Northern Italian restaurant comes to Morrisville

Lecchi was the executive chef for Porto Vivo, an upscale Italian restaurant in New York, as well as a few other New York eateries, and worked at a number of other restaurants in Europe, from Rimini, Italy, to Monte Carlo.

So, why choose to open his first chef-owned restaurant in the former Munchies snack shack in Morrisville, Vt.?

“My 14-year-old son,” Lecchi said without pause. “We got separated, and this is where he lived. I was addicted to my career, but I’ve since figured out that there are better things in life than work.”

Family is important to Lecchi, which is why when he reconnected with his son in Vermont, he also decided to honor his mother, Ornella — whom he lost 16 years ago — with an Italian restaurant in her name, serving up the foods she used to make when he was a kid.

The Lasagna Verde is made with one of Ornella’s recipes.

The restaurant also offers goat cheese and ricotta gnocchi, spaghetti pomodoro, salads, salmon braised short rib, and a tiramisu that is to die for, among other things.

Lecchi was always in restaurants growing up — his mom ran her own in Italy — and he started making homemade pasta at a young age.

So, everything at Ornella’s will be made from scratch with fresh ingredients, including the pasta.

Right now, Lecchi and his business partner Marcelle Poulin are working out the kinks, but they’re ready to serve, and have received good initial reviews.

“We have already had repeat customers, too,” Lecchi said.

By this weekend, Lecchi expects to have his liquor license, and will serve Italian wines and beers. He also plans to have a reserve wine cellar with high-end labels requested by steady customers.

Eventually, once the weather warms up, Lecchi and Poulin will update the outside of the building, which still resembles a snack shack, and doesn’t match the hardwood floors, black tablecloths, silver and black chairs, and candles that adorn the inside.

They want to put a large patio out front for outside seating and serve up Italian gelatos, fried zeppole — an Italian fried dough — and a small lunch menu with panini and salads. Currently, Ornella’s serves only dinner from Wednesday through Sunday.

As for the prices, they range from $7 for a kale salad to $26 for a hangar steak.

“I think this price point is the lowest we can go to survive,” Lecchi said. “But would you rather have something homemade, or a $10 meal at McDonald’s?”