In Good Taste: BuonaSera
Becoming a regular at Saratoga Lake's new Italian joint, plus the upcoming Siro's event you won't find online and the talk of the town about two downtown restaurants opening this fall.
I went into BuonaSera on Tuesday evening expecting to get one drink. I left with a small buzz, a large to-go box and a gaggle of new friends.
As a reporter, I’m used to getting special treatment at restaurants. But at BuonaSera, the new Italian place on the south end of Saratoga Lake, the special treatment seemed to begin before anyone even knew who I was.
“Have you been here before?” asked a man at the end of the bar as my friend Erica and I took our seats.
“No,” I said. “Didn’t it just open?”
“The scallops are to die for,” he said, ignoring my question. “Here, try some.”
While we didn’t sample the scallop dish that his companion was clearly still eating, I did try a piece of Chef Jimmy Hartwyk’s house-made bread, and Erica sampled a slab of pan-fried mozzarella, which is also made in house. It was only after we broke bread—literally—that I found out that the generous stranger, Kevin, was Chef Jimmy’s uncle. He’d helped with the renovation of the restaurant and has seemingly assumed the self-appointed role of chief hype man. “I’m basically here everyday,” he told me.
The restaurant is owned by Chef Jimmy and his wife Danielle, who previously owned and operated Lake George restaurants Saluti and Biscotti Brothers Cafe. “Italian food is where I started,” Jimmy says. “I got a job as a busboy when I was a kid. One day, the owner of the restaurant asked me if I would help in the kitchen doing a little prep work. And that was it. I had the bug.”
Jimmy’s more than 30 years of experience have culminated in BuonaSera, which opened two Saturdays ago in the former home of Nostalgia Ale House & Wine Bar. And while it’s no longer a dive bar—the space was gorgeously reimagined by Danielle and renovated by Uncle Kevin—it’s maintained the hometown feel of a watering hole that’s been around forever. “What’d you get?” a woman at the other end of the bar yelled down to me when the vegan eggplant ragu I’d been talked into ordering arrived. “That looks good.” She went on to explain that she’s been coming to the restaurant since before it was called Nostalgia, and hadn’t had an Aperol Spritz until that very night. “You’ve opened up a whole new world,” she told the bartender, Amy, who recently moved to the area from Salt Lake City. When an older gentleman arrived at the bar, Amy responded like a seasoned veteran who’d known the guy for years. “High Noon?” she asked. “What kind?”
As I packed up my leftovers, I got the strange feeling that I, too, was a regular. At BuonaSera, it seems that whether you’re the chef’s literal uncle or an unassuming first-timer, you’re treated like family.
—Natalie
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