Photograph courtesy Giulietta's
Above the entrance to Giulietta’s Italian Ristorante in downtown Lawrenceburg, Indiana, a stone balcony extends from the façade of a restored 1884 Italianate building. Modeled after the balcony at Casa di Giulietta in Verona, Italy, the balcony is an intentional tribute to the setting of Shakespeare’s most famous love story, Romeo and Juliet.
For co-owners and brothers Anthony and Collin Schroder, however, the replica isn’t a shtick or a gimmick. Their own family history traces back to Verona, where their great-great-grandparents fell in love before immigrating to the United States. Along with their personal ancestry, Verona’s storied history, architecture, and regional delicacies are what have shaped the identity and vision of the restaurant they spent years carefully curating.
An upscale Italian American restaurant specializing in housemade pasta, USDA Prime steaks, and familiar dishes with an elevated twist, Giulietta’s held its official grand opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony last month after spending its first several months refining the food and service to its high standards.
Photograph courtesy Giulietta's
“We wanted to protect our reputation,” Anthony says. “We started small just to make sure we were really on point with everything and able to provide the service that you’d expect coming here.”
Giulietta’s is the fifth culinary venture for the Schroder brothers (they also own Proof 124 and Hoosier Icehouse in Lawrenceburg), but it represents a new level of ambition.
“I’ve always wanted to do something higher-end, nicer, something that I could really be creative with and focus on high-quality ingredients,” Anthony says.
The restaurant’s name, Giulietta (the Italian form of Juliet), bridges Lawrenceburg to Verona, where their great-great-grandmother, Adelgise Crivellini, met and fell in love with their great-great-grandfather Gioacchino “Joe” Sbarbati. The couple came from different social circles, much like Shakespeare’s fictional star-crossed lovers, but thankfully their story did not end in tragedy. In 1915, they left Italy for a new life in the U.S. and eventually settled in Norwood.
Photograph courtesy Giulietta's
Searching for inspiration for the restaurant and a deeper connection to their own heritage, Anthony and Collin traveled to Verona, where they met relatives still living in the family’s generational home. Their travels influenced the inclusion of many ingredients and techniques they learned throughout Northern Italy. In Verona, they developed their tiramisu recipe during a cooking class with a local nonna. In Bologna, they studied the process behind bolognese, which later informed the restaurant’s lasagna, while Venice helped refine their Frutti Di Mare, a pasta of clams, mussels, shrimp and calamari in a white wine and tomato broth.
“We wanted to find influences from Verona that make sense, but this isn’t an authentic Italian restaurant by any means,” Anthony notes. “Our culture is Italian American. [Giulietta’s is] more of an old-school Italian American restaurant focused on family, faith, and food.”
The menu is intended to follow the progression of an Italian meal, inviting guests to begin with antipasti before moving into primi, or pasta, and secondi, the protein-centered courses. A pre-meal aperitivo might open the evening while an amaro or other digestif can cap off the night.
Rather than rush, guests are encouraged to let their server guide them through the menu and settle in for a meal that can slowly unfold. Guiletta’s doesn’t want to emulate Italy’s dining traditions to a T but rather recover the cultural practice that eating should be communal and unhurried.
Photograph courtesy Giulietta's
“It’s much more about family over there [in Italy],” Anthony says. “You plan to spend three hours around the table laughing, drinking wine and taking your time.”
The chefs make their pasta by hand, using blends of semolina and softer wheat flour selected for different preparations. Their standout Lasagna Bolognese Rotolo is slow-simmered in bolognese and is presented in tidy pinwheels rather than the layered-square serving that often comes to mind. Other dishes span Italian American favorites including chicken Marsala, chicken Parmigiana, and rigatoni alla vodka, as well as rotating specialties such as veal saltimbocca.
The same attention is directed toward the bar.
Photograph courtesy Giulietta's
“We put a lot of work into our specialty cocktail list,” says Laura Krauser, general manager. Their cocktail menu incorporates Italian herbal liqueurs, including Aperol, Campari, and the bergamot-based Italicus. The wine list features more than 80 selections from around the world, including 50 Italian wines. Among them is Pasqua’s “Romeo & Juliet” red, produced in Verona and wrapped in a label inspired by the graffiti-covered walls of Juliet’s House.
For the owners, Giuletta’s is just as much about the success of Lawrenceburg as it is about the establishment itself.
“We’re just incredibly grateful to all the support that we’ve received from the city and from the community at large,” Krauser says. “They’ve been incredibly gracious to us, and it means a lot.”
Anthony and Collin spent approximately two years developing Giulietta’s and nearly $2 million restoring the long-vacant building. The former 19th-century bank boasts some of its original character, such as its exposed brick, arched doorways, and a vault that has been converted into a wine cellar.
Photograph courtesy Giulietta's
Otherwise, the building was completely gutted and reimagined into a romantic, softly lit dining room wrapped in dark wood, warm leather, and artistic nods to Verona’s architecture. Lining the walls are black-and-white family photographs cradled in ornate frames, reminding patrons that Guiletta’s identity begins with, and is still centered around, family.
“Everything in this restaurant is intentional,” Anthony notes. “We put a lot of thought into every little detail. When you come in here, you feel it. Time slows down, and you forget about what else is going on in your life.”
Guilietta’s, 119 Short St., Lawrenceburg, Ind., (812) 505-9612
Reservations are not required, but encouraged, particularly during peak dinner hours. The bar also accepts walk-ins.
