Sophie Sonnenfeld Photo
Alison De Renzi and Francesco d’Amuri.
L’Orcio lights up State Street as it has for the past 18 years with customers dazzled by the Tortelli di Zucca and Pappardelle Al Ragù.
“Our story is part of so many people’s stories. We have people that got engaged here or married here, so it’s kind of cool to be involved in so many people’s personal stories. It’s a neat thing,” said Alison De Renzi, who owns and runs L’Orcio with her husband Chef Francesco d’Amuri.
d’Amuri and De Renzi are now preparing for a dark winter.
Because of the pandemic, d’Amuri and De Renzi decided to close L’Orcio in early March. They reopened in May with takeout and socially distant indoor and outdoor seating.
Take-out and delivery orders will prove crucial to the ability of local restaurants like L’Orcio to weather the pandemic during the coming months as Covid-19 cases climb and cold weather sets in. Call ahead at (203) 777‑6670 to order pick-up or click here to order online for pick-up (806 State St.) and delivery. You get 15 percent off for a first order with the online link. The restaurant is open Tuesdays through Sundays from 4 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Near the door to the upstairs kitchen on a recent visit, d’Amuri was sculpting L’Orcio’s roasted butternut squash ravioli for their “Tortelli di Zucca.”
He laid out a sheet of dough and began squeezing the puréed butternut squash filling in rows. d’Amuri roasted the squash and seasoned it with pecorino romano, rosemary, and a bit of thyme the day before.
d’Amuri covered the fillings with another layer of dough and delicately pressed it down….
… to then carve out each circular ravioli.
Using a fork, he left aesthetic indents along the edges of each ravioli to seal in the butternut squash.
Finally, d’Amuri cooked the ravioli in butter and sage. “It’s very very simple to bring out the varying sweetness of the butternut” he said.
d’Amuri used the leftover dough to craft Pappardelle Al Ragù.
Pappardelle Al Ragù.
Pappardelle Al Ragù is L’Orcio’s best-seller. It consists of homemade wide flat noodles in a hearty meat sauce. The meat sauce includes pork, veal, and beef with fresh carrots, celery, and onions. Figuring chopping the vegetables, cooking the meat, and preparing the noodles, the savory dish is a three- hour labor of love.
d’Amuri also served L’Orcio’s grilled octopus dish called Polpo Grigliato. It comes with string bean potato salad, in-house roasted pepper, and balsamic reduction.
Polpo Grigliato.
He then presented their Carpaccio di Manzo, filet mignon carpaccio served with arugula salad, lemon vinaigrette, and shaved parmigiano on top.
Tortelli di Zucca.
I was fortunate enough to try these dishes and share them with my family. I was reluctant to relinquish a few of the raviolis to my family, as the lingering sweetness of the Tortelli di Zucca was comforting with a flavorful zing from the Pecorino Romano. The Polpo Grigliato’s light and delicious seasoning made it disappear from the table in minutes, along with the incredibly refreshing, zesty Carpaccio di Manzo. Of course, the Pappardelle Al Ragù was a highlight and certainly warmed up our winter evening.
Carpaccio di Manzo.
The Carpaccio di Manzo and their Gnocchi Boscaiola are among De Renzi’s favorite dishes. “Everything is made to order, so it requires a lot of skill, finesse, and time management” she said.
d’Amuri and De Renzi will celebrate 18 years of business in February. The couple met when De Renzi was studying in Florence. De Renzi said her interest in the food industry was sparked by behind-the-scenes tours of restaurant kitchens where her family were regulars when she was growing up in New York. “That’s what I love. We try to have that relationship with our regulars,” De Renzi said.
Tortelli di Zucca, Pappardelle Al Ragu, Polpo Grigliato, and Carpaccio di Manzo.
The son of farmers, d’Amuri, who is from Francavilla Fontana, Brindisi in Italy, also grew up around the food industry. d’Amuri worked for years in kitchens in Arezzo, Cortona, Rome, and Florence before coming to open L’Orcio in New Haven with De Renzi.
That first winter they opened, business was slow. d’Amuri described watching cars pass and people shuffle by and waiting for customers to stop in. “Slowly and steadily we built our business and since then we have a lot of loyal customers who come in to dine sometimes two or three times a month or even once a week!”
“Word of mouth is very very powerful” De Renzi added.
d’Amuri attributed some of L’Orcio’s success through rough times to good luck. “Life is so unfair because there are a lot of people like us that work hard and don’t make it. I don’t take it for granted.”
“It’s hard work and it’s also luck with people loving you and seeing you also in themselves. I think they have to see that, they want to find a connection.”
L’Orcio’s bustling kitchen.
d’Amuri and De Renzi attributed much of their success to their staff. L’Orcio’s Sous-chef has been with them for 12 years and their senior server has worked there for 13 years. Even L’Orcio’s newer staff are all approaching three years at the restaurant. “We’ve had such good staff longevity,” De Renzi reflected.
While many restaurants hosted “last hurrah” dinners before the pandemic hit, d’Amuri and De Renzi closed early. d’Amuri and De Renzi were watching Italian news every day and were closely following the Covid-19 outbreaks in Italy.
d’Amuri also heard direct warnings from his brother, who lives near Bergamo, which was in full lockdown by early March. “He would tell me, ‘Listen, you don’t want to see what I’m seeing outside my window.’”
“We were like,’ This is going to get dark, and we don’t really know about this virus and how it passes. How we can protect ourselves? So we decided to close.” After shutting down on March 13, L’Orcio reopened on May 20 with Covid-19 precautions in place.
While d’Amuri and De Renzi can no longer greet customers as they usually do once orders are served, they’ve been able to form relationships with customers in new ways.
One regular customer started buying gift cards every two weeks to support L’Orcio while it was closed.
Another loyal customer told d’Amuri and De Renzi, “I don’t want to live in the city if your restaurant isn’t in it.”
“We cried over and over these things, because we’re thinking about what’s going to be, how we’re going to do it, what do we do now. Then you just sit down, you breathe and you think about all these awesome things that come back to you. You think about what you really need to go on, and you find the energy again. You really need a spark in your life to realize you can do anything,” d’Amuri reflected.
“It’s going to be a long winter. That’s really going to put our back against the wall. It’s going to be hard. We don’t know what’s going to happen but we’re definitely hopefully we can come out the other side in spring again.”
Previous coverage of recommended take-orders to help keep local businesses survive the pandemic:
• Today’s Special: Haci’s Napoletana Pie
• Today’s Special: Fred & Patty’s Brie On Baguette
• Today’s Special: Nieda’s Moist Falafel
• Today’s Special: Qulen’s Vegan “Wings”
• Today’s Special: Aaron’s Peruvian Rice Bowl
• Today’s Special: Singh Bros.’ Chana Kulcha
• Today’s Special: Grandma’s Chicken Soup
• Today’s Special: Woody’s Steak & Shrimp
• Today’s Special: Shilmat’s Yemisir Sambusa
• Today’s Special: Arjun’s Vegetarian Manchurian
• Today’s Special: Mohammed’s Bhel Poori
