Consiglio's Restaurant

Reviews

Read Connecticut Magazine's review of Nonna's Summer Wine Party
Founders Award
By Melissa Nicefarofrom Business New Haven

Food, Family and Fun A Wooster Street institution since 1938, Consiglio’s thrives under third-generation stewardship

There is some truth to the age-old axiom that the best way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. And that much hasn’t changed in the past 72 years that the Consiglio family has been fi nding the way to many hearts through a tasty meal.

In 1938, Salvatore and Annunziata Consiglio founded the restaurant. They originally called it the Big Apple and opened shop across the street from its current Wooster Street location. They saw the restaurant as an extension of their family kitchen. The Consiglios and their seven children started a legacy that is now told by the third generation of the family: Trish Consiglio-Perotti.

“My grandmother did all of the cooking and her children did all the rest — bartending and serving. It was only family,” Consiglio-Perotti says. Her uncle, the oldest son of the seven children, took over and then passed the guardianship down to his younger brother, Trish’s father. In the early 1960s the restaurant moved across the street to its current location.

In 1990 Consiglio-Perotti and her sister took over as the third generation to run the business. Her sister has since left the business and now Consiglio-Perotti manages day-to-day operations. She knew it wouldn’t be without its challenges, or without having to breathe some new life into the restaurant.

The past two years have brought new ideas and new energy to Consiglio’s. One trendy new innovation was found in that old-fashioned concept: cabaret-style dinner theater. It was an innovative move for the 72-year-old eatery and it has proved a big success: It attracted new customers and kept them coming back for more. Consiglio’s relies on old-fashioned word of- mouth advertising, but is not beyond the occasional print advertisement in a local church bulletin in an attempt to recruit hungry Sunday churchgoers to brunch after mass.

Last spring, Consiglio’s was under the new management of J. Panaloni and added a Sunday brunch to its offerings. Brunch entrées are all around $10. At around the same time, Consiglio’s reopened its back yard patio as a garden theater. Originally planned to seat an additional 70 guests, a show was born.

The Luigi Board, an interactive Italian- American-themed musical comedy, drew patrons to attend weekend performances. Consiglio’s was transforming the old patio into an extension of the restaurant when Consiglio-Perotti received a call from Liz Fuller, a co-writer of The Luigi Board, who was looking for a space to stage the production. The play, directed by Joel Vig from the original cast of the Broadway musical Hairspray, had three actors playing 19 characters.

After audience members raved about Gary Cavello, the actor who played Crazy Momma in last year’s The Luigi Board, Fuller wrote this summer’s show around Cavellos’s character, an Italian grandmother. “Gary was originally a clown with the Barnum & Bailey Circus,” explains Fuller. “He is so talented! He’s feisty and a bit crazy in the show. It’s interactive with singing and dancing and audience participation.”

So, for the 2010 season, she created Nona’s Summer Wine Party and cast Gary Cavello as the male actor who plays the part of an Italian grandmother. Tickets include dinner and the show for $50. Last year’s show drew in bachelorette parties and groups of couples, according to Fuller.

“It’s an event to go there. There’s nothing like Wooster Street in the summer time,” says Fuller. Liz Fuller lives 25 minutes south of New Haven in Westport and comes to Consiglio’s often. “Even in Westport, it’s one of the best known Italian restaurants around, especially among the foodies,” she says.

Her favorite Consiglio’s dish is veal Palmieri — veal medallions layered with creamed spinach and bacon, topped with mozzarella in a lemon garlic sauce. “It’s the first veal entrée listed on the menu. I don’t even look any further,” Fuller says. “It’s decadent. I don’t know where they get their veal, but it’s spectacular.” Her husband’s favorite is the shrimp Consiglio — jumbo shrimp sautéed with sun-dried tomatoes, capers, calamata olives and artichoke hearts over linguini in an olive oil and garlic sauce.

“My husband and I were married in the Vatican and so we love Italy more than anything in the world,” she says. “The food at Consiglio’s is on par with the best Italian restaurants anywhere.” Most of Consiglio’s meat comes from a local New Haven purveyor, according to Consiglio-Perotti. She uses as many local produce ingredients as the seasons allow, something that doesn’t go unnoticed by the Fullers. “It pays to pay a little bit more,” Consiglio- Perotti says. “It definitely pays to be choosy.”

While neighboring Frank Pepe’s Pizzeria Napoletana drove growth through opening new shops throughout the tri-state area, Consiglio’s will remain a Wooster Street-only institution. “I don’t see the type of growth that Pepe’s is engaged in happening for us,” Consiglio-Perotti says. “We’re great where we are. We have a perfect location and I don’t have any plans to open anywhere else. It helps me have a handle on everything that goes on, day and night.” She didn’t intend to take over the family business. But, as is often the case with family businesses, it “just happened.”

In 2008, Consiglio-Perotti found another way to reach an untapped market by offering cooking classes that she describes as very popular and “really fun.” Chef Maureen Nuzzo, a Wooster Square native, demonstrates a four-course dinner for ten to 12 people. They’re served the featured meal from the kitchen and leave with a booklet of recipes for each course prepared.

“It’s a fun night out, different from just coming out for dinner, and then the customers can go home and recreate the meal,” Consiglio-Perotti says. Nuzzo uses common ingredients that are not difficult to find and she often offers advice on substitutions. The restaurateur didn’t consider it a risk to share family recipes.

