The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Dining Alfresco a taste of Italy in Northwest Corner
SHARON — The new Italian restaurant Dining Alfresco at 10 Gay St. in the corner of the Sharon Shopping Center gets its name from the quintessential Italian phrase, evoking images of enjoying a meal under blue skies, watching the play of sun and shadow as you dine.
“You have magnificent trees and shading, plus the huge awning outside,” said owner and chef Adriano DiMario, of New Milford, of his restaurant’s own al fresco area. “A lot of people eat outside.”
On the opening of the eatery, which was in late August in the space of the former Stacked Kitchen, DiMario, 75, said, “I am doing it all myself, cooking all the dishes from scratch to dishwashing. Last Sunday we had over 75 people.” He said to ease his being overwhelmed, his daughter Sabrina helps out at the restaurant as a waitress evenings.
Waiter Dave Loyot, of New Hartford, who works at the restaurant a couple of nights per week, seconded: “It’s been good and busy lately.”
On the secret to the place’s success, DiMario said, “Everything is freshly made: The pasta, the fish and the linguine with seafood.”
The restaurant seats 50, with five checkered-tablecloth tables outside. DiMario said after his liquor license is approved, the planned bar area, which is still under construction next door, will seat 36. DiMario said there will be a piano player in the bar.
Joe Campanale, renowned Manhattan chef and author of “Downtown Italian: Recipes Inspired by Italy, Created in New York’s West Village,” was once quoted as saying of Italian dishes, “The point is to work with the ingredients, treat them right, cook with love, and create something you and everyone else wants to eat right that minute. Have fun!”
The spirit of the quote is embodied in Dining Alfresco’s generous menu. Lunch items include the freshly breaded Chicken Parmesan sub; Baked Eggplant Parmesan with Fresh Marinara sub; various salads and the Alfresco roast beef sandwich. For dinner there is a choice of Alfresco Specialty Seafood over House-made Linguini; Rigatoni da Pietro; Capellini Capricciosa and Fusilli Bolognese. The homemade dessert selection boasts tiramisu, crème brulée (with a lemon twist), and the Chocolate Decadent with Espresso.
Speaking of the items on the menu, DiMario said, “Quality and simplicity is my way of doing things. Fresh garlic, fresh parsley, good extra-virgin olive oil, good tomatoes — the herbs tell you exactly what dishes will taste perfect.”
A highlight of the menu includes Roman-style pizza. “In the U.S. they call it Sicilian pizza, but that is usually too doughy,” he said. “The one I make is fluffy and light, with fresh garlic, basil, tomato. You eat it, and it’s very light.”
DiMario said he has been cooking all his life, from his origins of growing up in World War II-demolished Terracina, Italy, to all across Europe to various eateries in upstate New York and in Connecticut. He owned the restaurant Spagione in Ridgefield from 1993 to 1999, as well as the Vagabond Tavern in Glens Falls, N.Y., from 2012 to 2013. He worked at a fine restaurant in Las Vegas for five years in the 1960s, once serving more than 200 pizzas to singer Frank Sinatra and his entourage. In 1973 DiMario owned the first Italian restaurant in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, called Mama Mia, even cooking for former Mexico president Luis Echeverría.
DiMario said his cooking philosophy is: “You take fresh ingredients in season and keep it special. Many of my customers have told me ‘You should write a cookbook.’ What I would like to write about are the interesting people I have met in the restaurant business: (legendary radio anchor) Morton Dean, Elizabeth Taylor, and Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner. Some have been difficult, while others have been really nice.”
He said a famous supermarket-chain CEO declared DiMario’s grouper fish dish to be “the best in the world.”
When asked how he got the idea of opening a restaurant in the area, DiMario said, “A friend told me about this place. I saw this empty restaurant, and I said I must open it.” He added, “I am glad to be here because it is a beautiful place.”
DiMario said future plans for Dining Alfresco include the aforementioned bar area as well as a weekend breakfast menu. A wood-fireed stove will be installed in the restaurant; a fire pit will also be set up for the outside area.
Regular customer and film producer James Claitor, of Sharon, stopped by on a recent Saturday afternoon for a small pizza to go. “I think the food is very good and at a reasonable price,” he said, adding that he has also tried the restaurant’s linguini dish as well as the tiramisu for dessert: “It’s all really good.”