Pasta Night and Gus & Marty’s: A Taste of Home
Brooklyn’s Newest Dinner Spots
Some say you can never go home again. The weight of this statement may resonate more for the immigrants who chose to leave, refugees who were forced to, and those whose communities have been ravaged by tempests or wars. Brooklyn restaurateurs Renato Poliafito and Demetri Makoulis are both first-generation Americans who have inherited a sense of their families’ birthplaces through their mothers’ cooking and languages spoken around the table in their separate Brooklyn kitchens. And since the first week of October, they, along with Makoulis’ wife, Sarah Schneider, have poured the past into their present with two restaurants dedicated to the very act of going home again.
Pasta Night and Gus & Marty’s: A Tale of Two Restaurants
Pasta Night and Gus & Marty’s are two of Brooklyn’s newest dinner spots; they opened, respectively, on October 1st and 4th. In Prospect Heights, Pasta Night is an Italian-American eatery or, as Poliafito calls it, "Italian with an American accent." Gus & Marty’s, from Egg Shop’s husband-and-wife team, Makoulis and Schneider, is Greek—eye-rollingly delicious, authentic Greek with a dash of designer Williamsburg. And to the bones of its creamy stuccoed interior, it is a love letter to the islands from which Makoulis’ family emigrated.
The Story Behind the Restaurants
When I spoke to the owners of Pasta Night and Gus & Marty’s, they knew little to nothing of the other, despite their similarities. Before debuting their newest projects, both restaurateurs were experts in breakfast fare. Makoulis and Schneider debuted their eggs-only dining concept, Egg Shop, in SoHo and Williamsburg in 2014 and 2017, while Poliafito opened his café, Ciao Gloria, in 2019. They both pivoted to dinner-only concepts, moved by individual journeys that brought them closer to their origin stories. And after pushing launch dates from week to week, the restaurants finally emerged, simultaneously, in two Brooklyn neighborhoods in early October.
Gus & Marty’s: A Love Letter to Greece
For Makoulis and Schneider, creating Gus & Marty’s, which they named after their fathers, was about offering a new chapter for the Greek-American experience in New York. They wanted to pay homage to tradition, family, and community with incredible food and a redefined atmosphere.
Pasta Night: A Taste of Italy
Meanwhile, over at Pasta Night, Poliafito, his business partner and co-owner Joseph Catalanotti, and head chef Carly Voltero are going, in Poliafito’s words, "mother sauce-forward, not pasta shape-forward." Rich explorations of Italian classics with the reigns held tight to simplicity guide the seasonally rotating menu of house-made pastas and crisp chicken Milanese.
Conclusion
Pasta Night and Gus & Marty’s are two of Brooklyn’s newest dinner spots, each with its own unique story and flavors. Poliafito and Makoulis/Schneider, though strangers, share a thread and weave together what defines the immigrant experience in New York, for this generation and those who came before it. They are inviting and unassuming—striving to deliver a new experience based on the ones that defined their own. They serve as beacons of light for neighbors and visitors of every background, calling to the fine passengers of this crowded metropolis to stop into the motherlands of their mothers and fathers—to stay awhile at wood tables stacked with homemade pita and pasta, to drink from the vines of the Mediterranean, and discover what it means to be together.
FAQs
Q: What is Pasta Night and Gus & Marty’s?
A: Pasta Night is an Italian-American eatery and Gus & Marty’s is a Greek restaurant.
Q: When did the restaurants open?
A: Pasta Night opened on October 1st and Gus & Marty’s opened on October 4th.
Q: What inspired the creation of the restaurants?
A: The restaurants were created by Brooklyn restaurateurs Renato Poliafito and Demetri Makoulis, who have inherited a sense of their families’ birthplaces through their mothers’ cooking and languages spoken around the table.
Q: What type of cuisine do the restaurants serve?
A: Pasta Night serves Italian-American cuisine and Gus & Marty’s serves authentic Greek cuisine.