“A customer who was in last week told me that he still uses our recipe to make broccoli rabe with sausage. He took our class ten years ago when we fi rst offered it,” she says. She admits that when Consiglio’s first opened the patio last summer, the staff were nervous about the undertaking and happily surprised with the reception. “We love supporting the arts,” says Consiglio-Perotti. It seemed like a perfect way to fill a hole.

Consiglio-Perotti’s father Pasquale and his sister Marie still show up at the restaurant daily to help out. With three children of her own — ages ten, nine and four — Consiglio-Perotti says it’s too early to tell if any of her own will carry on the family legacy. Her husband owns and runs a commercial landscaping company and helps at the restaurant on busy weekends and when his wife calls for support.

“My older two love to come down with me and wash dishes,” she says. “My ten-year old is quite the social butterfly. He loves passing out menus and talking to customers. He busses tables on a Friday night with me. He makes more money than some of the waitresses,” she jokes. “He knows the menu and will offer suggestions to customers about what’s good. His favorite is our homemade cavatelli. I go into their class with my aunts every year since they’ were in preschool to make the homemade cavatellis. My son and all of his classmates know how to make them, so they’re his favorite.”

Consiglio-Perotti did not feel pressured to take over the family business; she felt honored. “My father needed some new vision and new blood, and we couldn’t let the business go, so we stepped in” she says. “I have no regrets at all.” BNH

Back to its roots
By Todd Lyon, From the New Haven Register

Still standing tall, Consiglio's remains a familiar face in the Elm City.

With all the new restaurants flashing their bold cuisines and clamoring for attention, a person sometimes forgets about old favorites in town. That person would, in this case, be me, and the old favorite would be Consiglio's on Wooster Street.

It's been around for so long - since 1938, if you count its original incarnation - and the last time I was there was 10 years ago, when I dined with Mayor DeStefano. Last week I returned to the scene (this time, Jared from the Subway commercials was there, eating lasagna, but not at my table). And I fell in love with the place all over again.

Consiglio's looks beautiful these days. It's not at all trendy or flashy, but it isn't fuddy-duddy, either. Rather, it has a golden glow that speaks of age and quality. I was there with Kay (the mom) and Hayward (the boyfriend) on a windy night, and we were glad down to our toes to be welcomed to a candlelit table with a view of Wooster Street.

The menu is classic New Haven Italian: superb Clams Casino, superior Calamari (with crowns, the way God intended them to be fried), Broccoli Rabe and Sausage, Eggplant Parmigiana, Zuppi di Pesce, plus a few modernized dishes like Filet Mignon Gorgonzola and Veal Asparagus, and dishes you hardly ever see, like Homemade Cavatelli and Braciola - a soul-satisfying dish of hand-rolled pasta and tender beef braciola.

"The cavatelli and braciola is one of our oldest dishes," says Trish Consiglio-Perrotti, who is now the official owner of Consiglio's. In fact, it is one of the dishes that Salvatore and Annunziata Consiglio served at The Big Apple, the restaurant they and their seven children opened across the street from where Consiglio's now stands.

"We believe that Consiglio's is the oldest restaurant in New Haven that's been continuously run by the same family," explains Trish. She herself started working at her family restaurant at the age of 13, as a busgirl. "I worked here all through high school and college until I was 21," she recalls. That's when she went West - to Southern California and Dallas, where she grew a career in property management. Shortly after her return in 1990, she and her sister Laura legally took over Consiglio's. "My parents were talking about selling the restaurant," says Trish. "Laura and I decided to give up our other careers and keep the restaurant in the family."

The sisters proceeded to update the look of Consiglio's. "We gave it a facelift," she recalls, "and spiffed everything up, right down to the silverware." She explains that her elders had been using paper placemats and mismatched flatware that they got for free from a linen company. "We turned it around," says Trish.

Five years ago, however, the sisters turned Consiglio's around a little too much: They hired a young chef to update the menu and add trendy new items. The customers weren't happy. "There was such an uproar, it took us a good two years to recover from that," says Trish with a laugh. "They wanted the old stuff - the lasagna, the Italian Kitchen Pasta."

Laura left a year ago to pursue commercial real estate; other than that, things are pretty much as they've always been at Consiglio's. Trish's 82-year-old father, Pasquale (known to all as "Pat"), still shows up every day to sweep the sidewalk and keep things tidy. "When he answers the phone here he says, "I'm just the janitor," smiles Trish. He's part of a crew that has been fiercely loyal to Consiglio's; Trish mentions beloved staffers who have worked there for more than a decade. These days, they're joined by Laura's daughter, Lindsey, who waitresses during the summer and who represents the fourth generation of Consiglios.

"We have customers who have been coming here for 40 years," says Trish. "Some of them remember when my aunt was waiting tables and wouldn't let anybody order meat on Fridays. Most of them remember the food, and they always say that it's just as good as it was back in the day.

That doesn't surprise me one bit: Consiglio's is a treasure, a real old-fashioned Italian restaurant with modern ideas about service, freshness and quality. I'll be back, and I suggest that you, too, treat yourself to a meal there soon. And don't worry. It will still be there.

Todd Lyon of New Haven is a freelance writer. Contact her at toddlyon@earthlink.net.

