprised by the region’s large Italian population. “As soon as we had our grand opening, all the Italian people started to come around,” says Stefano, “and we also realized how much everyone else loves Italian food.”

Pausa has garnered loyal customers from the rest of the state — and beyond — as well. Residents of Upstate Connecticut, Milford, Greenwich, and even New York frequent the new establishment, according to Stefano. “They always ask why [we] don’t open over there,” he says, and while the family hopes to one day expand, for now, at least, they’re focused on pleasing their Norwalk clientele. “We listen to the customers for whatever they want. If they ask for something from Italy, we’ll try to bring it over.”

And these updates are coming in fast. Pausa plans to begin offering gelato in the coming weeks, and the Cutugnos are already in the process of preparing a menu of meats, cheeses, and paninis for patrons to enjoy while relaxing in the restaurant’s outdoor seating area. “In Italy, they’re always working … to make new stuff, and that’s what we want to do,” says Stefano, espousing Pausa’s commitment to adapt to customers’ wishes.

I first tried a macchiato, and I immediately noted the quality of the beans. As is to be expected at an Italian cafe, the coffee was very strong, but the sweet and fruity taste of Borbone was able to shine through deliciously. The drink presented a pleasant hint of acidity that added well to its rich and full taste.

I then sampled a handful of Pausa’s most popular desserts, beginning with the chocolate mousse. The dessert came inside of a hard dark chocolate shell and encased a thick ganache filling. A sprinkling of crunchy chocolate hazelnut bites, as well as a side of mixed pistachio crumbles and white chocolate chips, accompanied the dish. The light and fluffy mousse’s sweetness contrasted deliciously with the rich and crunchy outside casing, and the addition of the side mixture provided for a wonderful chocolate and pistachio blend.

Next, I tried a chocolate hazelnut filled cornetto, which Stefano made sure to point out was different from a croissant: “The croissant is more [of a] French food. In Italy, when we make the cornetto, we don’t use butter.” This results in a softer and denser pastry as opposed to the airy and flaky croissant. Cornettos also typically include more sugar than croissant dough, which results in a sweeter pastry. Mine had a similar taste and consistency to a well-made brioche. The nutty chocolate filling added to the sweetness of the cornetto, providing the perfect complement to the strong macchiato.

For those craving a somewhat more savory pastry, I highly recommend the sfogliatella riccia. The lobster-tail-shaped pastry popular in Italy’s Campania region combines a croissant-like layered outside shell with a warm, custard-like mixture of candied citrus peels, ricotta, semolina, and cinnamon as a filling. The flavors combined to form a wholly new taste for me, similar to that of a well-made carrot cake, though much zestier.

Finally, I tried a chocolate hazelnut aragostina — a miniature version of the sfogliatelle, for which Pausa offers both a nutella and a pistachio filling. The layered and flaky dough of the outer shell made for an emphatic crispiness that complemented the smooth nutella filling. This would certainly be the go-to order for anyone looking for an item similar to a chocolate croissant.

Pausa Caffè 9 Main St, Norwalk, CT 06851