DINING OUT:
JOE'S PASTA GARAGE (8/05)

by Sue Brode

Joe's Pasta Garage (View Map)
28 Jordan Street
Skaneateles, New York
(315) 685-6116, or FAX 315 685 6446

by Sue Brode

A restaurant in a garage? That’s precisely what you get when you visit Joe’s, which has become an in-spot in trendy Skaneateles. Now, it’s reputation is spreading quickly beyond that entrance-way to the Finger Lakes, as people from all over Central New York are discovering a fun and unique place for a casual yet high-quality meal.

As we learned, JOE’s a) is a pasta oriented restaurant, but b) is not an Italian restaurant. That has to be explained at the outset, since most people simply assume any restaurant which bills itself as a pasta house will offer Italian-American cuisine. That’s not the case here. Though several of the pasta (and pizza) items may be influenced by Italian tastes, the main point to keep in mind is that this is an international pasta house – meaning that pasta concepts from all over the world (and, believe us, there are many of them) are included in the menu.

Located at 28 Jordan St, the restaurant is indeed on the premises of what was once a garage. But don’t expect anything déclassé based on that – for this is an agreeably upscale spot. By the time Jamie and Kristin Hunt, the current owners, took it over, JOE’S was already in operation by another restaurateur. When they, along with Jamie’s brother Tim, assumed operations, they decided to keep the name but take it to the limit. Now, JOE’S is not only located in what, long ago, was a garage, but it has a garage theme to it – including strategically placed black and white wall photos of legendary garages from upstate New York.
Even your napkins look like (ultra-clean) versions of rags you’d find in a garage. It’s a cute concept, done well . . . which means it isn’t overdone.

"Joe," incidentally, has been taken from simply a randomly chosen name with the previous owners to a fully rounded character who, in the restaurant’s mythology, is the ‘person’ behind all the tasty concoctions available. Tim’s girlfriend Christine, who is a graphic design major at college, created a logo that visualizes "Joe" for publicity and advertising purposes, including the ad you’ll find in this publication.

That theme extends to the menu. Rather than just list "pizzas," there are "self-serve" and "full service" pizzas. (Get it?) Self Serves begin at $7.55 (plain cheese), with some additional items available at 75 cents each (broccoli, spinach, red pepper, hot pepper, basil, portabella, button mushrooms, banana peppers, roasted garlic, black olive, green pepper, caramelized onion), others priced at $1.50 (pepperoni, sausage, meatball, bacon, anchovy, artichoke, ricotta, Asiago, mozzarella, Kalamata olive, dried tomato, and fresh tomato), and others still at $3.00 each (chicken, shrimp, ham, and flat iron steak).
The Garagemade Sauces (all prepared on the premises) include traditional, basil pesto, Parmesan Cream, oil and garlic, spicy wing, and barbeque.

"Full Service" pizzas ($10.43 each) include Tuscan (vine ripened tomato, fresh mozzarella and fresh basil, garlic and olive oil), Spicy Wing (chicken, spicy wing sauce, mozzarella cheese blend with bleu cheese and celery), Florentine (spinach, portabella, oven dried tomato, basil pesto and mozzarella), and BBQ Chicken (chicken, caramelized onion, scallion, asiago and mozzarella cheese blend, with bbq sauce).

Obviously, this is a pizza house to try when you are in the mood for pizza yet tired of the same old stuff and want to get a little adventuresome . . . while still enjoying pizza.

As to the pasta, there are "over 50 million ways to do it yourself," according to the menu. This is because the approach is a FIX YOUR OWN pasta (again playing off the garage motif) – meaning you choose your elements from varied possibilities. Yes, they do actually prepare it for you.

