Gio Bruno has that laid-back rock band look, but he is approaching the relaunching of the family restaurant very businesslike.
He and brother Vince conducted five soft opening evenings as a test run-up to the opening at 310 Main St., which he said on Friday will be sometime this week. He wasn’t willing to give an exact date, because he said he wants to get things just right.
It has been awhile coming. A sign on a nearby parking deck proclaims: “Bruno’s Coming in August.”
After all, said Gio Bruno, 57, “this is my 401(k). I’ve put everything I’ve got into it. This is my life.”
Bruno, who is president of Bruno’s Little Italy Inc., revealed a bit of his shrewd side behind the Italian charm.
The snug cafe will seat 72 inside (plus seven bar stools) and 20 on the raised area above the broad, tree-shaded sidewalk and beneath the white awnings extending from the triple-arch facade.
Why seating for 99? Because the liquor license is half of what it would be if there were 100 seats, Bruno says.
Besides, he said, he’d much rather have a small space that is full than a large one that is not. Good psychology perhaps, and maybe an insight into the family’s hospitality that dates to the late 1940s in several locations in and around Little Rock.
“We’ll never be empty.”
Ah, yes.
Beyond the understated decor of dark wood and black tables and booths, a burgundy cloth will be draped over poles extending over booths along the back wall to evoke the decor of the Bruno restaurant on Roosevelt Road, he said. “I think it’s called a Roman ceiling.”
The soft openings’ invitees were grouped this way: Jimmy Moses and Rett Tucker and Doyle Rogers folks, the developers of Mann on Main, where the restaurant is ensconced; two nights for family; one for Arkansas Capital Corp., which lent the money for the equipment; the Downtown Partnership, business owners; and lastly, in the second half of the concluding double-header, the construction folks.
The best tippers for the free food and discounted wine? The construction workers, the guys who built the place.
The forebears greet you when you walk in, looking down from their painted likenesses above the bar: Grandfather Giovanni Bruno, his son, Vincent “Jimmy” Bruno, and the grandmother, Columba Bruno.
Peering from a built-in bookcase are photos of Enrico Caruso, the late, great Italian tenor and family friend in Naples.
It comes as no surprise that Gio (whose name was divided in half so that he would have a middle name - Vanni, in this case) knows a little Latin.
Yes, the etymological roots of the name Bruno are related to the word bear.
And Gio and Vince, vice president and executive chef, are bearish of build.
So don’t be surprised if you see them dispensing bear hugs when the place opens. It’s looking like Wednesday, but check Facebook, where they have 3,600 followers, Gio says.
He adds that there will be no reservations. Reservations? That wouldn’t fit the outgoing Bruno style anyway.
Besides those can create hard feelings for people in line, many of of whom have been waiting a long time for the opening.
If you have a tip, call Jack Weatherly at (501) 378-3518 or e-mail him at
Business, Pages 77 on 09/29/2013