By 6:15 on a Wednesday evening, every booth and table at Cotto in Morristown was occupied. Couples settled in for dinner alongside larger parties of friends and families, filling the room with conversation and the lively energy of a busy neighborhood favorite.
The servers knew their way around the menu, describing preparations with confidence and helping us decide where to begin. That kind of ease takes work behind the scenes. After sitting down with co-owner Christy Baldassarre, we learned just how much restaurant experience stands behind this modern Italian BYO.
For her husband and business partner, John, the story stretches back three generations, beginning with grandparents who came from Italy and built a life in hospitality.
Three Generations in the Restaurant Business
John’s grandparents, Mary and Ed Baldassarre, immigrated from Italy and opened a bar in Newark before establishing Linda’s Fireside Inn in Gillette, where Chimney Rock Inn now stands. Their son, Tom, grew up living above the restaurant, surrounded by the daily rhythms of the business.
In 1983, Tom and his wife, Dori, opened the Stirling Hotel in Stirling. John followed a familiar family path, growing up in the restaurant and working his way through nearly every position.
He opened Stirling Tavern in Morristown in 2016, making 2026 its 10th anniversary year. It is also where he and Christy met through a mutual friend. He later partnered with the previous owners of Morristown’s Dublin Pub to renovate the historic restaurant, introduce a traditional Irish gastropub menu, and preserve its character.
With Cotto, which opened December 16, 2025, the family returned to its Italian roots. Handmade pasta, seasonal ingredients, and a scratch kitchen let John and Christy express their own approach to Italian dining.
The couple is the majority owner, joined by minority partners Altin Zhuleku, director of operations for Stirling Restaurant Group, and Brandon Campney, the group’s culinary director.
A Two-Month Transformation
Christy designed Cotto’s interior herself, despite having no professional design background. She also served as general contractor during a renovation with an ambitious deadline: two months.
The team gutted the floors, walls, and ceilings, transforming a space that had previously housed an Italian restaurant.
The result is beautiful, with olive-green paneled walls, caramel-colored booths, and tall arched mirrors illuminated by glowing globe sconces. Exposed wood beams and black-and-white mosaic floors add character, while the open kitchen brings the bustle of dinner service into view.
“It was a lot of decision-making,” she told me. “I was very nervous.” Still, she pushed to open the doors on schedule.
The same determination carried into the food. The owners wanted modern Italian cooking and a menu that could draw from across Italy.
Chef Jordan Petrillo helped bring that vision into focus. His résumé reached the couple through a business associate, an unexpectedly casual introduction to a chef whose experience included Rezdôra, one of their favorite New York restaurants.
Christy describes their chef as deeply invested in his kitchen, his menu, and the daily work required to keep both running well.
Pasta Is the Star
Ask Christy what a first-time visitor should order, and she answers quickly.
“The pasta is the star.”
Made fresh in-house, the pastas require hours of mixing, rolling, cutting, and shaping. Some preparations, she explained, can take roughly three hours before they reach the bowl.
One favorite is the spicy rigatoni. Its sauce incorporates beef brisket cooked slowly for eight hours, then ground finely into the sauce. There’s no vodka involved. An optional topping of stracciatella helps soften the heat.
Christy’s own pick is the pappardelle with wild boar ragù, a preparation that includes chocolate.
For the table, she recommends the focaccia pull-aparts, baked fresh daily with garlic-infused olive oil. Despite their richness, she said, there’s no butter in the bread.
Beyond pasta, her recommendations include the duck, which she praised for its crisp exterior and tender meat, and the Wagyu.
A Starter We’re Still Talking About
John recommended the Beef Carpaccio, calling it one of his favorite dishes on the menu. After trying it, we understood why. It was truly exceptional, the kind of dish we’re still talking about days later.
Thinly sliced raw prime New York strip is dressed with bagna cauda, an Italian sauce made with anchovies, garlic, and olive oil. Pickled onions and pickled beech mushrooms bring brightness, while warm, crisp gnocco fritto, or fried dough, provides the perfect accompaniment.
Each bite brings together richness, acidity, and crunch. The contrast between the chilled beef and warm fried dough makes it especially memorable. This is one to put at the top of your order.
For dessert, the olive oil cake did not disappoint. Served with brown butter and apple mousseline, it was a lovely finish to the evening.
A Reason to Return to Cotto Midweek
For diners who want to explore the pasta more fully, Cotto offers a tasting menu Tuesday through Thursday. At the time of our visit, it was $75 per person and included focaccia, four pasta portions, and gelato. The entire table participates.
We chose the regular menu to explore a wider range of dishes, but the tasting offers a tempting reason to plan another midweek visit. The menu will likely offer other reasons to return, too. Christy described the restaurant as “a living, breathing thing,” always changing as the team considers what comes next.
At Cotto, that ongoing work builds on something established long before opening night: a family that has spent generations learning how to welcome people to the table.
Cotto
90 South St.
Morristown, NJ 07960
https://dinecotto.com/
