The owner of Sal e Pepe Contemporary Italian Bistro believes that Newtown is a great destination for fine dining — and he aims to keep it there. “I think we are a special restaurant — we have a lot of repeat guests," said Angelo Marini, who owns the restaurant with his wife, Renia. He describes the food as “polished casual, northwestern Italian."

Marini boasts that all the pasta is made in-house at the 11-year-old restaurant.“We don’t use a lot of dried pasta. The vast majority of our pasta is linguine, fettuccine, capellini and lasagna noodles," he said. According to Marini, the key to the best flavor is in using the right blend of seasonings and not overpowering or oversalting dishes. He said he loves the business. “Feeding people is a wonderful thing, they come and they leave happy.”