Don't forget about Brazie's Ristorante

Up on Watson Road where the horizon flickers with the flags of used car lots and the ground quakes with rush hour traffic, there’s a restaurant serving food that makes the heart ache for Italy. Brazie’s Ristorante has been at this intersection for the past nine years; before that it was down the street on Hampton. Next year, it will mark a quarter century in the neighborhood, and it won't be celebrating alone. On a typical Saturday night, chef and owner Brazie Mazzola (pictured below) knows most of his customers by name, and even has a pretty good hunch as to what they will order. Some regulars come multiple times a week; newcomers wonder why it's taken them this long.

The menu hasn't changed in years and it hasn't needed to. All the dishes have been thoughtfully wrought; everything is made from scratch. There are no freezers in this kitchen, and certainly no microwaves. “We do everything fresh here,” Mazzola says, stressing that he hand cuts his veal himself and only offers fish that is flown in that day. Sauces are made in small batches a couple of times a week from recipes passed down from his Sicilian grandmother.

It's a family business. Mazzola’s two sisters, Gina and Rosa, work here, as do his brother, Mario, and daughter, Maria. And even if the other members of staff aren't related, they say they feel as if they are. Many have been with Mazzola for years. “There’s very little turnover,” says Joseph Vitale who started at Brazie’s washing dishes when he was 15. (Mazzola went to grade school with Vitale’s mother, and Vitale’s Bakery on The Hill – owned by Joseph’s grandmother Grace and uncle Peter – supplies the restaurant’s daily bread).

Server Justin Fitzhenry also joined the restaurant in his teens and has just marked his eleventh year on the floor. He speaks proudly about the food, the delicate balance of flavors in the marinara and meat sauces, and the fact that Mazzola uses almost no salt in any of his cooking, relying instead on the careful addition of herbs and other seasonings. That meat sauce, for instance, is sweetened with onions and a little bit of sugar; the marinara is briny with capers. 

Mazzola says some years back, one local publication voted the house salad ‘best in town.’ He attributes the rating to generous scatterings of prosciutto and Asiago, and a dressing that is sweet, tangy and herby with oregano.

Basil also plays a large part in this fresh Italian cooking. Mazzola grows his own on the patio out back. He juliennes it into the house ‘dip’ that comes with bread when guests arrive, and sprinkles it onto the Asiago Tomatoes appetizer. These are beauties, sliced thick as hockey pucks, lightly breaded, pan fried, topped with cheese and finished off in the oven. But Mazzola says the veal and Shrimp Brazie are particular favorites among his customers. Indeed, the veal cuts like butter and those shrimp – rolled in seasoned flour, flash fried and served in a creamy white wine caper sauce – are so fresh, so perfectly cooked, they ‘snap.’ (He adds that if a customer fancies something not listed on the menu, the kitchen is always happy to make it if it has the right ingredients). 

On a recent Saturday, just before opening, the staff gathered to tweak the table settings and look over the night’s reservations. It felt less like a shift beginning and more like the moments before a party: the doorbell was about to ring and they couldn't wait to see which good friend would be first.