Italian-American cuisine has gotten a facelift in town with the arrival of The San Marino which opened a month-and-a-half ago at 35 Poquonock Ave. It’s owners, Enzo and Sammy Beskovic, are brothers who immigrated to the United States in 2001 from Croatia. “We’re originally from Croatia and are half Italian,” Enzo Beskovic said. He and his brother have been in the restaurant industry since they moved to the U.S., starting in Middletown.

“We worked for other restaurants,” he said. “Stella D’Oro in Old Saybrook. A couple years we were in a restaurant in Florida called Molino’s. We also worked in Middletown at a restaurant named Luce. When we worked there, it was Cornerstone. Now it’s Luce.” The property that existed before The San Marino was pretty run down, Beskovic said.