There’s fresh pasta being prepared in full view of the dining room of a newly opened Connecticut restaurant.
And at Red Fox Amore Italian Kitchen, owner Fico Cecunjanin said he believes his are the only places in the state where diners have that experience.
The Middlefield restaurant is the fifth eating establishment that has been opened by Middletown couple Fico and Zumra Cecunjanin since 2015. The restaurant opened on June 12.
A trip to Milan in January inspired the restaurant layout, design and menu at the 222 Meriden Road location in Middlefield at the former Red Dog Saloon.
The Cecunjanins bought the property last June and gutted the building and made it an Italian family-style restaurant with indoor and outdoor dining.
Almost everything on the menu, which includes pastas, paninis, sandwiches, seafood, salads, is made from scratch. This includes: 20 entrees that include eight seafood dishes. Fico Cecunjanin, 37, said the Eggplant Rollatini ($21) is among the most popular orders.
“It’s one of my favorites,” Cecunjanin said. “The eggplant is brought in locally and we have homemade ricotta cheese and tomato sauce.”
“Everything is made fresh in house,” Cecunjanin said.
“The ricotta cheese, sausage, pastas pastries are all made in the house,” he said. “The visible pasta making is completely different that I haven’t seen any other restaurant doing it in the state.”
The restaurant is rustic Italian cuisine, and everything is made to order, and nothing is premade, he said.
“Each of our restaurants is based on different cuisines and all are reservation-only on the weekends. All our chefs and workers are trained by me,” Fico Cecunjanin said.
Fico Cecunjanin said he’s proud to make this a family experience and offers family dishes for $50.
Cecunjanin, of Montenegro decent, grew up in Lake Placid, New York before moving to Connecticut in 2002. The family had 11 restaurants in that area. He left high school and went right into the business.
“I don’t regret it,” Fico Cecunjanin said. “I was 14 when I started cooking with my uncles and I cooked at a high end Italian restaurant in Connecticut from 2002 to 2015.”
The couple’s first restaurant was Middletown’s Red Fox Restaurant and Bar located on 218 Smith St. in 2015, and which seats 600 now.
In 2016, Rustic Pizza opened. also in Middletown. In 2019, they opened Fox on the Green at the Portland West Golf Course and in 2022, Red Fox Prime Steak House opened in Glastonbury at 39 New London Turnpike.
It’s a family business. Cecunjanin and his wife have two children Enes, 18, and Alina, 13. Enes, who recently graduated from Xavier High School, has been a waiter for the last three years.
Fico Cecunjanin said chefs Semy Bajraktarevic and Lorenzo Cecunjanin have been his two biggest influences in the business.
Cecunjanin’s brother Alex manages the Glastonbury restaurant, brother Amel manages the Portland location, and his sister Amela manages the Middlefield location. Cecunjanin’s first cousin, Edo Basic, runs the family’s Middletown location. The couple also runs Red Fox Catering Group, which is also based in Middletown. Zumra Cecunjanin is a native of Brooklyn, N.Y.
Cecunjanin said he visits each of his restaurants every day and he orders the necessary food and Zumra Cecunjanin orders the liquor. The menus change three times a year and desserts will change each season and will be baked in house. The drink list changes each season.
Fico Cecunjanin said is favorite dessert is a New York Style Cheesecake – which never comes off the menu.
“It’s fun and it’s become a really nice hobby and when you love what you are doing you love being at the restaurants seven days a week,” he said.
He’s looking to expand even more with a family/burger/pizza location in the greater Middletown area.
Middlefield First Selectman Robert Yamartino said he has been to the restaurant a few times and has been impressed.
“Being a first selectman, I welcome all businesses to town, and I wish them all well,” Yamartino said.
“I know this restaurant will be very successful. The food is fantastic…This is just another reason… to come to our town,” he said. “We are the central Connecticut playground with 54 holes of golf, a ski area, paint ball area and plenty of space to mountain bike and more.”
