Latin, Italian fare spice up offerings in north country

There's a new restaurant in downtown Canton serving up “authentic” Latin dishes.

And there's an established Italian takeout restaurant in downtown Massena with a good following for their pizzas, specialty calzones, wings and deep-fried things.

We stopped by both eateries at lunchtime last week. Here's what we found.

Spicy Iguana
21 Miner St.
(Midtown Shopping Plaza)
Canton
714-2155

Hey, what a cool name, right?

And if you checked out some of the newspaper articles since owner Fernando Pantoja began work on his restaurant last fall, you'd be expecting, in his words, “Food from the most exciting countries in the world.”

According to the articles, his ethnic background includes ancestors from Colombia and Ecuador. Seemingly exciting, yes. But his opening menu is limited to the mundane Mexican/American “favorites” — quesadillas, tacos, tostados and burritos.

The restaurant is downtown in a broken-down strip mall behind McDonald's. There are 10 plain but befitting wooden tables with seating for 40 or so in the relatively small dining area. The walls are brightly but not gaudily colored, adorned with Latino folk art. At least three waiters/waitresses were poised to serve the lunch crowd.

Our personable and sometimes comically sarcastic waiter brought two menus for our party of three. He explained that previous customers had taken most of their menus and they only had a few left for other tables. No problem, bring us some takeout menus then. Problem. They were totally out of takeout menus.

Water arrived next. No ice, though. “We make it in trays just like at home. But I guess someone forgot to make it last night.”

Then came some disappointing chips and salsa. The salsa was bland and watery, lacking any kind of pizzazz. The chips were the generic bagged variety.

A trio of tacos ($7), chicken, steak and “campechanos” (combination chicken, steak and chorizo sausage) got things turned around in a hurry.

These were quite authentic. The corn tortillas were lightly fried just enough so you could still gently fold them around the fillings. The fillings were simple and tasty.

In addition to the meats, they contained onion, cilantro, sliced radish and a squeeze of lime that added a burst of fresh flavor.

Piñata quesadilla ($7) consisted of two 8-inch flour tortillas filled with chicken, steak, melted cheeses, onions and jalapenos along with yellow, red and green bell peppers.

The presentation was interesting. The tortillas were cut into quarter wedges, then stacked on top of each other, allowing the cheese and filling to gently fuse the pieces together, creating a kind of Mexican lasagna. A really tasty Mexican lasagna.

Our server stopped by to see if there was anything else we needed. We called his attention to iced tea that had been ordered earlier and never delivered. “What's the matter, (are) your legs broken?” he replied, as he walked over to the cooler and grabbed a bottle iced tea.

Wow, that was really funny.

The campechano burrito ($7) was stuffed with chicken, steak, chorizo, refried beans, Mexican rice, melted cheeses, lettuce, tomatoes, onions and sour cream.

Again, fresh tasting and freshly made, with the sausage providing that wonderful savory spice flavor.

We did try a tostado ($3.50), similar to the tacos, but the flavor wasn't as compelling.

Actually, our server had a pretty good grasp of the overall operation despite his generally annoying sense of humor.

Fernando does most of the cooking. You can tell that each menu item is prepared with care and attention to detail. He has already made several adjustments and improvements since opening several weeks ago.

While he plans to eventually add authentic Colombian and other Latino dishes to his menu, he is wise to take things a step at a time.

Spicy Iguana is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Rosario's Pizza
42 Main St.
Massena
764-0607

Rosario's Pizza has been a popular destination for pizzas, wings, sandwiches, wraps and deep-fried favorites in downtown Massena for the last five years or so.

Owned and operated by the Pecore family, Rosario's has become known for “the best pizza in town,” according to several of my Massena friends. Baked calzones, fried calzones and specialty calzones, too.

With that in mind, we stopped by last Saturday noon to give it a try. The original plan was to eat in, but the glorious summery weather convinced us to take lunch home for an impromptu backyard picnic.

There are only two small tables in the place and a long bench for customers waiting for their orders. But there's some serious marketing savvy going on here.

Brightly colored takeout menus are all over the place, and chips, snacks and cookies are strategically placed for quick impulse buying. Coolers are stocked with Coke products, Vitamin Water, iced tea and assorted energy drinks.

Pizzas come in four sizes (10, 12, 14 and 16 inch) and are available with 13 different toppings including hot banana peppers and anchovies — even meatballs, chicken or steak for an additional charge.

We ordered a 10-inch white garlic pizza ($5.95) and a 10-inch Classic Basic Works pizza ($6.35) that included sausage, pepperoni, ham, bacon, mushrooms, green peppers, onions and black olives. Also, a large antipasto salad ($6.25) to go.

The white pizza was good — basically a little oil, just the right amount of garlic and lots of buttery melted mozzarella.

The Basic Works pizza was excellent, crammed to the max with eight toppings. They also offer a pizza called “The Works” that utilizes all 13 toppings.

The crusts on both were great, made from fresh dough, we can only assume.

We enjoyed the anipasto salad. It was made with chopped iceberg lettuce and an almost equal amount of pepperoncini (pickled celery, hot peppers and sweet peppers) along with salami, pepperoni, black and green olives, shredded mozzarella sprinkled on top.

While pepperoncini can sometimes be very hot or very vinegary, these were quite mild and worked well with the other ingredients.

Dressing was our choice of balsamic vinaigrette, provided in a small plastic packet by the folks at Kraft.

Rosario's is open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday and till 11 on Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, they're open from noon until 10 p.m.

According to one of the owners, Rosario's is making plans to expand into the adjoining space formerly occupied by Tiffany's.

TIDBITS

There's nothing like springtime in New York City.

We were there last week, taking in some shows and, of course, some restaurants.

If you might be headed that way, here are a few restaurants near the theater district that you might want to try:

■ Sapporo Restaurant, 152 West 49th St. (between 6th and 7th Avenues).

Chow down on big, creative bowls of original ramen noodles at unbelievably inexpensive prices. My city musician friends said, “Don't talk this place up too much. We still want to get a table when we go there.”

■ Mee Noodle Shop 795 9th Ave. (at 53rd Street).

“A super Chinese restaurant with amazing choices,” according to the music director of the new Broadway musical “Come Fly Away.”

■ Meson Sevilla, 334 West 46th (between 8th and 9th), www.mesonsevilla.com.

Spanish tapas and authentic classic cuisine from Spain. We went there late at night and did the tapas menu (over 50 to choose from). Brush up on your Spanish or get your pointing finger ready.

■ Sofia's Ristorante, 221 West 46th (between 7th and 8th), www.sofiasny.com.

We stopped for an appetizer before a show (great clams casino) and to enjoy Crane School of Music graduate Larry Ham — www.larryham.com — performing at the grand piano. Pit musicians from nearby musicals often will join Larry when the shows get out.

■ Hane Sushi, 581 3rd Ave. (corner of 38th), www.hanesushinyc.com.

This Japanese fusion restaurant is my favorite in the city. Absolutely the freshest fish with fantastic presentations.

You can contact restaurant reviewer Walter Siebel via e-mail: wsiebel@wdt.net.