New restaurants in Connecticut aren’t fancy.Tastes like authentic Italian

Veteran restaurateur Marco Venditti, who just opened his new authentic Italian restaurant, Sora My Way, wants his customers to feel like they’re dining at home.

Venditti said he’s focused on flavor, freshness and putting heart into every meal, rather than “beautiful presentation.”

“I don’t eat the presentation. I eat the food,” he said. “I’m a really picky person. Everything has to be perfect. If it’s not perfect, I won’t give it to the customer. I need to enjoy the food.”

Venditti, who grew up in Italy watching his mother and grandmother make homemade pasta without machines, runs a large restaurant in Solar, Italy, with his brother Giuliano Venditti. The restaurant is called Da Giuliano.

Venditti partnered with Sheena Pinotto to own the new restaurant when the latter was looking to sell the cafe at the same location at 446 Silas Dean Highway in Wethersfield.

Vendetti’s family, who were customers of Gran Café Coffee Lounge, brought the two together. Vendetti suggested they start an Italian restaurant business together, and she went along with it.

Ms. Pinot, 37, who is half Puerto Rican and half Jamaican, said Ms. Venditti taught her how to cook authentic Italian food, although her specialty was Latin fusion.

Pinot, who learned how to cook from her mother and grandmother, quickly learned to cook and has grown to love it.

“What I like most is how I can express myself. Some people like to paint, some like to do their hair,” she said. “I like to cheer people up (through cooking).”

Venditti moved here 25 years ago, but returns to Italy about three times a year to help out at Sola’s restaurant during the busy tourist season. He also runs other restaurants along with his brother.

“Sola” is the name of a town in southern Rome where another restaurant is located, he said, and “My Way” in the name means he does things his own way.

“My approach is to cook for you with all my heart,” he said, noting that Pinot is the same way.

The pizzas are prepared in a stone oven, the pasta, sausages and sauces are all made from fresh ingredients, and the menu features classic Italian dishes such as spinach fettuccine, pasta fagioli, cannelloni and spaghetti carbonara fettuccini. . Sausage, grilled sausage with scamorza and broccoli rabe, chicken parmesan and eggplant parmesan.

Just a month old, it’s been receiving rave reviews online.

One happy customer wrote of the restaurant, “The best authentic Italian food I’ve had in Connecticut.”

“The pizza crust was perfect and the toppings were fresh. Everything there is fresh and homemade,” they wrote. “Honestly, the taste was amazing. …Walking away satisfied will guarantee your next visit.”

Another review called the restaurant a “gem,” while another said, “An authentic Italian bistro pizzeria with a touch of Nana’s Kitchen. It’s a ‘Welcome to our home…’ vibe.”

Venditti grew up on a farm surrounded by produce and animals, and had no television or toys as a child. So he spent time in the kitchen and “got yelled at a lot” for being at his feet, he said.

No wonder he and his brother became chefs, he said.

Sola My Way in Wethersfield is casual, like home, and “come out, have fun, and be yourself,” says Venditti.

“I like to cook old-fashioned food,” he said.

While helping run the restaurant in Italy and working with his brother on other restaurant endeavors, Venditti also worked for several years as the owner of Tees and More in Hartford.

Although the business is successful and continues to be, his heart is not in it, he said.

“I tried to change my passion, but my passion is cooking,” he said of the T-shirt business. “I love feeding people. I love seeing people enjoy the meal and say ‘thank you’ and leave.” ”

Venditti said that for him, the most important thing in business is not making money.

“You need passion to do this. With passion you can do anything,” he said, noting that Pinot is also a great chef with the right passion.

“You have to be happy,” Venditti said. “In the restaurant industry, if you don’t like your job, you’re going to be miserable.”

Venditti said his customers are like family and give him the energy to keep going.

“All I want to hear is, ‘It’s beautiful, it’s perfect, thank you so much,'” Venditti said.