CLEVELAND — Little Italy is home to dozens of restaurants with rich history, but there's a new wave of restaurants bringing in new flavors while still paying homage to tradition.
"Anyone who wants to have a good time and enjoy a good meal, that's the ideal guest here,” said Tutto Carne Chef and Partner Zach Ladner.
The boutique steakhouse is now welcoming guests at the corner of Murray Hill and Edge Hill Roads. A location that Ladner says is dream come true.
"My wife and I actually walked down this hill every day...and every time we passed this building, we were like, if this restaurant comes up, we want to take it over and we want to run this restaurant.”
So with fate in their favor, Zach and his partner Carl Quagliata began cultivating their dream restaurant.
"When I looked at the space and I saw how small and intimate it was and what was kind of surrounding us, I just thought, you know what? I want to make this cool little boutique steakhouse," he explained.
With black walls, modern chairs and lighting and unique vintage accents including the décor and silverware, Tutto Carne is the complete opposite of a traditional steak house - and it was all done on purpose.
"Normally you think steakhouses, you think this huge 200 seat restaurant with soaring ceilings and there's red everywhere," Ladner told 3News. "But I wanted something that was not, I wanted something that was sleek and sexy and cool, but served those same staples that people love."
Those staples include the best steaks they can get aged at their butcher shop in Mayfield Heights and traditional Italian pasta and side dishes.
"Our menu is, it's not overly complicated," Ladner said. "But we just looked at each one of them and said, how can we make this very straightforward dish as good as possible?"
And the attention to detail doesn’t stop at the table, their bar also features hand-crafted cocktails that are sure to spark conversation, meaning there’s a little something for everyone to fall for at Tutto Carne.
"I want them to feel the romance. I want them to feel the love that's in here…And I think the intimacy and the dark colors and the vintage things all give off that sort of feel."