Rustico Restaurant and Wine Bar

Italian Dining

Sumptuous food, outstanding service, inviting atmosphere: Rustico Restaurant & Wine Bar in historic downtown Stevensville has it all.

Husband and wife team Ivano and Michelina Scotto, together with partner Gino Romano, opened Rustico in December of 2007. The restaurant has received rave reviews ever since. Blending dishes from the restaurateurs’ native Italy with local Eastern Shore favorites, Rustico offers Southern Italian cuisine with more than a touch of local flavors including fresh regional vegetables, crab and other seafood.

Mr. and Mrs. Scotto, who also own Luna Blu Ristorante Italiano in Annapolis, often admired the turn-of-the-century building that Rustico now occupies. With its brick-paved patio, ornate wrought-iron fencing and picturesque fountain out front, the Scottos envisioned a restaurant with old world European charm, hence the name Rustico, which means rustic in Italian.

“We want our customers to have the whole package: great food, service and atmosphere. That’s what we offer here.”

Renovations to the vintage building before opening included refinishing the original cherry hardwood floors, adding a granite countertop to the bar and painting the main dining room with warm hues of red and gold. For an extra touch of class, Rustico’s tables are adorned with crisp linens and flickering candlelight. In the summer, tables are set outside around the fountain to create an alfresco dining experience.

While floor-length beaded curtains divide the dining room into cozy chambers, it can easily be rearranged to accommodate private parties of up to 80 people. The Cellar room, with its hand-carved tables and a fireplace, offers a private retreat for an intimate party of up to eight people. The Tuscan room can seat as many as 20 guests.

The restaurant’s close proximity to waterfront wedding facilities has made it a favorite choice for receptions and rehearsal dinners. Rustico provides a specialized catering menu for both onsite and offsite events, and the Scottos will customize a menu to meet the client’s needs.

Rustico’s wine bar is an excellent spot to relax and enjoy a casual bite that’s still a culinary delight. Focusing on wine, menu items were chosen to complement a glass of wine. For instance, the crab flatbread pizza, topped with fresh crabmeat, tomatoes and Italian cheeses, tastes even better with a glass of Orvieto. The restaurant has an extensive wine list including Italian, American and global bottled wine. More than 20 wines are offered by the glass. The wine bar is available for private wine tastings during which guests can sample wines paired with an array of Italian antipasti. Rustico’s top-notch wait staff is always available to recommend a wine to accompany any dish.

“We train our staff on wine knowledge,” says Mr. Scotto. “We have wine tastings with many of our wines so they can become familiar with our offerings.”

As an owner as well as the executive chef, Mr. Scotto brings more than his 15 years of culinary expertise to Rustico’s kitchen. He instills a standard of excellence for every entrée. “That’s our way of providing consistently excellent food,” he says. “It should be excellent every time. We want our customers to have the whole package: great food, service and atmosphere. That’s what we offer here.”

Rustico Restaurant and Wine Bar
401 Love Point Road
Stevensville, MD 21666
410-643-9444

www.rusticoonline.com

Pictured: Gino Romano and Ivano Sotto
Photography: Steve Buchanan