This new restaurant brings authentic, regional Italian cuisine to Bradenton area

Judi Stanley knew exactly what her next step would be after selling her successful Pascone’s Ristorante in Bar Harbor, Maine, after a 25-year run.

She would open a new Pascone’s Ristorante in Florida, and bring fine dining, regional Italian-style, to the Bradenton-Sarasota area.

Splitting their time between Bar Harbor and their home in Lakewood Ranch since 2005, Judi Stanley and her husband, Bob, had watched the explosive business and residential growth in East Manatee, University Park and northern Sarasota County.

When a Square 1 hamburger restaurant vacated its space at 5239 University Parkway, near Fresh Market, she found her new location.

One of her first steps was to reconnect with William Sellner Jr., a AAA four-diamond chef with whom she had worked in Bar Harbor.

“We sat at a high-top table and I told him what I would like to do. You know me, I am going to open up again,” Judi Stanley said.

Sellner’s response?

“This place is going to be gorgeous, just like in Maine,” Sellner said.

And when it opened as a 165-seat restaurant in late July, so it was: all dark woods, soothing lighting, linens and wine glasses on tables, and the impressive Lounge of the Rooster in the middle of it all.

“We picked up right where we left off in Bar Harbor,” she said.

But the cuisine is the big draw at Pascone’s Ristorante. Business has been so good that Stanley is considering making it reservations only.

Judi Stanley learned to cook from her mother and grandmother. The restaurant is named after Giovanni and Florence Pascone. Her grandfather immigrated from Naples, Italy, in 1875, and sold fruits and vegetables from a pushcart after settling in Newark, N.J.

Giovanni met Florence in New Jersey. After they married, they opened a grocery/chicken market and raised eight children.

Pascone’s menu reflects that heritage. A sampling of pasta dishes include Pascone’s spaghetti polpette at $18, egg plant parmesan at $22, and shrimp scampi at $28.

Fish and other seafood fishes include Maine lobster thermidor, and seafood paella for one, two or four, both offered at market prices.

Among the veal and beef offerings are veal piccata for $32, and filet mignon for $38.

Rounding out the menu are antipasti — Sicilian mussels, calarmari, latkes, and platters, soups, salads, and deserts, such as canole, tiramisu martini and gelato.

In addition to managing the restaurant, Judi Stanley also works as a chef.

“If you can’t cook, get out of the restaurant business,” she said. “It’s all about the palate.”

Pascone’s is a family operation with her son, Tony Connor, serving as bar manager, and her husband, Bob Stanley, as bookkeeper. Her daughter, Michelle Ettinger, is also in the restaurant business. She owns the Brown Bag Cafe in downtown Sarasota.

Happy hour at Pascone’s Ristorante is 4:30-5:30 p.m. seven days a week. Full food service is 5-10 p.m. daily.

For reservations, call 941-210-7368. For more information, visit https://www.pascones.com/.