Touch of Venice Reopens in Cutchogue

For 22 years, Touch of Venice sat overlooking the water on Wickham Lane in Mattituck but starting this month, diners will have a new view in a different popular location.

“Business was good in the summertime but slow in October. For the last seven or eight years we stayed open all year long because we had to pay the rent,” said Ettore Pennacchia, who runs the restaurant with his son, Brian.

In what can be described as a total transformation, the father and son team have taken the old Fishermen’s Restaurant on  the Main Road in Cutchogue and turned it into a classic slice of  Italy.  The nautical theme has been replaced by cozy booth seats, warm-hued walls, a glass-enclosed wine room, restored wood flooring and added windows to complete the neat, casual atmosphere. The younger Pennacchia said the lease was signed in December and they have spent the last four months renovating the building.

“We did a lot of the work ourselves. We hired  a contractor and a restaurant designer, but my brother and I did a lot of the woodwork,” he said. “The center room has a completely different look and feel. We really opened up the back with a couple of windows.”

Even though the location has changed, the menu has stayed the same in the 125-seat restaurant —it’s mostly Italian with a lot of seafood. Ettore likes to call it a “value dining” experience. The only part of the menu that has really changed, according to both men, is the  expanded bar menu to accommodate the 20-seat bar.

“We give good-sized portions for the money,” said Brian Pennacchia.

The two side rooms can be used for special events and private parties,  separately for smaller groups or opened up for larger gatherings.

Over the past weekend, Pennacchia said, they had a “soft” opening and  will continue to operate Wednesday through Sunday until their grand opening, which is scheduled for the weekend of May 14 and 15. After Memorial Day weekend, the restaurant will be open seven days a week for lunch and dinner, with the kitchen remaining open until 10 p.m. and the bar  later.

Last weekend a “few hundred” people came in. Advertising appeared only on the Touch of Venice Facebook page. The elder Pennacchia  said reaction from customers has been great: “They say ‘Oh my God,’ when they walk through the doors.”

Brian Pennacchia is looking forward to the business the new location will bring. He anticipates spillover from nearby Wickham’s Farm Stand and nearby wineries in the fall.

“We’re excited. It was nice to be on the water, but it’s good to be on the Main Road,” he said.

The people from Cutchogue are particularly pleased with the return of a popular restaurant on the Main Road and the family is pleased with the move because their mother’s family summered in Cutchogue for 60 years, according to the younger Pennacchia.

“It’s good for Cutchogue. Southold has a lot going on and Mattituck has a lot going on and people were just driving through Cutchogue,” he said.

Touch of Venice will offer a free glass of Prosecco with dinner during the grand opening weekend.

To learn more about Touch of Venice, visit its Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/#!/TouchofVenice