It may not be entirely true that every Irishmen wants to own a bar but a great number of Italian entertainers have wanted to get into the restaurant business, as have Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Robert DeNiro, Lou Costello, Francis Ford Coppola, Madonna, Paul Sorvino, Liberace, Sonny Bono and Lady Gaga to name a few. So, when approached by veteran restaurateurs Jack, Jeff and Ross Sinanaj (of Empire Steakhouse and Ben & Jack’s), actor/writer Chazz Palminteri was only too happy to lend his name and investment to an east side Manhattan Italian restaurant, later re-located to the Theater District. This summer, again with the Sinanajes, he debuted Chazz Palminteri Restaurant in the New York suburb city of White Plains. Since Chazz lives in nearby Bedford, he’s usually at the restaurant a couple of times a week.
Best known for writing, producing, directing and starring in the one-man show A Bronx Tale, about growing up on Arthur Avenue, which was made into a hit movie and Broadway musical with Robert DeNiro, Palminteri has a long résumé of films that includes The Usual Suspects, Analyze This, Legend and—my favorite of his films—Yonkers Joe. Palminteri had previously been part of a restaurant in Baltimore’s Little Italy, but overestimated the locals’ taste for Italian food much above the level of chicken parm.
Westchester County proportionately may have as many Italian restaurants as does Manhattan, but few are this spacious, and the menu has a sumptuous variety, with generous portions that making sharing a real option and taking some home a high probability. The restaurant also mimics the Sinanajes’ first-rate steakhouses in the quality of the meats and fish served here. So you may start off with some Bluepoint oysters ($14.95) or well-seasoned, not too heavily breaded clams oreganata ($13.95), as is the eggplant coated with breadcrumbs topped with tomato sauce and fresh mozzarella ($13.95). Meatballs are lavishly topped with ricotta cheese and tomato sauce ($16.95), and the shrimp sautéed with chopped spicy peppers, in a light creamy gorgonzola sauce served with garlic bread could make a small meal ($15.95). Grilled octopus gets the welcome addition of chopped broccoli di rabe, spicy cherry peppers, capers and olives ($17.95).
You’d expect to find pizzas, well rendered with a good crust of the right puffiness and flavor that can be had with prosciutto ($19.95) or truffles ($24.95), as well as short ribs with arugula and sweet peppers and mozzarella ($19.95). They also have a fat calzone of toasty pizza dough shaped like an old shoe and stuffed with ricotta and mozzarella, with fresh tomato sauce ($15.95). (Most of these items are also available at the bar.)
I don’t think any menu needs 14 pastas, but the ones that I tried were perfectly made, especially classics like pappardelle alla bolognese, ($24.95) with the right proportion of meat and vegetables; rigatoni with broccoli di rabe, sausage, sweet peppers and a pink vodka sauce ($24.95) and ravioli with lobster meat inside and lavished with a brandy cream sauce ($28.95). The bucatini alla carbonara definitely does not need “a touch of cream” ($23.95).
Even were this not an Italian restaurant I would go to Chazz’s for the grilled meats, especially the large rack of American lamb with a dark mint sauce with mashed potatoes and string beans ($48.95) or the USDA Prime sirloin at ($49.95). There’s also a chateaubriand for two at $99.95.
The Italian items well worth ordering are the glistening branzino either baked or grilled, served with a fresh herb sauce garlic and extra virgin olive oil, and the lobster tails “à la Bronx Tale” with an abundance of clams, mussels and shrimp sautéed in a light spicy sauce atop homemade fettuccine ($49.95). I was not taken with the saltimbocca alla Romano ($33.95), which was a little leathery one evening.
Desserts like cheesecake and tiramisù are all housemade and meant to be shared.
Chazz’s has a thorough wine list, largely Italian, with 22 wines by the glass ($15.95-$22.95) and a remarkable number of half-bottles and magnums (where there are some bargains), and dozens of good selections under $70.
I can’t guarantee a sighting of Palminteri whenever you go—with two restaurants and a busy career in entertainment that occasionally has him recreate the original one-man show of A Bronx Tale—but I can guarantee one of the Sinanajes will be there making sure you are well taken care of and, unquestionably, well fed.
CHAZZ PALMINTERI RESTAURANT
262 Main Street
White Plains, NY
914-600-8430
Open Tues.-Sun. for lunch and dinner.
