Morsetto Italian Kitchen threw open its doors in late March at 29 Chestnut St. in downtown Ridgewood. Handmade pasta? Check. Roman-style pizza? You bet. The place zeroes in on recipes from Puglia and Rome, bringing Southern Italy straight to Bergen County.
Chef Francesco Curci runs the kitchen. He cooks dishes rooted in Puglia, where rustic tastes meet fresh, simple ingredients.
Walk in and you’ll find baked focaccia, handcrafted panzerotti, and pasta like carbonara waiting for you. They make thin, crispy Roman-style pizza too. Each plate comes from recipes handed down through families over many years, the restaurant says, according to North Jersey.com.
The kitchen sticks to old methods — doughs mixed by hand, sauces that simmer for hours. Curci and his team build each dish to show real Italian cooking, balancing taste without fuss. The owners describe their spot as something different, something that goes past just eating.
This opening adds to Ridgewood’s food scene, which keeps growing. The Bergen County town draws people to its downtown shops and quiet streets. Southern Italian cooking here signals a shift — New Jersey diners now want regional meals, not just red sauce and the same old pies.
UNESCO added Italian cooking to its Intangible Heritage list. Morsetto points to this as a core part of what they do.
Doors stay shut on Mondays. Tuesday through Thursday, they’re open from noon to 3 p.m., then again from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Friday and Saturday? They stretch hours until 9:30 p.m. Sunday runs noon to 8 p.m.
Dining and Cooking