Consiglio’s
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 finding 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, every 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 first offered it,” she says.
She admits that when Consiglio’s first opened the patio last summer, the staff were excited and nervous about the undertaking and were 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.”
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