Fortina Stamford Launches New Brunch Menu...And It's Damn Tasty

Paul Failla uses the word “afterthought” when describing the brunch that was previously offered at all four Fortina locations in Stamford, Armonk, Rye Brook, and Yonkers.

“The old menu was like five items,” he says. “People didn’t come here for brunch. They’d always get pizza. Brunch was always an afterthought here.”

A little hair of the dog will never hurt anyone. Fortina’s weekend/daytime beverages include everything fruity, bubbly, and strong. Perdonami (bottom left) is a mix of bourbon, maple syrup, amaro, bitters, and lemon. If you ask nicely, they might make you something new from their afternoon menu, a white negroni with shaved black truffle.

One of Failla’s first orders of business as the restaurant’s sole culinary director was to all but scrap the former “barely a brunch” format and make Fortina a place you’d seek out for daytime drinks, yolky goodness, breakfast sandwiches, sweets, and more.

Failla joked that the only thing that would stay on the brunch menu are the bottomless mimosas, and while that’s true, the only other holdover will be a tweaked version of eggs in purgatory, but with a spicier marinara sauce.

The rest of the menu is a switch-up entirely.

Burrata toast with trout smoked trout roe (left), Greek yogurt parfait (bottom right), and wood roasted bacon are a few apps to get your appetite kickstarted. The bacon, though, is braised for 3-4 hours, then fired in the pizza oven before it’s glazed with Calabrian chilis and maple syrup.

French toast. Fortina style.

“I liked coming here when I didn’t work here,” Failla says. “I like brunch, and during my tenure here, I wanted to go stronger with it outside of our staple dishes and add in some fun stuff.”

Some of that “fun stuff” begins with a deep fried Nutella-banana stuffed French toast without syrup. Instead of anything maple, they’re serving it with gooey, homemade marshmallow “Fluff.” Have it for your main, or for dessert. It works either way.

If sweet brunch isn’t your deal, maybe everything savory, yolky, and meaty is.

Breakfast gnocchi

Postre in the form of mini chocolate croissants and sfogliatella for sharing.

Some of the new stars of Fortina’s brunch are a bacon, egg, and cheese pizza with parmesan and spicy maple syrup; a breakfast pasta featuring homemade potato gnocchi, crispy chunks of guanciale, parm, poppyseeds, and a perfect poached egg; and there are a couple of egg sandwiches, one is meatless (egg, fontina cheese, and arugula), and the other is a spicy sausage patty with egg, provolone, peppers, and onions with a touch of maple syrup.

If Italian poutine existed, it’d look like this. Maybe…add an egg?!

One familiar-ish offering for those who’ve been to their Fortina Yacht Club rooftop concept is the burger, finally making its brunch debut. It’s ALMOST the same. It’s still griddled in duck fat. It’s still on a toasty Martin’s Potato Roll. It’s still topped with plenty of American cheese, a slathering of house made Big Mac-like sauce, and translucent onions. Failla took the liberty to upgrade it to a thicker patty that’s a 30-day dry aged blend of prime brisket and chuck for a juicier, slightly funkier beef flavor.

I’m not telling you what to do, but for me, it’s a couple of FYC burgers and an order of their disco fries (steak fries, veal demi-glace, black winter truffle, fonduta) and I’d be all set ahead in preparation of my daytime nap.

For the non-brunch food folks, you can still get some of the Fortina staples if that’s how you get down.

“Our core business is our regulars, so we have all the classic Fortina food, too,” Failla says. “The paccheri, Famous Ray’s, margherita, pastasciutto, and the LB are all staying during brunch hours.”

By the time you read this, Fortina will have already quietly debuted their new brunch menu, followed by an Aperol sponsored brunch party in Stamford on Saturday, February 12 at noon, with drink specials, a DJ, dancing, and an overall good time.

If you missed the soft launch and can’t make the party, you can hit up your closest (or favorite) Fortina location for brunchy boozing and eats on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.

fortinapizza.com