First, you pick your pasta of choice: angel hair, fettucine, penne, linguine, whole wheat penne, or gemelli.
Then, pick your choice of sauce: house (smooth veggie-tomato), oil and garlic, marinara (chunky veg/tomato), tomato cream (smooth blended parmesan cream with virgin vodka), parmesan cream (smooth white sauce with asiago and parmesan), basil pesto (basil, asiago, olive oil, pine nuts), arrabiata (chunky tomato with spicy kick), or meat (veal beef, and pork in house sauce).
Next, you pick three items, these included in the standard ($10.25) serving: zucchini, roasted garlic, eggplant, pinenuts, green pepper, tomato, anchovy, broccoli, spinach, artichoke, basil, portabella, dried tomato, red bell peppers, hot cherry peppers, button mushroom, caramelized onion, and Kalamata olive.

There are also upgrade options: for 75 cents, Asiago; for $1.00, meatball, Gianelli sausage, fresh mozzarella, and cavatelli; for $1.50, ravioli or tortellini; for $3: shrimp, calamari, hickory ham, steak, chicken, or clams.

Hot sandwiches ($8.53 each, including side) are Veggie (marinated portabella, roasted red peppers, caramelized onion, spinach,, fresh mozzarella, herb mayo on warm focaccia); Sausage, Peppers & Onions (Gianelli sausage with house sauce, mozzarella and sautéed peppers and onions, served on focaccia); Pesto Turkey (smoked turkey breast, spinach, asiago cheese and pesto mustard on warm focaccia).

Sides include sweet potato wedges, side salad of the day, pasta and sauce, French fries, or green salad. Sides are also available without sandwich at $3.00 per.

On the Saturday evening that we attended, we were fascinated to note that this single restaurant actually served as several restaurants existing at the same place at the same time. To one side, there was a party enjoying a variation on pizzas, clearly having a great time with the fact that going out for a pizza doesn’t always have to be "the same old thing" – not now that Joe’s is in operation. On the other side, some other people were enjoying JOE’S as a pasta place, again with all sorts of fresh and different possibilities. Behind us, a couple was enjoying casual sandwiches. Meanwhile, though, others had come in (like us) for a full dinner, and JOE’S offers a strong series of items for the full-menu diner.

Appetizers, running between $8.00 and $9.45, include toasted mozzarella, PJ’s Nachos, Pop’s Toast (Bruschetta), fried Calamari (with remoulade and banana peppers), wings (mild, medium, or hot), stuffed mushrooms, and fried shrimp. I opted for the fried calamari, which is just spicy enough without being overdone, the meat fresh and chewy, the coasting tasty and satisfying. My husband went with his favorite, stuffed mushrooms, and found JOE’S to be a uniquely enjoyable variation, owing to the appealing combination of clams, garlic, asiago, and herbs mixed together for the stuffing.

Though we decided to skip soups and salads, there are plenty to choose from: five salads (including an aptly named Carb-O-Rater, with smoked turkey, cappocola, and chopped bacon in creamy parmesan with cracked peppercorn dressing), priced between $5.89 and $6.98. The soups are Mom’s Chicken ($3.25) and Chef’s Creation of the Day ($4.65).

The entrees are priced between $9.75 (meat lasagna) and $21.75 (Delmonico Steak), with such items as Mozzarella Chicken, White Clam over Linguine, Shrimp and Tortellini in wine and spinach, and Surf and Turf salad with crisp wontons available between those two extremes.

My husband, the seafood lover in the family, went with SARDEGNA, a simmering combination of scallops, mussels, and shrimp in seafood fennel broth, fresh tomatoes, basil and garlic, tossed with linguine ($19.50). He found the pasta to be delicate, the sauce most tasty, and the abundant seafood fresh and delicious.

The beef-lover in the family, I had the Delmonico steak and found it a high quality piece of beef, cooked to perfection. This is a 12 ounce rib-eye cut, topped with a pepper salad and demi-glace, served with broccoli and handcut sweet potato wedges. The meat was melt in your mouth tender, the accompaniments just right.

Offbeat desserts are available, and there is a most interesting selection of unique wines (from local vineyards) and beers (intriguing microbrews).

Take out, including party-size orders, is available.

New Hours: lunch, 11:30 – 3 pm; dinner, 4 – 9 pm, seven days a week.

For more information, call (31)5 685-6116, or FAX 315 685 6446. Please mention that you read about JOE’S PIZZA GARAGE in TABLE HOPPING monthly.