THE ESSENTIALS

Place: Consiglio's, 165 Wooster St., New Haven.
Phone: (203) 865-4489.
Web site: www.consiglios.com.
Hours: Lunch - 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Mondays through Fridays. Dinner - 4:30-9 p.m. Mondays through Fridays; 4:30-10 p.m.Saturdays; 1-9 p.m. Sundays.
Note: Consiglio's will be open for dinner on Easter Sunday.
Reservations: Recommended.
Food: A warm, polished dining room on historic Wooster Street offers superb examples of "New Haven Italian" cookery by a family that's been continuously in operation since 1938. At dinner, classic dishes like Broccoli Rabe and Sausage ($9.95 for an app. portion) and Homemade Cavatelli and Braciola ($21.95) join updated dishes like Filet Mignon Gorgonzola ($30.95) and Veal Asparagus ($22.95). Regulars particularly enjoy the Italian Kitchen Pasta ($18.95), Eggplant Parmigana ($18.95), Sole and Shrimp Florentine ($22.95), Italian Peasant Pork ($21.95) and other old-fashioned, highly flavorful choices. Entrees are served with a nice little salad and excellent bread; side dishes are also available, i.e. meatballs ($3.95), sauteed spinach ($3.95), pasta with olive oil and garlic ($3.95) and more. At lunch, a nearly identical menu offers smaller portions and reduced prices. Most desserts are made in-house; we thoroughly enjoyed a homemade crepe filled with vanilla ice cream, fresh berries and bananas and hot fudge ($7.50).
Vegetarianism: Vegans will be disappointed, but there are many dishes made without red meat.
Drink: A full bar specializes in martinis; I tried a Pama Martini, made with pomegranate liqueur, and it was deeeelicious. A well-balanced wine list highlights bottles from Italy ($28-$80), with plenty of other choices, mostly from California.
Wheelchair access: Through the side door, with one step up; staffers will gladly lend a hand, if needed. Restrooms are accessible.
Credit cards: MasterCard, Visa, Amex, Diner's Club.
Parking: Free in a parking lot across the street; turn on Brown Street, second lot on the right. The lot is attended on Saturday nights.
Private parties: Consiglio's is a favorite spot for rehearsal dinners, showers, birthday parties and even small weddings; the small bar area has a fireplace that makes a great backdrop.
And don't miss: On Monday nights, Consiglio's is offering half-price entrees for "industry" people, i.e. those who work in restaurants, bars, hotels, etc.

Nutmeg Review of The Luigi Board
By Meg Barone

Dinner theaters began their illustrious run of entertaining and feeding people in 1953 when the Barksdale Theatre held its first such production at the historic Hanover Tavern in Richmond, Virginia.

In the heyday, back in the 1970s and 1980s, Connecticut had at least two large scale dinner theater houses – Coachlight in East Windsor and Darien Dinner Theater, which brought favorite Broadway musicals to Connecticut audiences.

The entertainment was generally quite professional, and sometimes even featured prominent stage and screen actors of the day. The food, on the other hand, although certainly edible and adequate, was probably not going to win any five-star reviews from food critics.

While Connecticut’s once-popular dinner theaters have long since brought the curtain down on their theatrical dining experience, one of New Haven’s finest dining establishments is doing its part to revive the theatrical tradition.

This summer, Consiglio’s restaurant on Wooster Street – New Haven’s own version of New York’s Little Italy, will host The Luigi Board, an interactive Italian musical comedy. Every Thursday, Friday and Saturday, from June 19 through September 5, the restaurant’s courtyard patio will be transformed into an outdoor garden theater for entertainment and dining under the stars. Well, actually, under the tent in case of rain.

The show was written by Elizabeth Fuller, of Weston, Conn., and Katie Rader, of Stratford, Conn. Fuller has authored nine books and several plays, including “Me and Jezebel,” which chronicles a time when legendary actress Bette Davis stayed in Fuller’s home. Rader also serves as the show’s set designer. She is an award-winning set designer and recently completed a set for “Ragtime” at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC.

The show was directed by Joel Vig, who created the starring role in the Off Broadway cult hit “Ruthless,” and was one of the original stars of the Broadway smash hit “Hairspray,” which won the Tony Award for best musical.

Fuller calls The Luigi Board “a zany romp; a totally insane, over-the-top fun show with singing, dancing and audience interaction.” Rader says “It’s a crazy, fun, wild ride for two and a half hours ... It’s big and cartoony.”

Even the wait staff will get into the act. “I’m making sure I’ve got great servers who will really get into it,” said Trish Consiglio, a third generation family member involved in the operation of the restaurant. Her father Pasquale and an aunt still work at the restaurant. “Aunt Marie still makes the cavatellis,” she said.

The Luigi Board tells the great love story of Luigi and his outrageously lovable family. The entire clan is deeply enmeshed in Luigi’s charmingly absurd tale of how he came to invent the Luigi Board, a take off on the Ouija Board. Throughout the dinner and show, the audience is invited to join the fun, singing along to the music of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Louie Prima, and others.

Some audience members who arrive early will actually be assigned the roles of certain characters, and the three professional actors – Michael Nastu, Ada Iaboni and Gary Cavello – will portray ten different characters, adding to the mad cap comedy.

“Some people compare us to “Tony and Tina’s Wedding” but the food there was horrible,” Fuller said of the Off Broadway production, which had audience members sitting among the performers as if participating in a real Italian wedding. “We’re going to have gourmet Italian food for this show,” she said.

Consiglio’s has been known for its stellar menu since the restaurant opened in 1938, but, even though some big name actors and directors have dined there – people like Ron Howard and Sally Struthers, the family never ventured into the theatrical world until Fuller made Trish Consiglio an offer she couldn’t refuse.

“Somebody recommended Consiglio’s to her, so she called, not knowing anything about us. She pitched the story and the initial conversation was so funny. The more she talked the more excited I got. It just seemed to fit,” Consiglio said.

