Joshua Meskin is one of those rare sommeliers who does not drink, though he certainly does taste his offerings. And with a background in acting, he knows how to put on a good culinary show.
His Josie & Tony’s Italian Deli and Supper Club, has been honored with one of Wine Spectator’s 2024 Restaurant Awards, which celebrate the world’s best restaurants for wine. The semiprivate establishment opened in South Norwalk last December with 50 founding members and launched an “Arthur Avenue”-style delicatessen in June. It is the first restaurant in Connecticut to incorporate the semiprivate membership concept.
Josie & Tony’s honor is the two-glass award, Best of Award of Excellence, whose recipients “display excellent breadth across multiple wine-growing regions and/or significant vertical depth of top producers, along with superior presentation.”
“The restaurant industry is growing and thriving, with restaurant openings surpassing pre-pandemic levels for the first time,” said Marvin R. Shanken, editor and publisher of Wine Spectator. “To take advantage of the uptick, restaurateurs are reinvesting in their wine programs. Restaurants that make wine a priority are what the Wine Spectator Restaurant Awards program is all about. I’m pleased to congratulate all 3,777 restaurants for their dedication to wine and exemplary wine lists.”
“This is a very important award for me as a new restaurant owner,” Mesnik said. “I’ve been in the hospitality industry for over two decades and to have my own concept is so rewarding. This business is a tribute to my maternal grandparents (and restaurant namesakes), Josephine and Anthony Aronica, and, although they are not here, I know they are so proud of this accomplishment.”
Mesnik got his start in the restaurant industry waiting tables at Cafe Luxembourg in between auditions in New York City in the 1990s. His early career included front-of-house roles in high-volume luxury concepts in Manhattan such as Sushi Samba and Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill. Along the way, he discovered a passion for wine and interned with master sommelier Virginia Philip at The Breakers in Palm Beach. As his career developed, he went on to serve as the lead sommelier at The Standard High Line in Manhattan, the Grand Hotel on Michigan’s Mackinac Island,and the White Elephant on Massachusetts’ Nantucket. After moving to Connecticut in 2020, he served as a general manager at a seafood restaurant, working to achieve a two-glass Wine Spectator Award.
With his theatrical background, Meskin considers his new supper club program and its Italian-American cuisine a kind of dinner and a show in the former Pasta Nostra, which had a 35-year history in the heart of South Norwalk’s downtown. The Josie & Tony’s kitchen is helmed by executive chef Marcelo Flores, who worked under Pasta Nostra chef-owner Joe Bruno for more than two decades.
And thanks to Meskin’s teetotaler ways, Josie & Tony’s boasts one of the largest nonalcoholic beverage programs in the Nutmeg State, so there’s a bevvy for every bite.
For more, visit WineSpectator.com/Restaurants.
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