A new restaurant now occupies one of the most prominent pieces of property in downtown Ansonia.
Lulu Pazzo Italiano is now open at 314 Main St., at the corner of Bridge Street, the former location of Antonio’s, which closed in February.
The Valley Indy stopped by Monday (Dec. 12) and spoke with Paul Ganassini, the man who runs the restaurant.
The Q&A is below.
Valley Independent Sentinel: What’s your background?
Paul Ganassini: Right now I operate this location and Vazzy’s Cucina in Shelton.
Valley Indy: How did this location come about?
Ganassini: There are two owners — one of them is a part owner of the Vazzy’s group — so he and someone else came together and came up with the idea for it. This location became available and the concept developed from there.
Valley Indy: What’s the concept?
Ganassini: Lulu Pazzo is a nickname, but it’s an Italian slang term implying something crazy and fun. We’re just trying to put out good food, some good beverage, and we want to create a fun, inviting atmosphere with some good energy.
Valley Indy: Anyone who’s walked by in the past few months has probably seen you guys working to remodel the interior.
Ganassini: If you were familiar with the footprint that was here before, it was a smaller bar with more dining space. What we wanted to do was flip that, and make a larger bar where there will be a lot of activity happening.
(The bar dining area seats about 70, and the dining room seats about 60)
Valley Indy: In terms of the menu, will it be similar to what people are familiar with from Vazzy’s?
Ganassini: There are some ideas that we took from the other restaurants that we’re involved with. But we tried to put in a few additions too. We’re just looking for simple, good Italian comfort food, putting a fun flair on it.
Valley Indy: You’ve been open for a couple weeks now?
Ganassini: Yeah, we’re still putting the pieces together planning a grand opening. We want to make sure we take some time and take care of the details and do it the right way.
Valley Indy: First impressions?
Ganassini: It’s up and coming. It’s growing. We’re talking to a lot of people from Ansonia, but I’m meeting people from Amity, Woodbridge, Seymour, West Haven, Orange, Hamden. I didn’t realize how close we were to those communities and didn’t understand the kind of support we’d be getting from outside the Valley.
We’re just trying to ease into this and start at a modest pace before we can get it up to a gallop. In the near future we’ll have some promotions and incentives that we’ll be announcing, including a New Year’s Eve menu.
Valley Indy: Is the holiday season a good time to open a new restaurant?
Ganassini: If you’re not a place with a banquet facility it’s not always the busiest time of year — there’s a lot of holiday shopping, money and time are being diverted in different directions. That said, we’re still encouraged by the response and the feedback that we’ve gotten so far. We’ll take anything right now but snow!
Lulu Pazzo Italiano is located at 314 Main St. The phone number is 203-751-9577.
Click here for the restaurant’s website. Click here to visit its Facebook page.
