MIDDLETOWN — In an era when cellphones and social media make it possible for almost anybody to communicate instantly with almost everybody, "soft openings" of restaurants are not what they used to be.
The new Bella Notte Italian Restaurant at 2100 S. Main St., near the Durham line, had planned a soft opening for Tuesday.
The three partners in the business expected 10 to 15 people might drop in, said Selma Cecunjanin, one of the partners. The actual total was about 80, she said.
“We did the best we could,” said Cecunjanin whose partners in the business are her uncle, John Cecunjanin, and cousin, Ajdin Cecunjanin. “We had some family members who jumped in and gave us a hand.”
Bella Notte traces its lineage to the Fiore II Restaurant at 332 Main St., Selma Cecunjanin said.
She said two businesses with similar names, the Café Fiore restaurants in Branford and Cromwell, are run by close relatives but are not connected to the ones in Middletown in a business sense.
She said Bella Notte’s menu is “pretty similar” to Fiore II. However, the partners are striking out in a somewhat different direction by serving burgers, grinders and wings in the bar area along with more traditional Italian cuisine in the dining room.
There are about 10 tables in the dining room and about 30 seats in the bar, Selma Cecunjanin said. She said the restaurant offers a “small, nice, intimate, homey feel.”
At some point, she said, the new restaurant may join with the Chamber of Commerce to hold a formal grand opening.
Selma Cecunjanin, 38, said she has been in the restaurant business since she was 12.
She has worked for Fiore II for 15 years, taking time off at times to give birth and raise children, she said. She said she worked full-time in the restaurant for nine years.
She said she worked her way up at Fiore II, hosting, busing and serving before becoming manager of the restaurant.
When the South Main Street building became available — unfortunately due to the death of a previous restaurant operator — John Cecunjanin brought Selma and Ajdin over to take a look, saying he would open a restaurant there only if they were willing to become partners, she recalled.
They agreed, and the enterprise is now on its way.
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December 21, 2023 at 05:04PM
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