Broken Symmetry Introduces New Chef, New Menu, and Teases Expansion

What the burger offerings might look like in the future are anyone’s guess. Currently, though? You have two choices: this patty melt (caramelized beer onions, brown butter mushrooms, bacon, and Swiss on rye) and a smashburger.

It wasn’t all that long ago that we covered Bethel’s own Broken Symmetry Gastro Brewery and some of the changes that were happening at the time.

In 2022, a new executive chef in Maycie Ralbovsky stepped in, albeit on a consulting basis to get Broken Symmetry to that next level. Her role as a mentor really helped bridge the gap to where the microbrewery is now according to owner and brewer Christopher Sanzeni.

Not your typical brewery food and not just burgers either. Left to right: blackened cod tacos, grilled beets (herbed goat cheese, pickled mustard seeds, spiced yogurt), and zucchini fries with parm and tzatziki.

And where Broken Symmetry is now involves a full time executive chef and a whole new menu. And while I reported last November that the burrito (or burritos) that they’re known for wasn’t going anywhere, well, it has gone away as a new food identity makes a splash on the brewpub’s revamped menu.

“We were so happy to have Maycie here helping us through a transition,” Sanzeni says. “When she finished her tenure here as a consultant, and went off to have her baby, we knew we had to start looking for an executive chef to be here on a permanent basis, so we found Eric Genuario. I didn’t want to put him in a box. We showed him what we did before and what our style is, and he goes, ‘Yeah. I see. But I wanna do this.’ He showed us some ideas and he quickly brought us into a new era.”

Eric Genuario and Chris Sanzeni plan to work hand-in-hand when it comes to using the beer in food and when it comes to the beer dinners, making great pairings. “We’re always talking about the beer and the specials, too,” Genuario says. “Every few weeks we’re trying to add something new to the menu and take some stuff off.” And as to whether he might reach into his BBQ bag of tricks for future specials, the answer is “sure.” “I did brisket and spent the night at the brewery and I still smoke at my house. It’s definitely a possibility to do some of that.”

Genuario, who was born in Norwalk and now resides in Bridgeport, has a strong resume. After graduating from The Culinary Institute of America he and some friends took off to Texas where he landed at a renowned BBQ joint.

“I’ve been cooking since I left high school because I realized my parents weren’t good cooks and I said to myself, I gotta learn how to do this. I went to the CIA, traveled around, and a bunch of us from school went down to Texas after graduating. It was a race to see who could get the best job and I ended up at Franklin for two years.”

Wait. That’s not a beer! But there is beer in it. Also new is a short list of cocktails. For summer, it’s this mango mojito with an added splash of the brewery’s Kepler, a kölsch. Sanzeni says the sangria and the Spicy Lagerita (a spicy margarita using serrano and jalapeño simple with a splash of lager) will switch off in the colder months for something stronger.

Take flight! A variety of styles is always what Broken Sym was all about. IPAs, Belgians, Germans, sours, and that chuggable Samurai rice lager is some of what you can expect. Coming soon, Sanzeni would love to do more casks and hinted at a fall beer he’d like to mess with that’s not pumpkin, but rather butternut squash.

After the two years at Frankin, he hopped around the Great State learning different techniques by working in a myriad of restaurants and thought for a while that he’d “just be the best line cook around.”

When the lease was up for Genuario and his friends, they all went their separate ways. He came back to Connecticut and found himself working for Bill Taibe at The Whelk for a few years before pandemic restrictions left him out of there and doing temp work before landing at Broken Symmetry where he’s got a license to do basically anything tasty, fun, and funky he wants, while somehow finding a way to make stuff like foie gras approachable—like by putting it in a bratwurst. Or like when I showed up to chat and he was working on a special in the form of an okonomiyaki.

Buffalo chicken egg rolls. Nothing frozen happening here. All fresh.

So far, Genuario has touched on more Asian flavors apart from a savory Japanese pancake, like with kimchi fried rice, but he’s also done some Cali-Mex tacos, plenty of seasonal farm-to-table veggie dishes, and more, because that’s part of not being in a box.

Burgers, a chicken sandwich, and a flatbread—currently topped with brown butter shiitake mushrooms, grilled summer corn, roasted garlic, thyme, and taleggio—will all be mainstays, just in different iterations all depending on what chef is feeling.

Tacos will still be a thing, but those burritos…maybe not so much. Despite their popularity, Sanzeni wants to move in another direction since there’s no longer a partnership between Broken Symmetry and the Green Grunion. Never say never again, but says Sanzeni, “they’re kinda gone, but still in our portfolio.”

“By the time you or anyone else comes back, this might all be different,” Genuario explains. “The cheesesteak (carne asada, peppers and onions, cheese blend, pickled serrano, sofrito lime aioli) will likely stay because it’s like an homage to the burrito of the past, it’s like a San Diego cheesesteak. We’ve changed the burger up like three times already. And the chicken sandwich will stay as a cutlet style, but in the past it’s been served like a cemita (or torta) and cordon bleu. I like to see how much I can get away with.”

And because of Broken Symmetry’s varied list of beer styles, Genuario always has something new to work with as he’s incorporating what Sanzeni is brewing into the food, whether that’s poaching a sausage in it, using it to caramelize onions, and as an ingredient in a sauce that either ties a dish together or a sauce you can dip fries or a buffalo chicken egg roll in.

Massive zucchini fries

What has continued under Genuario are the beer dinners where the team pairs libations with more upscale dishes. The dinner that go down roughly every six weeks, and as you might remember from our last piece on Broken Symmetry, have a theme. In the past they’ve done Asian, Italian, and harvest dinners where they gather ingredients from a handful of farms and purveyors in the general area.

Sanzeni, though, with bringing on Genuario, has bigger plans for his brewery that involve expansion in a few ways that grow the brand, meaning he wants to up production and scouting locations for another Broken Symmetry.

The current version of the chicken sammy is topped with taleggio fondue, crispy prosciutto, roasted tomatoes, and balsamic dressed arugula.

“We need to evolve, and we should evolve,” Sanzeni says. “I want to grow the brand and our love of Belgian, German, and American beer styles. We’re already contract brewing out of East Rock and we’re in 300 liquor stores, so we want to grow the manufacturing part. If we expand and do another location, you never know…But we don’t want to be too close to the mothership. We’ve been looking around 35-40 minutes from here, central, more east or south. I have ideas but nothing is concrete yet. The plan is for us to stay in Bethel, but maybe we won’t brew here, but rather just do experimental brewing here.”

Sanzeni even teased that Broken Symmetry would like to grow in Bethel, too, but possibly to a larger space to brew in, “that may or may not even exist yet,” that would ideally be close to where they are currently at the old train station house.

“Everything is better when you have passionate people on board, and that’s why we’re happy to have chef here,” he says. “We want to push boundaries, expand, and make sure I give chef room to grow, too.”

5 Depot Place; Bethel
203.826.9907; brokensymmetrybrew.com