Taste a bit of NNY history at Sansone's in Malone

MALONE — Pop quiz: Name a family-owned restaurant in your town that's been in business for more than 70 years.

If you live in Malone, you know the answer is Sansone's, an Italian restaurant founded by Frank Sansone Sr. In 1939, he converted his home into a restaurant specializing in spaghetti sauce and meatballs. For a few years, he canned the sauce and sold it throughout the north country.

Frank Jr. took over in 1973 and still cooks in the kitchen today. He keeps watch over the small dining room through windows in the kitchen doors as he prepares homemade soups, pasta dishes, chicken and veal entrées and steaks.

We began our journey through historic Sansone's at the bar. The walls and ceilings are plastered with memorabilia, somewhat tacky yet oddly interesting.

Wooden racks display a very nice selection of basic wines: Concha y Toro from Chile, Black Swan from Australia, St. Francis from California to mention just a few, and of course, several Chiantis from Italy. All got the stamp of approval from the self-appointed wine connoisseur in our group.

According to another person in our party, the décor hasn't changed much since he first dined there with his parents some 50 years ago

Having a drink at the bar is, for lack of a better term, a very generous experience.

All wines by the glass are priced at $3.95. And these are not normal sized wine glasses — more like small fishbowls with a stem. Filled pretty close to the brim, too.

The memorabilia theme continues into the dining room. Vintage booths line the walls. Glass-top tables are like shadowboxes, filled with interesting little trinkets and conversation pieces. Old dinner checks from years gone by were fun to look over — entrees for $1.95? Beers for a quarter? Ah, those were the good ol' days.

Homemade cream of broccoli soup was very flavorful, creamy and brothy with identifiable pieces of broccoli. French onion soup had a tasty broth, nicely cooked onions and that signature melted mozzarella topping that's always fun to pick at.

Salads were fresh and crisp, iceberg lettuce with assorted veggies — tomatoes, red onion and green peppers. The "house" Italian dressing reminded us of Good Seasons.

Veal Marsala is a favorite when prepared properly. Sansone's began with not-so-tender veal (quite gristly, actually), the sauce lacked a Marsala wine flavor, and disappointing canned mushrooms completed the entrée.

Another standard Italian dish was veal pizzaiola, a cutlet of veal topped with mushrooms, peppers, onions, cheese and homemade red sauce. It was just OK, nothing heroic.

The veal had the same chewiness as the Marsala entrée; the vegetables on top looked as if they'd been cooked earlier and plopped on top of the meat after it was sautéed.

Chicken Parmesan consisted of a small, tender breast of chicken, perfectly cooked so it remained nice and juicy, topped with melted cheese and Sansone's very own red sauce.

Chicken cannelloni was a nice menu item, flat lasagna-like pasta rolled around finely chopped chicken, ricotta cheese and herbs, finished with a swipe of red sauce. We were impressed that whole wheat pasta was used.

Mixed vegetables, of the frozen-and-thawed variety, came with our dinners.

Each dish was also accompanied by a side of spaghetti, more specifically cappellini (a little thinner than spaghetti) and Sansone's red sauce.

We weren't totally enamored with the sauce. It was dark, almost brown, and lacked any real tomato flavor, seemingly cooked down too long. Maybe we hit it on an off day.

Our server, Candy, asked if we were interested in dessert. When we asked what was available, she said, "It's all right there on that table-top menu."

We knew she had worked at the restaurant for quite some time, so we playfully shot back with, "C'mon, you should be able to do that from memory," to which she rattled off all eight desserts without skipping a beat.

We tried just one, a nice slice of cheesecake from one of their restaurant suppliers. It was creamy and dreamy, as good as some made-from-scratch, in our opinion.

The best part of the evening was our wine hound's discovery of a dusty bottle of 2005 Santori Amarone in one of the wine racks. This was a very special wine, quite a few steps above those on Sansone's printed wine list. We thank Frank for the special pricing.

Most entrées are priced right around $15, except for pasta dishes that are a little less. Our food tab for the evening came to $67 with tax. You don't want to know about the wine tab.

Service was prompt, friendly and courteous.

It's worth a stop at Sansone's Restaurant to be able to say you've visited one of the oldest family-owned and -operated restaurants in the north country. It's on Route 11 (Main Street) on the eastern side of Malone near the fairgrounds.

TIDBITS

There's a hidden treasure just across the border in Canada, not far from Malone. Cross over in Chateaugay and take a short drive to the little town of Hitchenbrooke. There you'll discover the Rockburn Pub. It looks like an old house from the outside; inside it's got the look and feel of a classic English pub.

Great beers on tap, like Guinness, Harp, Kilkenny Cream Ale, Smithwicks, Bass, Alexander Keith's and more. There's an extensive selection of single malt scotches and a full menu with traditional pub fare as well as some eclectic offerings.

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

Sansone's Restaurant

598 E. Main St.

Malone, NY

(518) 483-9817

One of the oldest family-owned and -operated restaurants in the north country, serving homemade soups, pasta dishes, chicken and veal entrees and steaks.

HOURS: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday

4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday

12 noon to 9 p.m. Sunday

RATING: 2-1/2 forks