Bistro Mediterranean at 15: How two brothers turned an old Main Street bar into East Haven’s tapas spot

If you have driven down Main Street past the brick building with the red “Bistro” sign and the stone wall full of flowers, you have passed Bistro Mediterranean & Tapas Bar at 383 Main St. turned 15 this spring. It is still serving small Spanish plates, pasta, steaks and big pans of paella.

What many regulars may not know is how it started. The space was mostly a bar before the restaurant moved in, and the family behind it learned the business in a small restaurant in Ecuador.

From a Main Street bar to a tapas room

Bistro Mediterranean opened on April 20, 2011, according to East Haven Patch’s report that week. The building “was primarily a bar before its extensive renovation,” Patch wrote. At the time the owners kept a large bar area and separated it from the dining rooms with glass to cut down on noise. Patch reported that the window-lined dining rooms could seat 90 guests, and that two rooms could be closed off for private parties of up to 60.

That 2011 story named the owners as Kleber Guzman and Leo Carreno, with Chef Gabriel Carreno running the kitchen. Patch said Gabriel brought “an extensive background of experience with restaurants in New York City, Norwalk and Westport.”

A year later, the New Haven magazine Daily Nutmeg filled in more of the family story. It reported that brothers Leonardo and Gabriel Carreno opened the Bistro after working together for more than a decade in restaurants around Connecticut. They got their start in their father’s small restaurant in Ecuador. Leonardo ran the front of the house and Gabriel cooked. The magazine said the brothers wanted a place where people could relax and talk over tapas and wine. That is why there was no TV, and the music was kept low enough for conversation.

The New York Times reviewed the restaurant that first September (“Bistro Mediterranean and Tapas Bar in East Haven,” Sept. 25, 2011).

The mural by the parking lot

Here is a detail most people walk right past. When the restaurant was getting ready to open, the owners wanted to dress up the wall by the parking-lot entrance. They asked their next-door neighbor, East Haven native Dominic Sgro, who had a private art studio beside the restaurant, according to Patch.

Sgro, a 1980 graduate of East Haven High School, painted a seascape of a Mediterranean village around a sunny ocean, looked over by a dining terrace. He told Patch he did it in about two hours of painting, “working for 15 or 20 minutes at a time over a period of five days.” He said he did not normally do murals; his other specialty was tattooing.

Who runs it now

Today the Bistro calls itself a family-owned business on its website. There are now three locations: the original at 383 Main St. in East Haven, one at 1015 Bridgeport Ave. in Milford, and one at 704 Boston Post Road in Westbrook.

The company registered with the state at the East Haven address, Divino Nino La Merced, LLC, was formed in January 2011, a few months before opening. It is active, and Connecticut business records list Juan L. Carreno as its principal.

On Google, the East Haven restaurant has a 4.5-star rating from 654 reviews. The topics reviewers bring up most are the tapas, the outdoor seating and the artichoke appetizer.

What to order

The East Haven menu is a mix of Spanish tapas, pasta, steaks and seafood. Here are three dishes diners have photographed at the Main Street location, with the prices listed on the restaurant’s website.

Garlic shrimp ($16)

This starter comes in a small black pan, with the shrimp “sautéed in a mild spicy Garlic sauce,” as the menu puts it. In the same section you will find grilled shrimp over chickpea purée for $16, plus the ham and cheese croquettes with garlic aioli for $12.

Seafood paella ($38)

The big-ticket dish is made for sharing. According to the menu, it is salmon, mahi-mahi, shrimp, bay scallops, calamari, mussels and clams cooked in a saffron fish broth, topped with half a lobster. If you would rather have meat with your seafood, the Paella Valencian Style ($28) has chicken, pork and Spanish chorizo along with shrimp, mussels and clams in a saffron-chicken broth. Back in 2012, Daily Nutmeg wrote that the Valencia paella was “a family recipe from South America.”

Steamed mussels ($17)

This photo was taken at the bar. The mussels are steamed in garlic, olive oil, tomato, crushed red pepper, scallions, parsley and white wine, and they come with a side of Parmesan French fries.

If you want something bigger, the menu also lists sea scallops over a fried Fontina cheese risotto with a lobster-champagne sauce ($34), seafood risotto ($32), homemade lobster ravioli in vodka sauce ($28) and a marinated skirt steak with chimichurri ($34).

What locals say

The Google reviews we read kept coming back to the same few things: the croquettes, the Brussels sprouts salad, the staff and the patio.

“I always have to get the brussel sprout salad with fried fontina cheese underneath whenever I come here, then my husband and I shared the delicious garlic shrimp, croquettes and eggplant Napoleon!” wrote Amanda.

Sarah wrote that she has been there many times and is “getting very close to sampling the entire menu.” She added: “There is an adorable outside seating area against Main Street that is out of view from the road (behind a moderate height brick wall). The bar is welcoming and the main dining area is luxurious as well.” Her advice: “get the ham and cheese croquettes. In all honesty I get at least 2 orders of them each time I am here.” She summed it up as “truly a gem in East Haven.”

Barbara sat at the bar and ordered lobster bisque, three appetizers and a bottle of wine to split. She expected the soup to come out in one bowl. “Nope, he was just incredibly proactive and had the kitchen split into 2 bowls. Very impressive gesture,” she wrote of the bartender. She liked the shaved Brussels sprouts with “a nice truffle taste,” the crab cakes and the bruschetta.

Renee came in after a last-minute search for dinner. She wrote that “the ambiance was nice with the private patio out front and inside there was a band playing.”

Another reviewer held a first birthday party in the back room. They wrote that the staff let them set up a few hours early, and that the back area seated about 50 guests.

If you go

Where: 383 Main St., East Haven. There is a parking lot beside the building.
Phone: (203) 467-2500
Hours: Google lists the East Haven restaurant as opening at 11 a.m. Call ahead for closing times and holiday hours.
Menu and online ordering: bistromediterraneanandtapasbar.com
Seating: the dining rooms, the bar, and the walled patio out front. There is also a back room for private parties.