SCHENECTADY Eatery hoping for the cocktail crowd Aperitivo set to open Saturday BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter
Angelo Mazzone is aiming for the cool crowd. He will reveal his “chic metropolitan” downtown restaurant on Saturday, with cocktails and bar fare available before the Gazette Holiday Parade comes marching down State Street. The opening has been eagerly anticipated by lovers of his elaborately restored Glen Sanders Mansion in Scotia and his pricey Angelo’s 677 Prime in Albany. But this restaurant will be a different breed. There will be no $50 steaks at Aperitivo. Nor, in fact, will there be any full meals at all — unless customers create them themselves. Mazzone’s going for the “aperitivo crowd,” mostly young professionals who go out for drinks and small plates of delicious food before hitting the town or heading to a show. He placed Aperitivo on State Street between the newly expanded Proctors and the new Movieland cinema. There are also several popular bars within two blocks and a nightclub is set to open eventually across the street. Mazzone said he hopes the businesses will feed off each other, developing a synergy that would have patrons traveling from bar to bar to sample the entertainment each night. In that spirit, Aperitivo will open with exposed brick, polished tile and a profusion of stainless steel, copper and aluminum. Why? “Because it’s cool,” spokeswoman Catherine Gatta said, grinning as she described the shiny copper bar with its underlit glass top. She’s hoping bar patrons think it’s cool too. “It kind of brings in an urban feel to have a lot of metal,” she said. “We wanted to bring in a lot of textures.” The food is unusual, too. Patrons order small plates, but with the bite-sized food comes lower prices, too. Fried calamari is $4. The most expensive item on the dinner menu, tenderloin medallions with roasted fingerling potatoes, is $25 and is on the list of “piatti” — meals designed to be shared. Lunch ranges from $5 for soup — Zuppa del Giorno is among the unusual choices — to $12 for Quattro Formaggio pizza. The menu tops out at $17 for lobster pizza. Although Aperitivo will open at 2 p.m. Saturday, servers will offer only cocktails and bar fare. The same fare will be available on Sunday from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Dinner offerings start Monday, and lunch will be added a week later, on Nov. 26. Mazzone said he’s just as worried about this business as he was when he opened his steak restaurant in Albany two years ago. But he said he wanted to be part of the downtown Schenectady resurgence, now well under way. Nearly every building on the Proctors block is occupied or being renovated, and developers are turning their attention to the next block of State Street. One of their first actions: the deteriorating Robinson’s Furniture building has been demolished to make way for a new mixed-use project.
Danny DeLorenzo, right, who has been executive chef at Aperitivo Bistro in Schenectady since its debut in November 2007, is resigning to open an Electric City restaurant of his own in early March.
Parenzo’s Italiano, due to launch March 9, will take over the building at 11 North Broadway that was Parisi’s Steak House from early 2003 until closing last year. Coincidentally, DeLorenzo was the founding chef of Parisi’s and is leasing the building (with the option to buy) from Mike Parisi, who hired him open Parisi’s.
DeLorenzo tells me his menu will offer Italian staples as well as 10 pastas available with any of 10 sauces and a list of add-ons including eggplant, chicken, veal and lobster. Entree prices will range from $13 to $25. Hours will be 4 to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, with Sunday openings dictated by events at Proctors.
The restaurant’s name, Parenzo’s, is twist on the chef’s last name. His last day at Apertitivo is Feb. 28. Between Parisi’s and Aperitivio, DeLorenzo was chef-owner from 2004 to 2006 of Lorenzo’s, an upscale restaurant in the former Cornell’s location on Schenectady’s Van Vranken Avenue that served contemporary Italian food. He says the choice to return to lower prices and traditional Italain food was dictated by the economy.
thank you Judy and Ray and Tony and Miss Savage for continuing to make this a better place because of the new team we didnt have a chance to get better under the old regime and the capos there were rich repubs who didnt care like you people do over here. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK GOD FOR YOU TO
Here's some more great news on the Italiano food front. La Dolce Vita, has had a soft opening (weekends only)on Upper State Street, by IHOP in Woodlawn near the Nisky line. They have an indoor fountain and will feature live music on weekends. This will be the place to be for both great food and entertainment.
They had an opening for movers and shakers on Valentine's Day which was fanastic! Everyone must up their game in trying economic times. Attention coupon clippers: Have you seen the coupons for Aperitivo? Buy one-second half price!
I wasn't that impressed with Parisi's when I went there....I cook like that at home.....but, it is nice to have someone else make the mess and clean it up..
crossing it over with both places styles, tastes and signatures will be cool......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Logged
Here's some more great news on the Italiano food front. La Dolce Vita, has had a soft opening (weekends only)on Upper State Street, by IHOP in Woodlawn near the Nisky line. They have an indoor fountain and will feature live music on weekends. This will be the place to be for both great food and entertainment. 
