Cotto: Italian Cuisine From Scratch

The kitchen opens early each morning at Cotto. Before many in Morristown are even awake, bread makers have begun baking Cotto’s pull-apart focaccia and schiacciata, a thin Tuscan flatbread, that will be used for sandwiches at lunchtime and as part of a decadent, charred clam appetizer—a special on the spring menu—come dinner. 

Cotto is a scratch kitchen, meaning everything, from all that bread to the orange consommé on the olive oil cake, is prepared from scratch each day. “The food you are eating at 6 p.m. was most likely started at 6 a.m.,” says Christy Baldassare who, along with her husband John Baldassare, is a majority owner of Cotto.

The kitchen is led by Executive Chef Jordan Petriello, a New Jersey native who previously worked at Michelin-starred Rezdôra in New York City and Il Nido in Marlboro, New Jersey. 

He defines Cotto’s cuisine as modern Italian and, more specifically, “anti red sauce.” He explains: “We’re focused on cuisine from the whole of Italy, using high-quality ingredients and up-to-date techniques, and being adventurous with the menu.”  

Inventive Offerings

Petriello points to the pork chop on the spring menu as an example of Cotto’s elevated and inventive Italian offerings. “There’s a traditional Italian dish, called vitello tonnato, that’s veal with a tuna sauce. We’re doing a take on it with a 16-ounce, heritage breed pork chop with a rosemary tonnato sauce, or an herb-forward tuna sauce,” he says.

The maccheroni al pettine is another dish that really captures Cotto’s approach. The pasta takes about three hours to prepare by hand and then it’s paired with a pork ragù that was slow cooked for eight hours. 

The menu is updated seasonally, although it’s anchored by a list of favorites like the spicy rigatoni and dry aged Porter steak for two. Standouts this spring include a blue prawn appetizer and the halibut served with sweet peas and baby turnips.

Cotto recently began serving lunch, offering a menu focused on sandwiches made with homemade porchetta or black truffle ricotta. The warmer weather has also brought a sidewalk gelato cart on weekends, serving the same homemade flavors found on the dinner menu, as well as a few new summer-inspired flavors. 

“We plan to keep evolving,” John says. “We want to keep growing, being inventive and creative, and offering people opportunities to celebrate and create memories in Morristown.”