Consiglio said the performance will make use of the patio behind the restaurant, which has been dormant for about six years. It’s the perfect location, she said. “The play is set in an Italian pizza parlor and we’re right next door to Pepe’s Pizza. People walking by on Wooster Street will see it and hear it and wonder what’s going on,” Consiglio said.

“What better place to see the show than on Wooster Street, outside on a patio, where you can smell pizza,” Rader said. But they’ll be feasting on Consiglio’s home-made, family-style Cesar salad, bruschetta, penne vodka, chicken Florentine and for dessert, Godiva tiramisu.

Rader said it will be a night of great fun and great food without the expense and aggravation of traveling to New York. Consiglio’s has a parking lot across from the restaurant that is free for patrons.

The performance and prix fixe menu is $54.95, and starts at 6:30 pm. For reservations call Consiglio’s Restaurant, 165 Wooster St., New Haven, 203-865-4489.

On The Menu
New Haven Magazine

Click to open PDF file of this review including our recipe for Stuffed Escarole

You know a restaurant is a New Haven institution if it’s got a starring role in one of Garry Trudeau’s “Doonesbury” cartoons. (Trudeau attended Yale in the 1970s.) But Consiglio’s in Wooster Square, an Elm City favorite since 1938, is hardly resting on its laurels.

With its savory, expertly prepared southern Italian food and truly warm service, Consiglio’s deserves to maintain its status well into an eighth decade. Now, generations of Italian food expertise are being passed on in Consiglio’s popular cooking classes, held nearly every Thursday through April.

Here you’ll learn how Chef Maureen Nuzzo balances the caramelized sweetness of sautéed shallots with the bite of lemon juice in the restaurant’s fettuccini.

If you can’t make the classes, content yourself with the regular menu’s standouts like an eggplant rollatini that expertly marries fried vegetable with mozzarella, ricotta and a vibrant tomato sauce. Or try the Pepper Tuna and Tomato, a generous portion of seared albacore dressed with olives, capers and a fluffy, steamed pile of fresh spinach.

The pastas are handmade at Consiglio’s and the sauces sing of tomatoes grown in Italian soil. Sop up the juices with crusty Italian bread so fl avorful it will have you hoovering up the crumbs.

If this is what an institution tastes like, lock me up and throw away the key.

Eat to the Beat
By Karen Singer - Business New Haven

View the PDF of this article

This summer, you may spot a 1959 Cadillac rolling around the streets of New Haven with a banner on its side bearing a cryptic message: “The Luigi Board Is Coming.”

The vehicle is a mobile billboard for a new dinner-theater show at Consiglio’s, the Wooster Street eatery where diners also can learn to make the meals on the menu.
A dinner theater and cooking classes are just some of the innovations the 71-year-old eatery has introduced lately to attract customers — and keep them coming back for more.

"I can’t run it the same way year after year,” explains third-generation restaurateur Trish Consiglio-Perotti, whose grandparents Salvatore and Annunziata founded the restaurant, initially known as the Big Apple, across the street from its current location. A Consiglio’s bus girl and waitress in high school and college, Consiglio-Perotti has tweaked the restaurant’s operations from time to time since 1990, when she and her sister took over the business. Her sister moved on to competitive fi gure skating and other pursuits. Consiglio-Perotti married and had three children, while continuing to run the restaurant.

“I took my little break and am ready for new challenges,” she says. Last fall Consiglio-Perotti revived the restaurant’s cooking classes, which began in the early 1990s before “taking a fi ve-year break.” The current incarnation is a four-course meal cooking demonstration offered on Thursdays to around ten participants. Chef Maureen Nuzzo shows how to prepare each course, and the students then of course consume the meal. The menu changes every month.
“It’s small enough that everyone interacts,” Consiglio- Perotti says, adding the classes are doing well and have attracted a wide variety of participants, including men who want to learn to cook for their wives or girlfriends.

“My husband’s company booked one,” she says. “I went as a guest and had a great time.” This month Consiglio’s began offering Sunday brunch for the fi rst time and reopened its long-closed patio, dubbing it a “garden theater,” where The Luigi Board, an interactive Italian musical comedy, will be performed Thursday through Saturday evenings between June 19 and September 5. Consiglio-Perotti credits her new general manager, J. Panaroni, with the plan to introduce brunch, saying he recognized the potential for “a market we haven’t tapped,” including parishioners at several churches situated within walking distance of the restaurant.

“We’re putting notices in church bulletins,” she says. The idea to bring in dinner theater coincided with Consiglio-Perotti’s decision to reopen the patio, which
was constructed about a decade ago but shuttered after about two years. “It’s a beautiful space, with a red brick fl oor and a cartoon motif from an old menu painted on the back fence wall,” Consiglio-Perotti says. While making plans to revive the patio as an outdoor setting for lunch and dinner during the summer months, Consiglio-Perotti received a call from Liz Fuller, a cowriter of The Luigi Board, who was looking for a space to perform the play.

“We clicked on the phone and had a meeting several days after that,” she says. Directed by Joel Vig, a member of the original cast of the
Broadway musical Hairspray, the play has three actors playing 19 characters — and amply opportunities for audience participation.

“It’s different,” Consiglio-Perotti says. “It’s exciting. And I don’t think anybody else around here is doing it.” Consiglio-Perotti plans to hire around half a dozen parttimers to handle the increased activities. “It’s almost like opening a new restaurant,” she says. They will join a staff that includes her aunt Marie, who makes the cavatelli on the menu and mingles with customers on Saturday nights, and her nephew Kenny, one of fi ve servers. Consiglio-Perotti’s father is still a regular at the restaurant. Now in his 80s, Pasquale (Pat) Consiglio shows up daily, wearing his trademark black fedora. “He maintains the grounds, sweeping up, and when needed, buses tables and bartends,” Panaroni says. Long a popular spot for bridal showers and wedding parties, Consiglio’s also offers party packages for sports teams and take-out platters.

