At the time, Romano was in high school, and he needed a job. Naturally, he turned to his godmother, Sister Helen Negri, a Catholic nun who was also the CEO of Marygrove. She brought Romano to meet Kemoll’s owner Mark Cusumano and asked him to give her godson a job.
It was a favor, apparently, that he couldn’t refuse.
Romano began working at Kemoll’s, where one of his duties was polishing wine glasses. One day, one of the wine reps, Stanley Browne, was holding a tasting.
“Stanley looked at me and goes, ‘Where's your glass?’ Romano says. “And I looked at my boss, Doug, and he said, ‘Go get a glass.’ So I was allowed to swirl and sniff.”
Just a high school junior at the time, Romano made his entry in the world of wine. It was also the beginning of his friendship with Browne and, arguably, the first step down the path that would lead the duo to invent an Italian restaurant in the heart of historic Webster Groves.
Madrina, which is Italian for “godmother” as a nod to Sister Negri, will open on Friday, November 24, in what used to be CJ Muggs. It’s come to be thanks to Browne, who along with his wife Arlene Maminta Browne own Robust Bistro and Wine Bar, along with Laura Burns, who co-owns the Parkmoor Drive-in with Romano.
Browne and Romano describe their new concept as Italian and of the “timeless, classic, mid-century” variety. That vibe is clear in the space’s design — from both Helen Lee of Tao + Lee Associates and Burns, who owns designlab, inc. and Girls Will Be — which is dark and moody with chic gray wood paneled walls with touches of red throughout, including on the sumptuous booths that line the walls of the dining area. Windows line the exterior walls, bringing the rooms pops of light.
There is also a large horseshoe-shaped bar that Browne says will naturally be the loudest area of the restaurant. Each adjacent dining space gets quieter and quieter — a rule that holds sway all the way down to the restaurant’s private events space, which at 1,200 square feet (and with its own bar), will have a capacity to hold parties of 50 guests in addition to the main space’s 180 seats.
But despite Madrina’s classy looks, Browne and Romano say that it is not intended to be fine dining but rather “upscale casual.” That means customers can pop in just for a glass of wine and an appetizer during the bar’s weekday apertivo.
“You can splurge, too,” Browne says. “It’s still a neighborhood restaurant, but the idea is it’s going to have a further reach.”
The duo say that splurging (or even that quick after-work stop) is going to look different than it would at most of St. Louis’ other Italian restaurants. That’s because they are incorporating a farm-to-table ethos and tapping into classic recipes.
That might look like the restaurant’s fritto misto, which fries shrimp and fresh artichokes and fennel and serves them with a buttermilk sauce, or the carbonara, made the traditional way with egg yolks instead of cream, Parmigiano-Reggiano and guanciale, all brought together with a splash of starchy pasta water.
“Getting the bill wasn’t exciting,” he says with a laugh. “The size was like … when you get one of those, like, that’s good.”
Madrina will serve a bistecca alla fiorentina, a four-pound porterhouse steak that is big enough for two — and possibly a whole party. Romano and Browne describe it as the ideal dish to pair with a variety of the restaurant’s contorni such as confit fingerling potatoes or Parmesan-roasted Brussels sprouts and the Mayfair salad.
There will also be a substantial bar program, with Italian-inspired cocktails such as a twist on an aperol spritz and an limoncello spritz that pairs the Tuscan aperitif with prosecco, soda water and rosemary. Madrina will have a wine list of Italian and domestics arranged in two columns so that customers accustomed to American varietals can peruse Italian varietals that offer something similar but might be less known. Browne throws out the example of a pinot noir and a Mount Etna rosa from Sicily.
“We're just trying to encourage that, ‘Hey, if you like this, try the Italian version,’” Browne says. “Some people know the big name Italian stuff, but there’s a 1,000 different great varietals in Italy alone.”
Madrina’s vision is so thoroughly defined one might imagine that Browne and Romano have been planning the restaurant ever since that first meeting 30 years ago. But things came together a lot faster than that.
Out of respect for Kemoll’s, Romano had always said that he would never open an Italian restaurant. “I didn’t want to cross the family,” he says.
But then, in December 2022, Cusamano closed the storied establishment, and the following May, Browne and Stanley learned that the new owner of CJ Muggs wanted out. Within minutes, the two were bouncing ideas off each other — and then, within 15 minutes, they knew what they wanted to make. Construction began in August.
“Just under 90 days to remodel and rebuild a restaurant,” Romano says. “This is within 10 days of our original timeline.”
It’s an impressive turnaround, and one that’s been helped along with what Browne calls the “18 rock star management team,” which includes familiar names such as executive chef Max Crask, owner of Ices Plain and Fancy; advanced sommelier Alisha Blackwell-Calvert known for Cinder House, Elaia and Olio; general manager Charlie Bongner from the Napoli brands, assistant general manager Rhiannon Beckley from Anthonino’s Taverna, the Pitch and Four Seasons; and bar manager Brian Clark from Tin Roof.
With all that in place, all that’s left to do is open. Madrina plans to begin welcoming guests on Friday, November 24.
“We're excited,” Browne says, “just get the doors open and start taking care of people and show the space and our hospitality.”
“Building a restaurant, making it look nice, is fun, to a certain extent,” Romano adds. “But the real fun for us, the fulfilling part, is having guests in the seats and talking to them and seeing their reaction to what we built.”
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