Morsetto brings Puglia’s handmade pasta and seafood to Ridgewood

Morsetto opened in Ridgewood with a menu that goes well beyond another North Jersey Italian dining room. In a town that turns quickly on new restaurants, the buzz is building because this one is built around Puglia, with handmade pasta, seafood and a menu that favors fresh ingredients and simple cooking over heavy sauces or showy plating.

That focus is what is making the restaurant stand out in Bergen County. Ridgewood diners are reacting to a place that feels intentionally specific, not broadly generic, with southern Italian dishes that lean on technique and restraint. The pitch is less about red-sauce comfort and more about a clear regional identity that gives the room a stronger reason to exist in a crowded market.

Chef Francesco Curci is a big part of that credibility. Curci already had a decade-long reputation in New Jersey before Morsetto opened, working both as a chef and a manager in the state before later becoming the owner of Apulia in Hoboken. That background matters in Ridgewood, where word about a new restaurant can spread fast and opinions can harden within a couple of weeks.

Morsetto’s arrival also fits what many local diners are looking for now: a restaurant that can double as a destination for a special night out. The concept is being read as a Puglia-forward kitchen that emphasizes authenticity, simplicity and hospitality, with handmade pasta at the center of the draw. In an affluent suburban market where diners often want something that feels both familiar and distinctive, that formula can be enough to separate a new opening from the dozens that never catch on.

For Ridgewood, the test is immediate, but Morsetto has entered with the kind of chef pedigree and regional focus that can win attention quickly. If it keeps delivering the handmade pasta and seafood that define the concept, it could become one of the few new Italian spots in town with real staying power.