From the Food Vault Dept.: I haven’t been back to the Saratoga Performing Arts Center for several years, not since a Philadelphia Orchestra concert I was reviewing there was made miserable by a drunken group of rowdies. But many visits before then had their own fillips of misery thanks to the awfulness of the concession stands, run by Aramark, a huge corporate entity that is taking over the entire world of concessions, it seems. The stands were never well-staffed, the pricing was atrocious, and the food put Stewart’s offerings on a gourmet plane. It wasn’t always like that at SPAC. At least, not in 1990, when the following interview took place.
THE DIVERSITY OF SARATOGA’S SUMMER THRONG is summed up by the food these people eat. It ranges from burgers to banquets, from the costly hot dogs grabbed at trackside to the elegant spreads at the Hall of Springs.
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| SPAC on a Good Day Photo: AP/Hans Pennink |
He’s been doing so in Saratoga for nine years, but he’s been in the restaurant business for over a quarter-century. “I had my own place in Albany, and my family owned a little corner restaurant in Schenectady a hundred years ago.”
Like another notable SPAC employee, Piccolo went to college to be an accountant but changed over to foodservice with an emphasis on banquet preparation.“Basically, I’m a caterer. In the true sense of the word: I cater to what people want. It can go from a reception with tea and cookies to a fancy buffet with champagne.”
When you’re at your next SPAC event, you’ll see the gamut. Concession stands dot the lawn with take-away food, while the Hall of Springs itself takes care of the more elegant end of things.
“We’re open inside for the ballet, the orchestra and the opera. Also for some of the more middle-of-the-road special events. There’s a buffet and we serve dinners as elegantly as we can do here. We also get before and after specialty parties.
“Throughout the year we offer banquet facilities, and we do a lot of wedding receptions. My goal is to make the Hall of Springs a year-round facility.”
Food fads often shoot through a community by storm, but Piccolo resists the lure of the suddenly attractive. “Because of the diverse nature of the SPAC audience, I have to be many things to many people. We go from the hot dog, which I think of as true American food, to classical French and Italian.”
But one guarantee of success is consistency. And good training is required to maintain that consistency. As Piccolo explains, “My chef is a culinary school graduate. In fact, all of the people in my kitchen are from the Culinary Institute of America, and they know a wide variety of cooking techniques.”
Piccolo uses a staff of seven full-time, fully-qualified people and brings in spot help for special functions, include a food artist when decorative material is requested. A typical day will run like a recent Saturday when there were six events going on simultaneously.
“Two of them were in-house – including a prom and a party with a safari theme. Outside we catered the Albany Law School graduation celebration, a wedding reception at a client’s home and a very elegant graduation party at another home. And we catered a rock concert.”
What has changed during the past nine years? “Not a whole lot. People say they’re going away from red meats, but I haven’t seen that. There’s been a slight drop in the restaurant, but nothing has changed on the banquet end. There have been lots of calls for seafood. That seems to be replacing chicken in the banquets.”
It’s the classical crowd, the stodgiest of the bunch, who have changed the most. Maybe it’s a sense of mortality. “Nine years ago we were doing more quiche and cheese trays during classical concerts. Now they’re eating more fruit and yogurt.”
– Schenectady Gazette, 8 June 1990
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