Josh Ziskin to open La Morra:

Route 9 eatery will feature a Mediterranean flavor

By Susie Davidson

Advocate Correspondent

If you can’t get to Venice this fall, the next best thing is coming to Brookline. La Morra, an authentic Northern Italian restaurant serving up the country’s traditional four-course dining experience, is set to open next month at 48 Boylston St. near Brookline Village. For Chef Owner Josh Ziskin, it is the culmination of years of study and practice, as well as a return to roots.

Named for the Piedmont regional town in Italy where he began his culinary training by making pasta, pressing wine and hunting truffles at La Belvedere restaurant above the Barolo vineyards, the 72-seat eatery will include a 35-seat private dining section. The nightly prezzo fisso (fixed price) menu of antipasto, primo, secondo, and dolce (appetizer, pasta, entree, and dessert) will feature wood-grilled meats, local fish and farmed vegetables along with Ziskin’s homemade pastas and breads, and the restaurant will be the first in Boston to serve cicchetti, Venetian-style tapas or small dishes.

"Sweet and sour rabbit, tenderloin porchetta, and Piedmontese angolotti are just a few examples of the types of food we plan to have on the menu,” said Ziskin. Italian wines and liqueurs and a full bar will complete the offerings, which will be enhanced by a series of special dinners with visiting wine makers from varied Italian regions. Valet parking will also be available.

Ziskin, who was named one of Boston’s Rising Young Chefs in 1995 by The Boston Globe following his graduation from the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, has worked at many acclaimed local restaurants including The Tuscan Grill, Chez Henri, Providence, Galleria Italiana, La Bettola and 8 Holyoke before embarking on his own venture. “I just recently realized how few classic Italian restaurants there are in this area,” he recalled.

But it didn’t take much to settle on Brookline; Ziskin grew up in the town, graduated from Brookline High School, and his wife Jennifer currently teaches at the Baker School. “I am looking forward to seeing a lot of familiar faces from my childhood,” he said. In addition, for 35 years, Ziskin’s father and grandfather operated a frame shop called Decor Unlimited literally around the corner from the La Morra site. "It seemed like a sign when I fell in love with the space,” he said.

Ziskin met his wife, Jennifer, when they were children attending high holiday services at Beth Jacob Synagogue in Plymouth; Ziskin’s grandmother, Beatrice Stern, was friendly with Jennifer’s grandmother, Mildred Segal. Coincidentally, Ziskin’s mother, Dottie Stern (now Ziskin) and mother-in-law, Nancy Segal (now Geisinger), also grew up together in Plymouth. Jennifer’s bat mitzvah was at Beth Jacob; Josh’s bar mitzvah was at Temple Beth Zion on Beacon Street.

"In 1992, when Jen graduated from college and moved to Brighton, I was living in Brookline,” Ziskin recalled. “Our parents had reconnected and mentioned that we were both single and should get in touch with each other.” Ziskin was managing a restaurant at the time; Jennifer visited there and five years later, they were married, with Rabbi Lawrence Silverman, who knew both as children, officiating. The couple, who live in Needham, belong to Temple Beth Avodah in Newton, where their eldest son Julian attends preschool. Jennifer is a Trustee on the Board for the Sisterhood and is also a member of the Needham Hadassah. “We've been married six years now, have two wonderful sons and another child due in November,” said Ziskin. It will be a busy period; La Morra will also open at that time.

Ziskin will additionally be teaching cooking classes at Boston-area adult education programs, and he also plans to participate in restaurant-associated benefits.

For more information about La Morra, please call 617-739-0007 or visit www.lamorra.com.