Dinner at the Family Manse

From the Food Vault Dept.: It’s the 25th anniversary of the review posted below, a review of a restaurant in Amsterdam, NY, that had been in business in its current incarnation for 17 years, and has surpassed that by remaining in business today. I’m sad to report that Vittorio Valentino died in August, but the family continues to operate the restaurant, and re-reading the review has me excited to visit the place again. The hours given are the current ones; as always, don’t expect current pricing to be anywhere near what’s reported below.

                                                                                      

VITTORIO AND ESTER VALENTINO struck me as about the sweetest couple I’ve ever come across in this business. When we dined at their restaurant on a recent Friday night, they and one of their sons were running the whole show, as far as I could see, and Ester seemed to know everybody else who was dining there. By the time we were through, she knew all about us, too, and we’d had a tour of the place from Vittorio.

In many respects, this could typify your friendly neighborhood Italian restaurant. But there are a couple of major differences. First is the location: It’s in a mansion, with a striking-looking tower that gave earlier restaurants their names. Second is Vittorio’s training, which includes a stint at the Cordon Bleu in Paris, which he attended while working for a diplomat’s family. 

Difference number two is more subtle in the context of the menu, which is classically Italian-American. A few French specials once graced the menu but, as Vittorio explains, his wife was still learning English at the time and the task of explaining them was too daunting. Now they have a following solidly grounded in the Italian food that’s featured, so I suspect they won’t be straying much from that menu. But I may ask for something French the next time I visit.

The mansion was built by a family named Morris back in the early 1900s. It was their summer home – and being only a few miles from their rest-of-the-year home in Amsterdam, it was a short carriage ride to the village of Cranesville, now a mere cluster of houses tucked just north of Route 5.

When Marion Bennet took over the house and turned it into a restaurant, it was called the Tower Inn, and you’ll find local residents who can recall dining or even working at its old incarnation. The Valentinos took over in 1983, and Vittorio’s skill as a craftsman comes in handy when he renovates rooms and does general upkeep.

Those renovations have kept the restaurant’s banquet rooms in good shape, which is very important. It’s the banquets that pay the bulk of the bills, Vittorio told me as he showed off the various rooms that are available.

For general dining, you’ll sit in a room that overlooks a pleasant garden with Route 5 far below. The sound of an occasional train adds a plaintive note to the lull of the music that plays inside. Most striking is the old-fashioned aspect of the room, which is pure throwback. The paneling, the artwork, the heavy tables, the dark colors – it all harkens back 30 or more years, and the menu is similarly old fashioned. Vittorio spent 16 years in the kitchen of Schenectady’s Van Dyck Restaurant, and is thus in tune with a style of cooking that’s getting harder to find as more and more fusion kicks in.

You start with a dish of crudités, and how often do you see that these days? And there’s homemade bread, including tasty anise-scented rings. 

Entrées start at just over $7 for pasta, with fancy steaks and loin of lamb approaching $19. And that includes salad. Nevertheless, we opted for appetizers.

Susan’s stuffed mushrooms ($4.50), another classic, was classically prepared, with a stuffing of breadcrumbs and more mushroom meat. My bowl of the soup of the day was a chunky, creamy potato concoction ($2.35), a good showcase of the chef’s art. 

Although salads are standard fare, they’re fresh and varied and feature romaine lettuce and a choice of homemade dressings, of which the blue cheese was outstanding.

Chicken cacciatore ($13) is a flavorful mix of chicken pieces, peppers and mushrooms in a tomato sauce and, not surprisingly, the classical form was followed. The sauce had a hearty wine component, marred only by an excess of salt. 

It doesn’t get more classical than veal parmigiana ($15), although there seems to be an infinite variety of variations on this dish. In the Valentino’s version, the veal cutlet is breaded and deep fried, then topped with tomato sauce and mozzarella. There’s a high meat-to-topping ratio, which is unusual but adds to the richness of the dish. 

The plates were served with sides of cabbage as the vegetable, and we both chose spaghetti in place of the day’s potato. We also shared a small serving of fettucine Alfredo ($6), where the sauce wasn’t as egg rich as I’m used to seeing, but the use of homemade pasta and lots of cream certainly made up for that.

Tucked amidst the Italian dishes are such comfort fare as pot roast ($13) and baked ham ($10); a long list of seafood items includes shrimp, lobster, trout, halibut and even frog’s legs. And, of course, for the absolutely unadventurous, there are the steaks. 

There’s a timelessness about a place like this. Don’t go looking for cutting-edge anything; celebrate, instead, a very old-fashioned, familial, comforting approach.

Dinner for two, with tax and tip and a couple of glasses of wine, was $74.

Valentino’s Restaurant, Route 5, (two miles east of) Amsterdam, 843-0592, valentinosamsterdam.com. Old-fashioned Italian and continental dishes served in a turn-of-the-century mansion. Homemade pasta, terrific veal and even pot roast are part of the varied menu. Serving dinner Sun Noon-7:30, Mon-Sat 4-7:30. 

– Metroland Magazine, 5 October 2000