When Chef Irtan Bleta opened I Pazzi in 2008, he named his restaurant after the Italian word for fools, because everyone thought he was crazy for opening a restaurant in the depths of a recession.
Fifteen years later, the joke is on them: Bleta’s handmade pasta and focus on locally grown and seasonal food attracted a loyal following. Now he has purchased a building just down the street where, in addition to the dishes that grew his reputation, he has a wood-burning grill to cook prime steaks.