Though the restaurant has gone through “some really busy times and slower times,” Consiglio-Perotti says, the business is “doing great,” and devoted patrons have helped it weather the current economic downturn. Consiglio’s may be doing even better by the end of summer.

All in the Family Business
By Miriam Devine - CT Life

Does the thought or working side-by-side with your brother, mother, sister-in-law, cousin, niece and grandson raise your blood pressure? Or does it calm, comfort and inspire you?

Not all family-owned-and-operated businesses are simply passed down from one generation to the next: some keep adding new layers of relatives, while maintaining the established ones. Given the right conditions - love, commitment, trust, flexibility - multi-generational family businesses can thrive like trees, ever growing new buds and leaves.

For diners with Consiglio's, the mere mention of the name sets taste buds quivering.

It was in 1938 that Italian immigrants Salvatore and Annunziata Consiglio opened The Big Apple on Wooster Street in New Haven. Neighbors, laborers and dock workers from Long Wharf flocked there to savor Annunziata's southern Italian dishes. The couple's nine children were very much part of the scene.

In the 60's, renames Consiglio's, the restaurant moved across the street. When Annunziata's sons and daughters took over in the 70's, they did some remodeling and expanded the menu. Now in the hands of the third generation, Consiglio's is definitely upscale. Gourmet dishes like veal medallions sautéed with grilled portobello mushrooms and roasted red peppers vie with old favorites like lasagna and home-made cavatelli. The décor is tasteful, with comfortable seating for 80. A staff of 20 serves an average of 50 lunches and 150 dinners daily. But Consiglio's is still very much a family affair, and it retains a pleasant, among-friends feel.

A recent visitor found co-managers Laura and Trish in the cozy bar conferring about a new wine list. Three-week-old Matthew nestled in Trisha's arms. Five years ago the sisters took the reins from their father, Pat Consiglio.

"The girls are a little tough to work for," Pat says with a grin. "They won't let me answer the phone because they say I mess things up." Still bartending after 35 years, it's a rare drink that Pat, son of Salvatore and Annunziata, can't mix from memory. The big change in his domain has been a huge increase in wine orders. "People see on t.v. that it's healthy," he says. Whiskey sours and screwdrivers are holding their own, he adds, and maybe martinis are making a comeback.

Pat's youngest sister, Marie, who has worked in the restaurant since she was eight years old, now creates the desserts and appetizers. Their sister Annie, a sturdy 86, serves as luncheon hostess.

Laura and Trish work opposite shifts, overseeing the entire operation - supplies, work schedules, reservations, menu changes. They even jump in as cook, waitress or hostess if need be. "While the customers are enjoying their meals, more often than not, we grab a bite standing up," Trish said.

The best part about a family business, they agree, is that you can always count on one another. Says Laura, "Our aunts and uncles didn't get paid much, but there was never any question about their not coming to work. It was their life, and the restaurant was going to endure whether they were making money or not. Actually, the people we hire are really nice, and they become part of the family too."

From the time she was very young, Laura had a vision of what a good restaurant could be. One of her innovations is the outdoor patio, which is opening this month.

Despite the inevitable pressures in running a restaurant, the sisters both love it. It's exciting, they say Everyday is different. Some customers have been coming for years. And then there's the fun serving celebrities like Ted Kennedy, Sally Struthers and Roddy McDowell. Last week, Meryl Streep dropped in.

"We have a policy of letting celebrities alone," Laura said. "Once I asked David Cassidy for an autograph. I broke a plate right at his feet!"

As for the next generation? Laura's 12-year-old daughter, who sometimes helps out, wants to be a lawyer; and her brother, age 10, has his heart set on hockey stardom. So perhaps the future of Consiglio's lies with three-week-old Matthew, who, according to mother Trisha, already has an enormous interest in fine food.

Consiglio's -- Resembling Greatness
By Keith Amoroso - Elm City Newspapers - Great Taste

I have a theory concerning restaurants and one day when I have a little extra time, I might write a book on the subject. Thewords might change from time to time but the basic premise remains constant. The theory simply stated is that restaurants reflect the personalities of their owners. It's a little like the correlation between a dog owneer and his or her pet. Th elonger the two stay together the more one begins to resemble the other. The same thing is true with restaurants except not all restaurants are dogs. Some are institutions. Which brings me to the subject of this week's Great Taste review. Consiglio's Italian restaurant in New Haven's historic Italian district is both a family institution and a neighborhood one. It's occupied the same location for over fifty-six years and four generations! This is a major accomplishment in an industry which has seen restaurants open and close in the same season. A recent visit there explained some of the reasons for their continued success.

First and foremost, the reason for their longevity is that the place is overrun with relatives. Everwhere you look you see someone who is a member of the Consiglio extended family.

Nancy, our waitress for the evening, brought out a basket of lovely Italian bread. She is first cousin to Laurie and Trish Consiglio, our congenial hosts. As we perused the menu, I surveyed the restaurant's recent renovations.

