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By Yolanda
Wright
Contributing writer
When scouting
for a location to film ''Come Away With
Me," Italian
scriptwriter/director
Carlo Ventura
returned to his East Utica roots, where his story
is set.
Before shooting
began a few years ago, Ventura hired Cafe
Ca'Nole to cater
dinners for the
company.
The popular
Italian pastry
shop and cafe,
owned by chefs Dean and Jason Nole, graduates
of the Culinary
Institute of
America, would
offer homemade
dishes.
With a vintage
Hollywood
twist, Ventura's
shooting began
after an
audition for Jason Nole,
who landed a
lead role in the
film.
His brother,
Dean, managed the catering.
The firm's
premiere played to two enthusiastic full houses in
Utica in
late June and is scheduled for winter openings in
Manhattan
and Rome, Italy.
When four of us
visited Cafe Ca'Nole on a recent Friday evening,
there were no movie lights,
but there were
plenty of stars on
our plates
during an exceptionally good dinner with friendly
service
and moderate prices.
Pronounced like
"cannoli," a
popular
cheese-filled Italian pastry,
the bakery is the house of
the Nole
brothers, whose dining-room
walls are filled with vintage
photographs, and tables are
topped with
white linens and votive candles. |
The details
The restaurant:
Cafe Ca'Nole,
900 Culver Ave., Utica.
733-6592.
Credit cards? Yes.
Access to disabled? Yes.
Hours:
8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Tuesday through Thursday;
until 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Dinner served
only on Friday and Saturday.
Cost:
Dinner for four with two
appetizers, entrees, desserts, coffee, wine, tax and
tip, was
$163.59.
Wine bottles
hang from wrought-iron forms above a
small bar, and
dessert-lovers'
dreams come true
with glass display
cases with rows of cakes,
tarts, cookies
and such filled creations
as pastry lobster claws.
A separate
gelato display is an Italian souvenir waiting to be
claimed.
The cafe's
simple
a-la-carte
menu
offers six starters ($6 to $10) and 10 entrees ($15
to $27). We began with a bottle of Folo-nari pinot
grigio ($15), a basket of bread that tasted homemade
and a
dish of olive oil for dipping.
Two starters
were remarkable, one for presentation and one for
size, and both were big on
flavor.
A Greek-style
salad ($7)
earned a gold
medal for creativity,
as its sliced ingredients formed a perfect tower
rising
with thin cucumbers, vine-ripened
tomatoes, sweet onions, feta cheese, kalamata olives
and
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crunchy bread
crumbs. This eye-opener was terrific.
Easy to share
and to enjoy, assorted
antipasti ($10) filled a
giant plate with
generous portions
of carefully composed,
paper-thin
prosciutto, spicy sop-pressata
sausage, bruschetta with diced tomatoes and onions,
cubes of roasted beets, marinated black and green
olives, sliced and cubed cheeses and marinated
arugula.
On a table
obviously designed for cafe lunches but too small to
accommodate four large entree plates, wine cooler,
glasses,
bread basket and more, we eventually
coped and were ready for
hot entrees.
Although each
had a creative
Italian touch,
they were definitely
not spaghetti-and-meatball
standbys.
A
chicken breast roasted
with herbs and
garlic ($18) arrived
with a delicious summer-vegetable
risotto.
More creamy
risotto accompanied
an evening special of pan-seared salmon ($22) with
corn and
shrimp relish.
The thick fish
fillet was moist
and
fresh-tasting.
Prosciutto-wrapped pork tenderloin
($18), cut into thick slices,
was crisp on the outside with a slightly pink
interior and lots
of flavor.
Surrounded by
savory Tuscan
cannellini beans
and topped with a small green herb salad with a
balsamic
reduction, the combination
was great.
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Shrimp and
freshly shucked lobster ($19) provided a splendid
filling for homemade ravioli in a asonal lemon and
white-wine broth with summer squash and
snow peas.
Other entree
choices included calamari, shrimp and clams with
spaghettini, plum-tomato sauce
and fresh basil
($19), veal Milanese
($ 18) with salad, pappar-delle
pasta with spring peas, prosciutto,
toasted garlic and oil with Reggiano cheese ($15)
and a mixed grill with sliced sirloin, braised beef
short ribs and grilled pork medallions ($27).
For dessert,
we
visited the
pastry cases
and chose individual
favorites, which were delivered
on doily-covered plates
with coffee
($1.25 each). We indulged in a creamy old-fashioned
Napoleon, a traditional chocolate eclair, a
chocolate bis-cotti
and a crescent-shaped Italian
almond-paste cookie — all first-rate and tasting
homemade.
With the cookie,
I couldn't resist
a small stemmed glass of
creamy pistachio
gelato, putting me back on dozens of streets in
Italy,
where refreshing scoops of
an old favorite
come in cardboard cups with tiny pink plastic
spades. The total tab for desserts
was $6.35.
Service at
Ca'Nole was
friendly,
attentive and knowledgeable in a relaxed neighborhood
setting that made me wish it were in mine.
Yolanda Wright's weekly "Dining Out" review is based
on an unannounced, anonymous visit. An A-to-Z
listing of many of the reviews is available at
www.syracuse.com/dining/
.
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