After four months
’ of carpentry and paint, Maurizio Cutrignelli will soon be
ready to don his chef’s toque and reopen his restaurant in its
fourth location, downtown at 25 E. First St.
After four months’ of carpentry and paint, Maurizio Cutrignelli will soon be ready to don his chef’s toque and reopen his restaurant in its fourth location, downtown at 25 E. First St.
Maurizio – no one in town calls him by his last name – sold the building that housed his former Maurizio’s Italian Cuisine, on Monterey Road between West First Street and West Main Avenue, to the Peña family.
The Peñas are working as fast as Maurizio and plan to reopen their Sinaloa Mexican Café for lunch Tuesday. Maurizio will open a day or two later but the chef-owner said he doesn’t want to push.
“I don’t want to stress myself,” he said. He actually expected the work to be finished by the Valentine’s Day weekend but, after the work, comes health inspections and, with a restaurant, inspections are particularly important and detailed.
Staffing the restaurant won’t be a problem, Maurizio said, because most of his previous staff will come along with him.
“They are a good staff,” he said.
On a recent Friday painters had covered the windows with plastic and were busily rolling golden brown paint on the board and batten exterior and brushing cream paint on the trim. A brick-colored planter waited for potting soil and plants. Inside, painters had finished with the dark brown wainscoting and Tuscan yellow walls. The space is divided into thirds, separated by arches.
Maurizio said he wanted diners to feel warm and at home and the effect is designed to be cozy. He has built an open kitchen so diners in the central room can watch him work.
An outdoor patio is planned for a space behind the building, if details can be worked out in the future, he said, with Gayle Richter who owns an adjacent empty lot between his building and Wells Fargo Bank. The lot was cleared after a building collapsed during the 1984 Morgan Hill 6.4 earthquake and has never been replaced.
East First Street is the fourth downtown location for the chef. Maurizio started his Morgan Hill career with Piccolo’s, an Italian sandwich and juice shop located behind the Second Street Coffee Exchange in the 1905 Votaw building at Monterey Road and East Second Street.
After selling that business to Karen Marks, he completely rehabilitated an old house at 17120 Monterey Road between East Fourth and Fifth streets, into a tiny Italian villa and opened Maurizio’s Italian Cuisine. When that building proved too small for a burgeoning clientele, Maurizio sold it to the House of Siam and rehabbed Jack’s, the fabled landmark steakhouse, into a more upscale establishment.
When the faltering economy and an expanding family clashed, Maurizio said he decided to return to a smaller, more manageable space. Hence, 25 East First St.
Maurizio said the new restaurant will have the same phone number as the old. Fans can check the progress out on his website, www.maurizioscuisine.com or call 782-7550 for reservations as opening day approaches. For more details before the opening, hopeful diners can e-mail Ma******@**************ne.com to be added to a mailing list or call 968-1026.
