STRATFORD — When Melissa Emanuel would go to eating places, she would generally discover the meals disappointing. She remembers considering she may do higher.
“I all the time talked about having my very own place. I all the time discuss how if you’re sitting there, ‘I may do higher than this, I could make this higher,’” Emanuel mentioned.
She’s now placing her cash the place her mouth is, with the opening of Dal Mare Pizzeria on 346 Stratford Highway. The restaurant, which she runs alongside one in every of her sons, Nick, has been open since Memorial Day and Emanuel mentioned her meals has been a success with locals.
Whereas that is the primary time she’s opened a restaurant, Emanuel mentioned she relied on her earlier expertise as a waitress and as a nurse when she first opened it. The city held a ribbon reducing on Tuesday.
One among her extra in style menu gadgets is known as after the St. Margaret’s Shrine Catholic Church in Bridgeport. She mentioned her household was concerned for many years with the Feast of St. Anthony and the church meant loads to them.
“Our pizza for the St. Margaret is likely one of the prime sellers. And that’s the recent tomato and mozzarella pie,” she mentioned.
Different in style gadgets, she mentioned, are the home made meatballs and the panini sandwiches. The restaurant’s Fb web page acknowledged the restaurant meals is made in-house and whereas many eating places say their meals is home made, Emanuel means it.
She mentioned she needed to step out later within the day on Wednesday as a result of she was working out of a preferred menu merchandise.
“I’ve to go residence to make biscotti. I’m out of biscotti for the eating places. That’s the massive factor. The home made biscotti, it flies out of right here,” Emanuel mentioned.
Mary Dean, Stratford’s financial and neighborhood improvement director, mentioned Dal Mare Pizzeria is one in every of 10 eating places which have opened in Stratford up to now this yr. The city helped, she mentioned, by repaving the entrance parking space whereas Emanuel and her son renovated the outside.
Mayor Laura Hoydick mentioned she was already a fan earlier than she stopped by for the ribbon reducing.
“I’ve eaten there earlier than. I really like their eggplant. That’s a private favourite, however the pizza was scrumptious,” Hoydick mentioned.
However the pizzeria doesn’t simply provide up meals. Emanuel mentioned one in every of her staff enjoys singing and has even introduced in a karaoke machine for his amusement. The pizzeria has since launched karaoke nights as properly.
It additionally has Fb and Instagram accounts the place followers may be graced with Emanuel’s meals associated puns.
Emanuel mentioned she grew up with Italian meals, being uncovered to it and afterward, making it herself.
“My grandmother is Italian and my mother cooked Italian so I’ve all the time been round Italian meals. My entire life I’ve all the time cooked,” she mentioned. “I’ve 4 youngsters so the whole lot was all the time accomplished at my home as a result of I had so many youngsters and I’ve been cooking for the household for years. I like to cook dinner.”
Whereas cooking Italian delicacies got here naturally to her, it was a winding street to changing into a restaurateur. She was a waitress at a number of eateries, from the previous Costa Azzurra restaurant in Milford to Vazzy’s, earlier than changing into an assistant nursing supervisor for the Connecticut Burn Heart situated at Bridgeport Hospital.
Emanuel was extremely regarded by her coworkers. She ended up being awarded by the hospital in 2019 for treating sufferers and their households with compassion and care, generally, in the course of the worst moments of their lives.
Emanuel mentioned she made sufferers really feel higher, however she needed to work someplace the place folks would are available and go away joyful. It turned out her son, Nick, needed to open a restaurant and so she ended up quitting her job on the hospital to assist him set it up. The duo delicate launched their restaurant on Memorial Day and the 2 divide duties, she mentioned. She makes the Italian meals. He makes the pizza, which she mentioned, took a while to good.
She mentioned he ended up working towards lengthy earlier than the restaurant even opened, enlisting a household buddy who owned two pizzerias to show him.
“He practiced for a full month earlier than we even opened simply making pizzas on daily basis simply getting it proper, perfecting the crust,” she mentioned.
The restaurant is popping out to be a whole household affair.
“I’ve my daughter, she’s a nurse on the hospital as properly, I’m making her work on nights. My different son, he’s the EMT, for AMR and I’m making him work days. And my different son got here in from Florida — he’s going to high school in Florida. He got here as much as go to (and) I made him work. And my husband, I’m making him work too,” she mentioned.
A restaurant is a far cry from being a nurse at a burn middle, however Emanuel mentioned being a nurse has been useful.
“I used to be in a administration place. So I used to be all the time making an attempt to make (for) the affected person and the household an expertise for them. And I’m making an attempt to recreate the expertise right here,” she mentioned.
The restaurant has solely been open for about two months, however Emanuel mentioned she’s pleased with the response up to now.
“It makes my coronary heart joyful that folks actually actually get pleasure from it. They just like the meals, they assume it’s actually good and we’re placing out product,” she mentioned.
