Courtesy of Watertown Daily Times
 

Sunday, April 8, 2007
 

Testing the skills of the 'iron chef'

 

    A great photo of chef and co-owner Brenda Cavallario of Cavallario's Cucina in Watertown caught my attention. She was pictured with her award-winning "veal roulade al verde" and the medals she won at a recent competition in the Finger Lakes region sponsored by the New York State Beef Industry Council.
 

    This prompted a visit to Brenda's restaurant. Although it has been in operation for over a decade, this was my first visit - I hate to admit - but some friends I took along could well be labeled "semi-regulars."

 

    "Cucina" means "kitchen." The restaurant's slogan is "An Italian kitchen with a difference." And a fine difference it was, as we were about to find out.

 

    If you want to stick to the tried-and-true, you'll find traditional Italian dishes like eggplant Parmesan, chicken or veal Parmesan, chicken or veal saltimbocca - plus familiar pasta dishes like lasagna, manicotti and baked ziti.

    But get a little adventurous and consider stuffed rigatoni pomodoro, citrus-glazed salmon or beef bracciole, lobster ravioli al verde or imported gnocchi, chicken bacon blue or shrimp scampi " Cucina style" with sweet roasted peppers, imported artichoke hearts and kalamata olives tossed with angel hair pasta in a garlic sherry wine sauce.

    Did your mouth just water? Mine did.

    The restaurant has an elegant feel to it. It looks formal but feels casual. Lots of luxurious oak, tasteful chandeliers and draperies, and a beautiful stool-less oak and brass bar - which tells me they'd rather not have a bunch of barflies around noisy-ing up the place, but rather a dining atmosphere conducive to enjoying the food and wine for a special evening out.
 

    We were starving, so our party of five began with appetizers for all.

    Stuffed peppers seem to be a Watertown favorite. Brenda makes "pepper shooters," ($6.95), mild to hot cherry peppers filled with aged provolone, ham and prosciutto, served over dressed field greens. The peppers were big and round and a little difficult to cut, but the filling was full of real Italian good stuff to get the brain and taste buds in gear for the evening ahead.

    Hot seafood antipasti ($12.95) could easily have been an entree. Fresh jumbo tiger shrimp and sea scallops were sauteed with artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, roasted red and green peppers and pepperoncini in a fabulous olive oil/garlic/wine sauce.

    Cavallario's version of bruschetta is "pomodora bread" ($8.95). It's a long piece of crisp foccacia flatbread topped with fresh tomatoes, basil, garlic, olive oil and mozzarella, sliced into eight pieces, one each for the five of us and three extra to mop up the seafood antipasti sauce.

    Seafood cakes ($9.95) are a new addition to the menu. They're made with a combination of crabmeat and scallops. I found the texture of the scallop to be a bit distracting at first, but in combination with field greens underneath with a light citrus dressing, it was a nice new variation on an old theme.

    Salad or soup comes with the entrees. I tried the homemade sweet sausage soup, which was excellent. It was a mound of sausage and pasta and green pepper protruding over the top of a soup bowl with a light broth underneath.

    Chilled salads were very good, too, a nice mix of field greens and romaine, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives and green peppers. There was the usual laundry list of dressings, but we went with the two house dressings, balsamic vinaigrette and lemon garlic. They didn't quite pack the punch that we were expecting, but were certainly quite enjoyable.

    Scallops Italia ($22.95) was a beautiful entree, in presentation and in taste. Large sea scallops were sauteed with sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, garlic and lemon in a Romano cheese/sherry cream sauce and served over a bed of freshly made fettuccine.

    The menu says they serve USDA grade one aged steer. We ordered the 20-ounce chargrilled porterhouse steak ($32.95), simply seasoned with fresh ground pepper and kosher salt, allowing the natural flavor of the beef to be prominent. Some parts were more tender than others, as you would expect with a porterhouse, and the flavor was right there. It was cooked to a perfect medium rare. Brenda even asked us to cut into it when she delivered it to make sure.

    The Cucina's eggplant Parmesan ($14.95) is hand-breaded and layered with riccota, Asiago and provolone, baked and served over fettuccine. We first thought some of the eggplant may not have been cooked enough, but that wasn't the case. It was merely cooked "al dente," with some life left in the eggplant (rather than a mushy texture sometimes associated with the vegetable).

    Spinach tortellini ($19.95) was a generous portion of "little hat" pasta filled with creamed spinach and sauteed with chunks of tender chicken, roasted red peppers and baby spinach in a rich Asiago cream sauce.

    OK, someone had to get Brenda's award-winning creation, veal roulade al verde ($23.95), and all fingers pointed to me. Literally. Hey, I like veal and I like creative cooking. Bring it on.

    Thinly pounded veal was covered with baby spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, proscuitto, rosemary, sage, garlic and olive oil, rolled up and coated with bread crumbs, quickly pan-fried and finished in the oven. The creation was covered with sweet Marsala rosemary cream sauce and decorated with a balsamic glaze.

    "Busy," was my first impression. It was beautiful-looking veal, but I do have to say it was a bit smothered by the huge amount of ingredients. Sun-dried tomatoes are sweet and rich to begin with, and the rich cream sauce made it almost too much.

    Desserts are mostly homemade, mostly by Brenda's mother, and averaged $5 each. Her peanut butter pie had a certain lightness to it, as though whipped cream was folded in. Her homemade lemon coconut cake was a hit around the table, too.

    Lemon lush was simple and effective, much like a square of lemon meringue pie without the meringue. We really enjoyed the tall slice of chocolate cheesecake.

    Dinner for five came to $207 before tip. We spent an additional $30 on four wines-by-the-glass and a beer.

    Brenda Cavallario has a good thing going here. She uses quality ingredients like top-cut veal from milk-fed calves, corn-fed Perdue chicken, wild-caught seafood - and she even makes her own pasta. Best of all, she and her cooking crew know exactly what to do with them.

    Cavallario's Cucina offers lunch too, with signature salads, gourmet burgers, deli sandwiches and homemade soups.