Sagi Cucina Italiana in Ridgefield

Written by Fran Sikorski
Thursday, 19 February 2009 15:28

Good news!

After being absent from a restaurant kitchen for two years, Chef Bianca Demasi Occhino, former owner of Nico’s Restaurant in Danbury, has opened Sagi Cucina Italiana, a cozy new restaurant in Ridgefield.

With a never-ending passion for food, she is making her wonderful  homemade pastas — bucatini, ravioli, tagliatelle, and gnocchi — again, bringing her own interpretation to simple, fresh and flavorful dishes. Sagi is open for dinner only.

Originally from Calabria, Italy, Chef Occhino  and her husband, Anthony, a pilot with American Airlines, have two children, Sabrina, 22, and Gigi, 6. The first two letters of each child’s name were combined to create the restaurant’s name.

Sagi is a family affair. The wine list is put together nicely by Anthony Occhino, who has selected a very fine list of  reasonably priced Italian wines, ranging in price by the glass from $6 to $9, and starting at $22. Domestic and imported beers are also available.

Sabrina, who attends WestConn, waitresses in the evening, and Gigi enjoys watching his mother prepping food for another busy evening. Sagi, with its friendly service, has already become a reliable favorite.

I began dinner with a San Fabiano Chianti and a pleasant surprise, a delicious salad made with blood oranges, pine nuts, blue cheese and a crab cake with an orange-honey sauce.

Also recommended is a salad with sliced apples, grilled zucchini, walnuts and gorgonzola cheese in a lemon vinaigrette. This was followed by several small plates, bucatini amatriciana with pancetta and onions in a cherry tomato sauce, and a wonderful gnocchi al gusto serato invernale, light potato and winter squash dumplings in a spinach puree, with pear and pecorino cheese sauce. Pastas, also available in half portions, range in price from $9 to $17.50.

I enjoyed broiled red snapper served over sautéed fennel, sun-dried tomatoes and capers with an organic Meyer lemon sauce. Entrée prices range from $17.50 to $19.50.

The menu at Sagi has many innovative dishes, like red peppers stuffed with sausage, arborio rice, mortadella and cheese, served with vegetables marinara; duck breast cooked with asparagus, cranberries and blueberries in a reduced raspberry sauce; sautéed chicken breast served with escarole and cannelloni beans in a white wine sauce; calamari and shrimp grilled and tossed in a spicy tomato sauce; and veal medallions sautéed with shitake mushrooms, basil and pine nuts in a white wine-cherry tomato sauce. Meat and seafood entrees are served with roasted potatoes and vegetables.

Desserts, from $6 to $7, are prepared by Chef Occhino and Ruth Gordon. Everyone’s favorite is there: almond torta nonna, Grand Marnier crème brûlée, tiramisu, canoli, pear or lemon tart, linzer tart, cheesecake and double fudge chocolate cake.

Serving dinner 5 to 10 Monday to Saturday; bar open late; closed Sunday.

Reservations recommended; major credit cards; child-friendly; full bar; regional Italian menu; vegetarian selection; take-out, off-premises catering; smart casual dress; wine tastings and dinners; private functions; parking adjacent to  restaurant.

Side dishes

Boxcar Cantina, at 44 Oldfield Point Road in Greenwich, owned by Nancy Roper and John Farrell, is the newest Certified Green Restaurant in Connecticut, and the first in Fairfield County. Boxcar Cantina, now in its 15th year of operation, is has replaced napkins, paper towels and to-go containers with biodegradable, chlorine-free alternatives, installed energy-efficient devices and low-flow faucet aerators to conserve water. The owners also continue to expand the use of local and organic foods in Boxcar Cantina’s Northern New Mexican cuisine. It is open for lunch 11:30 to 3, Monday to Friday; dinner 5:30 to 9:30 Monday to Thursday; 5:30 to 10:30 Friday and Saturday; and 4:30 to 9 Sunday. For more information, call 203-661-4774.