New Haven’s newest Italian offering opened last week in downtown.  Villa Lulu, the product of seasoned restaurateur Moe Gad, opened on Wednesday at a ribbon-cutting ceremony outside of the restaurant’s location at 230 College St. The modern Italian eatery, which boasts a diverse menu of pastas, salads and classic Italian entrees, is Gad’s second restaurant on College Street and his third in the Elm City.

The new restaurant opens in a Yale-owned location that was occupied by Queen Zuri’s New Orleans Delicacies until 2019. Gad, an Egyptian immigrant who moved to New Haven in 2006, also owns Pacifico, a tapas bar a building down from Villa Lulu, and Tomatillo, a Mexican joint on Broadway. None of Gad’s restaurants, in New Haven or elsewhere, are Italian. With Villa Lulu, he decided to break that tradition.