Grimaldi's Luna Park

These days, Italian eateries are a dime a dozen, and a thick marinara?covers a multitude of sins. From over-priced Italian gourmet?establishments charging $22 for polenta (Northern Italian peasant?food) to the very holey hole-in-the-walls that serve their spaghetti?in troughs and live strictly by the motto ‘quantity not quality,’ it’s? easy to become wary. The owners of these sorts of places would do well to take a lesson from Grimaldi’s Luna Park Restaurant in East Syracuse. With just the?right mix of traditional home cooking, genuine Italian hospitality,?and a real eye for detail, Grimaldi’s Luna Park does its illustrious?family name proud.

Owner Rita Grimaldi comes from a long line of restaurateurs who know? how Italian should be done. Her grandfather started the famous?Grimaldi’s Restaurant in Utica in 1943 before opening another location?on Erie Blvd. in Syracuse in 1968. Rita’s father took over the business after her grandfather passed away, and the restaurant moved?to another Yorktown Circle location. Rita took over the Luna?Park Restaurant in April three years ago, after her children were?grown, with the hopes of creating an eatery marked by “fine dining?with a casual, fun flair.”
Rita works hard to see that this motto is not merely rhetoric,?overseeing every aspect of Grimaldi’s dining room. She designed the?place setting layout herself, foregoing the typical Italian table?staples of salt and pepper, cheese and crushed red pepper for a clean?white space, with only silverware and elegantly folded napkins?contained in polished silver rings as ornaments. The only additional table accent is a small bud vase containing pastel carnation blossoms. The aesthetic effect is clean and sophisticated, and the look is only?enhanced by the room’s soft mood lighting; not too bright, not too dim.

It’s this sort of attention to the more subtle facets of the inning experience that makes Grimaldi’s so superb, a practice that?carries over to their food, “winningly prepared by chef Jeff Eaton,” as?well. Every item on the Tuscan-inspired menu is made from scratch, including the dipping oil for their crusty bread and the house?balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing. The bruschetta appetizer ($9.95)?ups the ante on the popular restaurant starter by offering not one but?three different options on buttery cuts of grilled baguette: creamy?mascarpone cheese and sweet diced tomatoes, pan roasted shrimp with?artichokes and red peppers, and sautéed spinach with goat cheese. It’s?a winning trio of flavor combinations constructed with delicate and?thoughtful presentation.
Rita Grimaldi says her menu is a combination of traditional Grimaldi?favorites (Utica Greens, hot antipasto and veal dishes) with a Tuscan?flair. Many of her tried and true menu items, according to Rita, have?been forged in the competitive Utica dining industry, where she says,?“Everybody is trying to outdo everybody else.” Some things haven’t?changed. Grimaldi tells the story of a friend that called her to talk?about some Utica Greens he tried recently, “the best he’s ever had.”

“Ha!” Rita Grimaldi told him, “But you haven’t tried my greens!?” The second course dinner menu is divided by meats: pollo (chicken),?pesce (fish), bisteca (beef), and vitello (veal). There are also an assortment of daily specials as well as traditional pasta dishes like?pomodoro cavetelli ($15.95) and cannelloni with veal, fontina cheese,?peas and tomato béchame sauce ($16.95). The popular Chicken Milanese?($18.95) is crusted with panko (a Japanese bread crumb mixture) and?Parmesan cheese. The resulting texture is perfect-crunchy on the?outside, tender within, while the mild flavor of the chicken breast is?heightened considerably by the bed of spicy Utica greens beneath it.
Grimaldi says her most famous dish is her Veal Osso Buco ($27.95), a?braised veal shank served elegantly over a bed of saffron risotto and?decorated with sprigs of rosemary. The savory dish is both gourmet and comfortingly homey, a unique combination that proves the Osso Buco is?more than worthy of its acclaim.
Grimaldi’s is something of a Good Samaritan in the dining world,?quietly serving delicious food the way it should be served, regardless?of who takes notice. It’s the kind of quality that is sometimes a? rarity in Italian restaurants today: thoughtful, subtle and inventive.

By the time your server swoops in with a complimentary bowl of?taffeta-like cherry cotton candy to end your meal, you’re probably?already sold! Grimaldi’s Luna Park is one of the best Italian?restaurants in town.
?????? ?
?? Grimaldi’s Luna Park Restaurant
????? 6430 Yorktown Circle
????? East Syracuse, NY 13057
????? (315) 432-4614
????? Take-Out Available
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????? Lunch Hours:
????? Tues.-Fri. 11:30 a.m.- 2 p.m.
????? Dinner Hours:
????? Mon.-Sat. 5 p.m.- 10 p.m.

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