The newly decorated dining room has a very open and fresh feel to it. The walls are painted marve with plum accents and a wooden wainscotting. The far wall is white brick with shuttered window-like openings separating the single medium-sized dining room from the small lounge area and kitchen, Watercolor paintings adorn the walls in muted pastel colors. If restaurants resemble their owners, then it stands to reason that they also have gender. Consiglio's has a very feminine vibe to it. Most of the relatives buzzing around our table are of the female persuasion. White ceiling fans purr overhead and track lighting is understated. Plants are mercifully kept to a minimum byt fresh flower arrangements grace each table. Cool jazz plays in the distance. The overall effect is very comfortable, whether one is in a business suit or jeans.

"So, how was the food?" you're probably asking around now. In a word..heavenly. The first of the appetizer sampled was Consiglio's Own Pizza Crisps, as the menu states it. They were very light, almost pea bread-like wafers with mozzarella, olive oil, crushed plum tomatoes and sun-dried tomatoes arranged on top. Lightly baked and crispy textured, they were also very unusual. They also reminded me of the scene in the Monty Python film "The Meaning of Life" when the overweight "food critic" in the posh Italian restaurant was offered an after dinner mint. "But sir, they're wafer thin" the snippy waiter remarked before the "food critic" literally blew up! Sometimes I feel like that after a review, with life imitating art. Caprese was served next with slices of fresh mozzarella, fresh tomato and sundried tomato arranged in a wheel with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Pitted black olives were decorative accents to a delicious dish. Polenta Baskets were out of this world! Resembling corn muffins, they were stuffed with porcini mushrooms and gorgonzola cheese. Polenta, as readers of this column already know, is Italian corn meal. This dish goes back to an Italy before pasta, and was a meal high point. Frutti Di Mar was chilled mussels, clams, calamari and scungilli. Served on a bed of fresh greens with lemon basil vinagrette this "fruit of the sea" was a paragon of freshness. It was finished with roasted peppers, olives, and olive oil with lemon wedges.

A quick trip to the newly redone bar area revealed an oversized print of a Doonesbury cartoon where Mike and J.J., then Yale students go to Consiglio's for dinner. I guess Gary Trudeau enjoyed the place in his time.

An intermezzo of Escarole and lhaam was rich with sausage, pepperoni and greens mixed with canalloni beans and puree. Words cannot describe this portage like mixture - so order it yourself. A little grated cheese and red pepper were "the icing on the cake" and a glass of Chianti Classico 1991 Aziano red wine made the whole thing go down smooth.

The first entree was Veal with Wild Mushroom and was a scallopine of veal with porcini mushrooms, gorgonzolla cheese, spinach and sun-dried tomato bits. It was an exquisite, as were the homemade ravioli sampled next. Stuffed with smoked mozzarella and ricotta cheese they were in a light plum tomato sauces blushed with Italian Marscapone cheese. All entrees come with a pasta or vegetable. Chicken with Pontina Cheese was lightly fried white chicken breasts drizzled with Fontina. The cheese has a darker flavor but melts like mozzarella and is becoming very trendy among young chefs. Speaking of young chefs, I tip my hat to Chef Tim Ryan who I'm told is half-Italian. Lastly, Pork Loin Alla Grille was grilled pork loin topped with peppers, onions, eggplant and plum tomatoes. It was a very summery dish and reminds me of the better days to come. Moist and flavorful it was a fine end to our entrees.

Desserts were outrageous but for space limitations you'll have to try the chocolate filled ravioli, homemade Napoleon pastry and Reginatta yourself. Dinner for four came to roughly $100 minus the wine, tax and tip. I want to thank Trish and Laurie Consiglio for a great meal. Now that I've met them; I can tell them apart. Also kudos go out to the lovely Barbara Consiglio, her husband Pat and sister Anna Consiglio Abbenante. Their restaurant resembles them and they are all beautiful people.

Third-Generation Italian in New Haven
By Patricia Brooks -New York Times - Dining Out

In a revolving door industry, where establishments come and go with distressing frequency, any place that survives 10 years is considered a major success story. This makes the longevity of Consiglio's in New Haven's Little Italy even more astonishing. The cozy little restaurant, opened in 1938 by immigrants from Amalfi, Italy, is now managed by members of the third generation of the Consiglio family.

A much needed facelift a few years ago gave Consiglio's a lighter, fresher look, with two-toned tan walls, a white-washed brick wall, and tables close enough to encourage conviviality. While the menu has evolved to keep up with changing times, a few of the old southern Italian favorites, including lasagna, eggplant rollatini and pasta e fagioli, are still available.

Our first visit was on a Saturday night. This is both a good and bad time to visit a restaurant for review purposes: good because that's the night most people dine out, so a restaurant puts forth (or should) its best efforts, but bad because the crowd can tax the staff's resources.

Clearly, Consiglio's is accustomed to crowds. Service, both weekend and week night, was on the whole speedy, attentive and gracious, even though our waiter neglected bringing our bread basket until after our starters were served and though a cruet of basil-garlic-infused olive oil for dipping the bread was on the table when we arrived.

Our most unusual appetizers were polenta baskets (three cornmeal "cupcakes" filled with al dente porcini mushroom slices, spinach and Gorgonzola, floating on a piquant garlic-lemon sauce sea) and pizza crisp (paper-thin crust washed with an even thinner layer of plum tomatoes and melted mozzarella). Several other roppings - baby clams/Gorgonzola and sun-dried tomatoes/artichoke hearts - were just as delicious. Crispy fried calamari with a sassy tomato dip and ricotta-stuffed eggplant rollatini were other gratifying starters.

