A hard place to swallow and even harder to pronounce:
Spaccarelli's Restaurant was our Easter dinner stop this year. We usually have a traditional large Italian style dinner at home, but this year we chose a middle ground for the family from NYC and those from upstate NY to give the ladies a rest-bit from cooking, ...so let's get right to it.
We were a party of 9 in total and all 'professional' Italian eaters. For an appetizer, I had the mixed fish salade consisting of octopus, shrimp, and calamari (served cold). For the entree I chose the Pollo Francese (dipped in egg, sautéed in lemon & white wine) as a side I opted for the Gnocchi pomodoro basilico (homemade gnocchi with tomato & basil) and my beverage was the house chianti. For dessert, I chose the chocolate cake.
First to arrive for execution was the fish salade, it was EXCELLENT and quite robust, which I was surprised to see. The calamari appeared to be relatively fresh, it wasn't rubbery and had no fishy taste. The octopus was just as succulent, having a delightful taste as well. To be honest, had the salade been slightly larger, it would have been enough to fill my gullet. The next victim was the Chicken Francese, (o come si dice in Italiano...Pollo Francese.) The cutlets were breaded to perfection and came bathed in a scrumptious sauce. The chicken was very tender, easily cuttable with the edge of my fork. They were large in size but thin in girth. If the dish wasn't so expensive I probably wouldn't have eaten both. But as my father used to say, "I paid for all of it, you're eating all of it son!" Next, we have the Gnocchi. Being the glutton that I am, I stuffed the Gnocchi down my throat, mostly one at a time... some times I did a two'er on the fork because I just couldn't stop myself. After shrugging off the look of disgust my wife was flashing at me as sparks began to fly from my cutlery, I leaned back to take a deep breath and drain the glass of house chianti which was quite savory.
All was going according to plan, with only desert to worry about. That's when my wife brought to my attention that the waiter hadn't come by to see if we needed anything since delivering our meals. After polling the table, we were all in need of at least a refill but nobody had seen our waiter. That was when the 5-star review started taking a hit. I grabbed a passing busboy and asked him to fetch our waiter. He returned with another fella, but as long as he brought me coffee and dessert, I didn't care who he was. The service lacked, ...hit #1. Now we have hit #2. I get the mask thing... not really, but if those are the rules, those are the rules. But if a waiter has a low voice, plus an accent (A very heavy one at that) the last thing he should be doing is talking through a paper mask. He began to list the dessert menu, it went something like this, "Mmmmmm, mmmmmm and mmmmm with mmmmmm." After asking him to repeat himself three times, he finally pulled down his mask enough for everyone clearly to hear. The dessert menu was only about four or five choices long, real simple stuff. I had the chocolate cake and a cup of black coffee. My wife went for the carrot cake and coffee as well.
When the cake came I became excited... (which shows just how simple my life has become since retirement)... I dove into it as if it were a slice of chocolate cake... which it was. The look on my face was clear enough to garnish a few laughs from the family. It was like putting a lump of dry dirt in my mouth, which I haven't done since playing football in HS. I tried a second and third fork full just to make sure it sucked... and it did. Then I watched my wife put a slice of her carrot cake into her mouth before quickly washing it down with the entire cup of coffee.
To wrap it up let me point out a few of the other dishes. Two Bistecca alla Griglia (cut of N.Y. strip steak) were ordered, both medium well, and both showed up rare. All of the side dishes that corresponded to each dish weren't placed next to our orders but rather placed in the center of the table for everyone to share. I really wanted to give the place 5 stars, however, the service was substandard. A few of the dishes were improperly prepared and the cakes were inedible. The coffee was excellent and the three things I ate were also excellent. The final bill was in the ballpark of $600+. I'd probably go back, but only as a couple and only for the dishes I knew came prepared to perfection. read more