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Old Restaurant, Young Chef - Colavolpe Family spruces up Antonio's in East Haven
By Todd Lyon, 09/24/04
Food: A landmark East Haven restaurant has been reborn as a quietly stylish restaurant that incorporates Old World Neopolitan dishes with modern Italian fare, presented by the gifted Gina Colavolpe and her family. The menu begins with a vast selection of Antipasti, Zuppa, Insalata and Neopolitan side dishes, priced from $4.50 to $10.95. Recommended starters include Pane Cotta (a traditional presentation of escarole, white beans, garlic, Italian bread and olive oil, $7.95); Suffritta (featuring veal hearts in a spicy tomato sauce, $5.95); Tripe (stewed in a light tomato sauce with Tuscan-style cannellini beans, $5.95) and Porkskin Braciola (seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic and parsley, $5.95). Entrees range from simple pasta dishes to complicated creations featuring meat and seafood. Most are in the $11.95 to $19.95 range, such as Pasta-Amatriciana (with diced onions, pancetta, garlic, white wine, crushed red pepper and Parmesan in a tomato sauce, $15.95); Lobster a la Vodka (picked lobster meat in a light vodka cream sauce with caramelized onions, fresh basil and garlic, $18.95); Shrimp Scamponi (prepared with capers, straw mushrooms and tomato in a Marsala sauce over spinach, $18.95) and Pork Chop Napolitano (a 16-ounce chop grilled with potatoes and peppers, $18.95). A few elaborate dishes are custom-made for high rollers, including Veal Mediterranean, prepared with picked lobster and crab meat for $25.95 and Zuppa de Pesce, with every treasure of the sea for $35.95. At lunch, a scaled-down menu starts at $4.50 for chicken soup with escarole and meatballs, and tops out at $14.95 for Piselli and Prosciutto, featuring peas and prosciutto over your choice of pasta. Desserts are made on the site, and average $6 per plate; don’t miss the Marsala Zabaglione with fresh berries; the Banoffe Tart and the Chocolate Beignet, all of which are offered at the chef’s whim.
Drink: Besides a full bar, Antonio’s has an interesting wine list with bottles gleaned mostly from Italy and California in the $18 to $45 range, many of which are available by the glass for $6 to $9. There’s also a Reserve list with rarer offerings from $46-$100; serious winos should ask for the secret Reserve list, a small, not-printed collection of high-end Italian wines averaging $100-$300 per bottle.
Wheelchair access: The restaurant is on one floor, yet full wheelchair access isn’t guaranteed; call ahead for specifics and assistance.
Smoking: Not allowed.
Credit cards: Visa, MasterCard
Kid-friendliness: Chef Gina will cook to order.
Parking: In a lot to the right and behind the building; street parking is also available, free of charge.
Private parties: The restaurant (which seats 52) and/or the lounge (which seats 15) can be booked for wedding, showers, rehearsal dinners, birthday parties, family reunions, corporate events or whatever festive event your heart desires.
I’ll never forget my first visit to Antonio’s Ristorante. The year was 1996, and I went there on the advice of friends who’d told me that the little stone-walled eatery on Main Street had been an East Haven landmark for decades, known and loved by locals since its early days as a dark, dramatic spot called The Sparkling Cave.
My most vivid memories of that inaugural trip to Antonio’s are of a bright dining room with a fire place in the corner and, oddly enough, a ‘70s-era hi-fi with a plump lamp perched on its plastic turntable cover. I remember a vintage cocktail bar with its own separate entrance and a rich patina of nicotine on every surface; mostly, I recall old-fashioned Italian food that made me feel as if Nonna and Nonno were in the kitchen, cooking for me on Christmas Eve.
Antonio’s was quirky and comfortable — a real throw-back to old East Haven, with cuisine to match — and I dreaded the day that some modern restauranteur would take it over and smother its 30-year history under groovy renovations and a trendy menu.
This summer, it finally happened. A young chef, along with her mother and sister, bought Antonio’s, revamped its interior, updated its menu and opened for business.
In spite of my fears, the new Antonio’s didn’t represent a tragic end to a beloved institution. Rather, it was — and is — a triumphant rebirth that combines the best of revered traditions with fresh, inspired Italian cookery.
As for the interior, it’s simply lovely. The free-form granite walls that have been a hallmark of Antonio’s for so long are still in place, as is the fireplace and the intimate booths. But now, the dining room is quietly stylish, with a well-defined foyer, flattering lighting, vintage prints on the walls and attractive table settings.
This magical transformation was accomplished by Chef Gina Colavolpe and her partners, Geri Colavolpe (Gina’s mom, who cooks, greets patrons and “does everything else,” according to Gina), and Andrea Finta (Gina’s sister, who waits tables and keeps the dining room humming, even though she’s got an infant and a toddler at home).
I’d expect nothing less from Gina. I’ve known and admired her since her days as head chef at Il Pranzo, a jewel box of a restaurant in the Short Beach section of Branford that was embraced by the press and treasured by a steady steam of locals.
Il Pranzo closed in the spring of 2002, the then-24 year old Gina, who is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, started searching for a restaurant of her own. She worked for a time at the Jewish Community Center in Woodbridge, and helped the organization open a small café on the premises; she also visited Italy, where she toured restaurants in Milan, Rome, Capri, and Verona, absorbing sensory information and expanding her culinary vocabulary.
Back in the States, she met Ronnie and Nancy Solevo, owners of Antonio’s. The restaurant had been in the Solevo family for more than 30 years, and, although they were ready to move on, the couple couldn’t hand their heritage over to any old random buyer who happened to have the money. “The only way they’d sell it was if the new owner agreed to keep it as a traditional Italian, neighborhood restaurant,” recalls Gina. “They wanted to keep certain dishes on the menu, life Suffritta (veal hearts), Tripe and Porkskin Braciole.”
Gina was happy to accommodate their wishes, especially since her talented mother, Geri, was willing to recreate Antonio’s famous Neopolitan dishes. Plus, the place itself inspired Gina. “Italian has always been my thing,” she says, “and the building had the characteristics I was looking for. It was rustic, with great-looking walls; it was the right size and has history and tradition built in.”
Though its former owners invited Gina to rename the restaurant, she opted to keep it Antonio’s Ristorante. “The name fit my family,” she explains. “My father is an Antonio, and so is my grandfather and my nephew.”
Speaking of her father, he is responsible for a recurring theme in the new decor. “He gives everyone pet names that relate to food,” laughs Gina. “He calls my sister, my mother and me ‘the three pears.’” As such, pears are featured on the tiled wall behind the bar, in the flower arrangements throughout the restaurant and in the artwork on the menu.
That menu is alive with a heady range of Italian dishes that showcase contemporary sensibilities, yet honor the house that the Solevo family built. “People come and they’re worried that it’s not the same,” says Gina. “But we’ve been winning over the old customers, and adding some of our own.”
Ever since the new Antonio’s opened July 13, the place has been embraced by the community. “We’ve cultivated a warm, friendly atmosphere, and it seems that everybody knows everybody — they visit each other’s tables, it’s like a big dinner party.”
Whether you’re a neophyte or have been around long enough to remember The Sparking Cave, I urge you to take a trip to East Haven and experience the charming and delicious bridge between the past and the present that is Antonio’s.
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