As an entree we especially enjoyed the home-made cavatelli - tender ricotta-pasta bites in garlicky basil pesto decorated with sun-dried tomato strips and toasted pine nuts. Also sprightly seasoned were veal Consiglio (black olives, capers, mushrooms and olive oil in a garlic white wine sauce enveloping fork-tender escalopes) and scrod Provençal (lightly battered fish hiding beneath well-herbed, garlicky plum tomato sauce). Chicken with roasted peppers was a simple but satisfying dish: three lightly battered pieces sauteed with peppers and broccoli, then baked beneath a thin blanket of Gorgonzola.

Among a quartet of desserts, most unusual was pastry ravioli, three pasta pockets filled with raspberry mousse (chocolate was an alternative: Godiva tiramisù was enlivened by Godiva liqueur. Equally rich was chocolate mousse cake made with three liqueurs. After a heavy meal, the simplest, most refreshing choice was probably orange sorbet, served inside a frozen orange.

Consiglio's takes a few shortcuts that undermine its many high points: squishy-soft commercial bread (though the sesame seed crust was agreable), canned black olives instead of tastier cured ones in many dishes, and cannister-whipped cream adorning most desserts. On the other hand, the house salad accompanying all entrees was generous mix of fresh, crisp greens, tomatoes, and radicchio in a choice of several tangy dressings.

For $51.80 two of us enjoyed a three-course dinner apiece, before tax, gratuity or drinks. A small wine list (15 reds, 10 whites) of mostly Italian vintages is moderately priced with bottles between $17 and $30. Overall, Consiglio's offers fine value for the money, which helps explains its long lifespan and why it is still going strong.

Consiglio's
Good

165 Wooster Street, New Haven. 865-4489.
Atmosphere: Convivial, sometimes high decibel.
Service: Careful, prompt and friendly.
Recommended dishes: pizza crisp, polenta baskets, eggplant rollatini, fried calamari, veal Consiglio, scrod Provencal, chicken with roasted peppers, homemade cavatelli, Godiva tiramisu, orange sorbet, chocolate mousse cake, pastry ravioli.
Price range: Lunch $5.95-$7.95; dinner $12.95 - $16.95.
Credit cards: American Express, Mastercard, Visa.
Hours: Noon-3 P.M. Monday through Friday; 3-9:30 P.M. Monday through Friday, 5-10 P.M. Saturday, 3-9 P.M. Sunday.
Reservations: Accepted, recommended on weekends.
Wheelchair accessibility: Ground-level access; rest-rooms at dining room level.

Ratings:

Poor
Satisfactory
Good
Very Good
Excellent
Extraordinary

Ratings are based on the reviewer's reaction to food and price in relation to comparable establishments.

My Dinner with DeStefano
By Mimi Coucher - New Haven Advocate

Nobody would ever mistake Mayor John DeStefano for King Henry VIII. You'll never catch him devouring a thick steak, ordering that second bottle of wine and finishing it off with - oh, I shouldn't - a slice of cheese cake. "I'm a big appetizer guy now," explains the man who's lost 30 pounds over the last few years. "I eat meat about twice a week - if it's chicken. When I turned 40 I decided to watch what I ate. My wife thinks I'm emaciated, but I feel great."

I met the trim Mayor for dinner in the middle of a freakish spring storm at the lovely and famous Consiglio's on Wooster Street. I had anticipated an over-the-top evening of Big Food, samples of this and that, sauces and zuppa and entrees akimbo, all washed down with liberal doses of wine, wisecracks, and dessert.

The Mayor had other ideas. No amount of devilish prodding could stray him from his conservative culinary route. While I devoured a bubbling pink pizzette studded with shrimp, a dish of divine lobster ravioli, a gorgonzola salad, a ruby flute of Merlot and a tuna filet in a balsamic marinade that looked like a painting by Caravaggio, my dinner companion stuck to the straight and narrow. He ordered what he reportedly always orders: an appetizer of broccoli rabe (no sausage), an appetizer of panecotto (escarole and white beans baked with croutons and cheese), a small sampling of pasta e fagioli and a diet Coke. No salad, no wine, no coffee, no dessert, no entree.

I'll admit, self-control is an alien concept to me; I can't seem to separate it from out-and-out punishment. So while I oohed and aahed over my delightful, decadent dinner, I also quietly fretted, wondering if the Mayor was miserable and/or wasting away. As it turned out, we were both delighted by our meals. And while we dined, an interesting thing happened: the Mayor created a world of food with words. He spoke of a long-ago New Haven and, with only the slightest wistfulness, of long-abandoned eating habits. He recalled home-made pickled eggplant and Easter pie; he spoke of his aunts' antipasti and his mother's manicotti. At the beautiful Consiglio's, while I dined like a queen on rich foods, Mayor DeStefano replaced his missing calories with rich memories.

A Taste of the Mayor
"I used to love hotdogs and sauce as a kid. You get a hotdog, slice it up and saute it a little bit, add some red sauce and put it on a sub. I remember being at graduate school at UConn, the hot plate on top of the dresser, making hotdogs in sauce. Don't ever discount hotdogs.

"I grew up near State Street on East Street. There used to be a grape vine in the back yard and we'd make the wine, and we used to make pickled eggplants. I like pickled eggplants. You used to press the eggplant to dry it, to get the water out of it, and then salt it.

"We didn't have elaborate meat meals growing up. It was more like escarole and beans and pasta fagioli, Southern Italian peasant dishes that probably cost about four bucks to make a big pot. Now they're all expensive entrees.

