Birravino

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

A Philosophy Built on Prime Ingredients

Birravino is the creation of Vic Rallo, host of Eat! Drink! Italy! on Create TV, and a man who has made the trip to Italy more than twenty times over the past decade. Those journeys — through obscure regional kitchens and Michelin-starred dining rooms alike — crystallized a single idea: materia prima, the prime ingredient. In Italy, every item on the table matters. That conviction is what Birravino brings to its tables on Riverside Avenue in Red Bank, New Jersey.

The concept is straightforward without being simple. Italian and Italian-American dishes are built around local, sustainable, and imported meats, fish, and produce sourced from top purveyors. The result is a menu that feels both familiar and considered — classic in spirit, precise in execution.

The Pasta Lab and the Kitchen Team

One of Birravino's most distinctive features is its in-house Il Laboratorio Della Pasta, where the kitchen team produces every pasta shape daily — rigatoni, mafaldine, ravioli, gnudi, cavatelli, and more. Executive Chef Sergio Rojas and Kitchen Manager Berta Marín oversee a kitchen where the pasta is never an afterthought.

The menu reflects that commitment. The Mafaldine Bolognese layers a northern Italian meat sauce of beef, veal, and pork with fennel and ricotta. The Fra Diavolo pairs a whole Maine lobster with house-made spaghetti and a spicy tomato sauce. Ravioli are filled with spinach, mascarpone, and ricotta, finished with a five-minute tomato sauce and Grana Padano. For antipasti, Big Vic's meatballs — polpette served with tomato sauce and pecorino Romano — have become something of a signature, appearing both as a starter and tucked into a panino at lunch.

The wine list has earned Wine Spectator's Award of Excellence every year since 2015, a recognition that reflects the seriousness with which the beverage program is assembled alongside the Italian cuisine.

From Lunch Through Dinner

Birravino runs through the full day, with panini available midday — including a meatball and bufala mozzarella version and a bracing Italian tuna with Gaeta olive tapenade — before giving way to the fuller dinner menu. Gelato from Il Laboratorio del Gelato in New York City rounds out the dessert selection, which also includes Big Vic's Tiramisu and handmade cannoli. Private parties, catering, and outdoor seating round out what is, at its core, a deeply personal Italian restaurant rooted in a decade of genuine curiosity about how Italy actually eats.