Like its flagship 1010, new Paulie’s is 10/10

Signature "Sunday Ribbons" from Paulie's Fine Italian

Chef Paul’s new Italian restaurant is an instant, unequivocal success

This is one of the most asked about restaurant reviews I’ve shared in years, yet it will also likely be the least surprising.

Meatballs over polenta at Paulie's

Just like his now intuitively named 1010 Bridge flagship restaurant across the street, James Beard-winning Chef Paul Smith’s new Paulie’s Fine Italian is a genuine, bona fide, well-deserved 10 out of 10.

In one of the most anticipated new local restaurant openings in years, Smith started welcoming guests to Paulie’s last month inside the former, but completely remodeled, location of Bridge Road Bistro at 915 Bridge Rd. in South Hills.

While creating this new space, Smith talked a lot about family. The Italian grandfather he grew up cooking with, the big suppers he and his kin enjoyed on Sundays, the passed-down family recipes that would flavor the menu and cherished photos he’d hang on the walls of Paulie’s.

In short, he said he wanted guests at his new restaurant to feel like family the minute they walked in the door – like they were invited to one of those lively Sunday dinners.

Veal Milanese from Paulie's

And that he has accomplished through warm and inviting décor, a welcoming and buzzy ambiance, friendly spot-on service and a soul-hugging selection of Italian comfort foods mixed with fun modern takes.

He calls it “old school, but with a new twist.” I call it fantastic.

The menu offering a tantalizing selection of classic and contemporary appetizers, salads, sides, pastas, steaks, seafood and more is full of home runs. So much so that we couldn’t recall ever having such a difficult time deciding what to try.

Paulie's cut steak, potatoes and carrots

Easy fix, though. We just kept going back until we had tried almost everything on the menu. Here are just a few of the highlights.

On the snack menu, anchovy-stuffed fried olives with Marcona almonds and fried zucchini ribbons with basil buttermilk deliver the perfect salty and savory one-two punch to whet your appetite for what’s to come.

Your next move should be the surprisingly flavorful cannellini hummus served with basil pistou, chili oil and fried bread – a dish that looked so simple, yet we couldn’t get enough of.

Want to spice things up? Try the wood-fired oysters with Calabrian chili butter (a nice riff, but I prefer mine raw) or an oyster shooter with limoncello and chili oil.

Dining room inside Paulie's

Antipasta favorites include incredibly satisfying meatballs served over creamy polenta with rich tomato gravy; stracciatella featuring whipped ricotta with crunchy pinenuts; and chili-roasted cauliflower with golden raisins and honey, which blends heat and sweet to perfection.

Assorted salads toss fresh greens with goodies like marinated veggies and olives, or burrata and fire-roasted peppers, or peas with cured pork cheek and shaved fennel. Flash-baked pizzas from a massive pizza oven are topped with Hernshaw Farms mushrooms; basil, tomatoes and mozzarella; hot honey with chicken and basil pistou; sausage, pepperoni and mortadella; and more.

Sausage and pea rigatoni from Paulie's

Among the entrées, we adored a large plate of veal Milanese – pounded and breaded to perfection – served with arugula and lemon caper linguine, plus a creative flounder Puttanesca “boat” baked in spinach, olives and raisins that has become a surprise sleeper hit. And we shamelessly coveted (read: kept staring at and drooling over) the gigantic glistening Del Monaco ribeye served with olive oil potatoes, tomato confit, green beans and Chianti butter served to the table beside us.

And then, there are the pastas.

Signature “Sunday Ribbons,” a bowl of pappardelle pasta tossed with beef gravy (imagine a pasta sauce that’s been simmering on the stove all day) and fresh Parmesan that tasted like home on a plate. A decadent pasta carbonara flecked with peas, cured pork cheeks and silky egg yolks that was the best we’ve had outside of Italy.

Panna cotta from Paulie's

Local Angelo’s sausage and sweet pea rigatoni with broccolini and thyme crema; lobster bowties with savory sherry cream and tarragon breadcrumbs; and a 20-layer lasagna Bolognese that is so towering it has to be served on its side to keep from falling.

After sipping the last of our Italian martinis, spritzes, wines and cordials, we ended each visit by indulging in all the desserts: a rich and creamy chocolate budino (think of it as a thicker, richer, fudgier mousse), a light and refreshing panna cotta (a gelatin-spiked custard dressed with fruit and whipped cream), tiramisu-inspired cheesecake, cannoli chips with sweet whipped ricotta and one of the best bread puddings I’ve ever had.

Although Paulie’s opened a bit later than Smith and wife Carrie had originally hoped, that journey speaks volumes about the chef behind its name.

Chocolate budino from Paulie's

They completely remodeled the space, which took more time. When the new chairs they ordered didn’t strike the exact aesthetic they wanted, they ordered new ones.

When one pizza oven didn’t work out, they went across the East Coast looking for another one. When there was a chance to cut corners to get construction done quicker or cheaper, they instead decided to stay the course.

And as much as they wanted to throw the doors open as soon as the restaurant was ready, they conducted weeks of staff training and held a full monthlong “by invitation only” soft opening to work the kinks out before a big public reveal where guests might be a little less forgiving.

It’s the textbook way to open a new restaurant and Smith and his team did all this because they wanted to do things the right way, not the easy way. But what else would you expect from a James Beard award-winning chef?

• IF YOU GO: Paulie’s Fine Italian at 915 Bridge Rd. in South Hills is open from 4 to 10 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday and 4 to 11 p.m. Friday-Saturday. For more information, call 681-205-2210, visit www.PauliesItalian.com or check out the restaurant’s Facebook page.

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Steven Keith is a food writer and restaurant critic known as “The Food Guy” who writes a weekly column for the Charleston Gazette-Mail and has appeared in several state, regional and national culinary publications. Follow him online at www.wvfoodguy.com or on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. He can be reached at 304-380-6096 or at wvfoodguy@aol.com.