Working to transform the restaurant’s interior and exterior and create its menu are business partners Braheam Shteiwi and Mike Sage.
The new restaurant is named after a former Cincinnati dining spot operated by Shteiwi’s late father, who went on to own and operate The Spinning Fork franchise for decades before he died in 2016.
Shteiwi said Caruso’s “was where most of the Spinning Fork’s recipes were founded — the sauce, the house dressing that everybody loves.”
The menu at the soon-to-open Caruso’s Ristorante & Bar, which will employ approximately 30 people, will include traditional Italian, American-Italian and dishes the two friends and business partners have put their personal spin on. That includes wood-fired pizzas and handmade pastas for dinner, and a focus on pizzas and sandwiches for lunch, Sage said.
“Our menu is inspired by our travels through Italy,” he said. “We’ve taken time to source the finest ingredients, working with local purveyors where possible. Our pizza and pasta dough are made fresh by hand.”
Caruso’s Ristorante & Bar will have a wine list of approximately 75 bottles, which will concentrate on Italian selections but also feature recognizable American brands and varietals, as well as “clean” wines, Sage said.
It will feature a lineup of seven rotating taps from Brink Brewery, the winner of the Best Very Small Brewery Award at the Great American Beer Festival, along with domestic and Italian beers, he said.
The restaurant also plans to feature an “aggressively priced, wine-focused” happy hour, Sage said.
The two business partners, who are friends from college, are working to renovate much of the 2,500-square-foot dining room. They’re also creating a private dining area for small and large parties of up to 30 people, as well as business meetings that require full privacy.
The restaurant’s exterior has been updated with a new paint job and landscaping.
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