"My father was a cop so we knew a lot of food vendors. We were probably the only family on the East Shore who'd go to M & T's on Legion Avenue for bagels on Sunday morning. My father would get the lox and occasionally the sturgeon, but that was pretty exotic stuff you, didn't see a lot of bagels back then.

"Christmas Eve was always a big fish dinner, seven kinds of fish, half of which I would never eat. Like eels.

"A staple for us every Friday night was crab sauce. We still have that a lot, that's a real thing. For years as a kid I wouldn't eat it, I'd make my parents get me a pizza at Sally's or a hamburger. I was the youngest so I think my mother indulged me a little bit.

"That was it, you had your own pizza place and your own bakery, and that's still somewhat true. It's a sign of status in New Haven: do you have the secret phone number for Sally's?

"Antipasti... Why was it exotic? We had holidays with my aunts, they'd make an antipasti with rolls of ham, rolls of cheese, rolls of salami, and we'd buy all these condiments. I would say, we spent an hour over the antipasti, talking and eating.

"My favorite place was Jimmies of Savin Rock, the old one. I could never explain to people that you'd go to this place, you'd order from Tony who'd be sweating, and he'd have a box of salt on the shelf behind him which he'd pour into water and drink because he'd be dehydrated. And people would open their car door and throw all their trash on the ground, and seagulls would swoop down as you're carrying your food to the car... it was weird!

"My father used to drop by my dorm room at UConn and leave me a sandwich from M & T that was almost as good as the old Forbes' Market steak sub. They'd get the worst meat and run it through a grinder.

"Chuck's Luncheonette, you'd go there to watch the show of course, to watch Chuck screaming at everyone... it was part of the deal. The Letter A sandwich, when I used to eat meat, it was corned beef, pastrami, Russian dressing, cole slaw and Swiss cheese."

"Pizza's probably still my favorite food, especially white clam and bacon. I occasionally cook pizza, I make my own dough and my sauce.

"On election day we'd set up these ward headquarters throughout the city, and a major element is the food... the 8th Ward, Wooster Square, Louisa DeLauro's ward, always had meatballs. The older folks, they really cooked for election day. That was a big deal, but that really doesn't happen much any more. The ethnic politics are slowly dying, and with it goes the ethic foods.

"Pies are the big thing at Easter... big, heavy, rich pies, about four inches thick. In grammar school, after Easter's over, your mother would wrap up a piece, you'd have that for lunch and it's very heavy. So I never developed an appeal for it.

"Now my family does Easter. I cooked a porchetta and Kathy wanted ham so we did that. I think we had 15 people and about a pound of meat per person. Then you do side dishes - mushrooms, string beans with peppers, broccoli. Not rabe. That's mine, I keep it.

"People constantly try to feed me, but I don't eat much. When I go out to lunch, I'll generally have rabe, that's it. I'm in a big vegetable thing now. I love broccoli rabe, cooked very firm. You can't put enough garlic in it as far as I'm concerned.

"I ran for office in 1989 and I lost and I always remember the day after the election, sitting at the dinner table and observing that it was the first time I'd eaten three meals home.

"I consider my sons barbarians because they put ketchup rather than mustard on their hotdogs, then one day I realized that sauce is basically warm ketchup, seasoned - it's hotdogs in sauce."

In the Night Kitchen
By Will Georgantas - New Haven Advocate

Recipes you get from television cooking shows are always deceptively simple. In between "one teaspoon thyme" and "two bay leaves," the chef always neglects to mention the secret ingredient - five or six scrub interns who prepare and measure everything for you ahead of time and put it into cute little white dishes. It's always zip-zip-zip-boom, there's your eight-hour casserole, open the oven, ta-da, here's what it will look like six hours from now, have a taste, ma'am, delicious, see you next time, bon appetit and God bless. In the meantime, all of us poor saps are sitting in our "Kiss the Cook" aprons muttering, "He put the what in the who now?" and making mental notes to get ourselves a set, of those cute little white dishes, the ones with the pre-measured herbs in them.

Tim Ryan, head chef at Consiglio's, is one of those pre-measurers, though he says he does it himself. When you're watching him in action at Consiglio's Gourmet Club dinners, a dinner and wine series in which you oversee the preparation of your four-course Italian meal, you look around the room for smoke and mirrors and Doug Henning. It looks too easy.

Ryan's recipe for baked fresh mozzarella, for instance, doesn't even require that you blend the ingredients. You just bread the cheese, put it on a pan, place the other stuff around it, and bake it until the cheese starts to melt. Or rather, he does. You get a hot serving of it, and the recipe (delicious) is suddenly much harder to forget. Crushed garlic, plum tomatoes, white wine, butter, lemon, anchovy. Nice. I did that from memory. Ryan prepared three more courses for the November 29 meeting: farfalle in an herbed tomato sauce, filet of sole and shrimp Florentine, and chocolate mousse cake. Our group, this time a private party, followed along with our recipe handouts and blurted occasional wisecracks like "Sure, it looks easy when people pre-measure everything for you," and "Where did you get those cute little white dishes?" Along the way, Ryan offered helpful cooking hints, like grinding dried herbs with your fingers as you add them to the sauce, or storing your stock in ice cube trays.

As the evening progressed, the room's volume increased suspiciously in proportion to the pourings of oenophile Paul Jaronko of the wine distributor Hartley Parker, who doled out generous portions of wine from the vineyards of Sonoma County, California. Each course was accompanied by a vintage selected to evoke the food's undertones, which in turn brought out new subtleties in the wine. The dinner was a success, preordained like a dish made with pre-measured ingredients, lasting in all of our memories like a recipe we can take home with us.