Restaurant celebrates 30 years
Family restaurant celebrates a milestone
GALWAY, N.Y.» Village Pizzeria & Ristorante is celebrating 30 years in business in Saratoga County’s west end.
The longtime local family owned and operated restaurant, located at 2727 Rt. 29 in East Galway, recently marked this milestone at a ribbon cutting ceremony with the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce. This event came ahead of an upcoming 30th anniversary celebration scheduled for this Sunday, when staff, family, friends and loyal customers will gather at the restaurant to commemorate the occasion with food, drinks, giveaways and live music.
Village Pizzeria & Ristorante owners Joe Guerrera, Sandy Foster and Jessica Mancinone are proud to continue on into another decade of offering a warm atmosphere and old world classic Italian cuisine to each and every guest.
Upon moving to the area from Connecticut, Guerrera and Foster first opened the doors to Village Pizzeria, their first restaurant, on Fourth of July weekend in 1988.
Foster, who was a hairdresser for many years, said the decision to open Village Pizzeria came at a time of transition. “We lived in a farm house and people would come over, we’d always make them pizza. Especially in the winter months, we’d have the dough rising near the woodstove - and there really wasn’t anyplace out here. People always said ’Oh, you should open a pizzeria.’”
Guerrera recalled, “There was not much out here back in ‘88. Things have changed.”
So, they listened to their friends and opened a pizzeria in a former bar, which they’ve renovated and expanded over the years.
In searching for furniture and equipment for the restaurant, Foster would use the Want Ad Digest, and while purchasing some supplies from a former pizzeria in Austerlitz, near the New York Massachusetts border, the couple also bought a Village Pizzeria sign, and that’s how the business got its name.
When it first opened, the restaurant only served pizza, but the menu started growing shortly after to include pasta dishes, and eventually a full menu of Italian specialties.
Foster, who did all of the cooking for many years, remembers the first day she decided to boil some water and expand into serving pasta. “And its history,” Foster said. “The creativity and the desire for more just didn’t stop.”
For the past three decades, the restaurant staff and clientele have lived by the phrase, “Chi Mangia bene, vive bene,” which translates to “Who eats well, lives well.”
In keeping with tradition, the restaurant menu is based upon age-old family recipes including handcrafted breads and sauces along with both imported Italian products and fresh local products. The family takes an annual trip to Italy for inspiration.
Another way the restaurant has grown over the last 30 years is with its ever-expanding wine program. Village Pizzeria & Ristorante has an extensive list of more than 360 wines available. “It is a passion that I have and I am a collector,” Foster said, “This is what it’s grown and developed into.”
In addition to Village Pizzeria & Ristorante, the owners have also ventured into an all-natural gourmet sauces and gifts com--
pany called Sausations, offsite catering with its mobile wood-fired oven as well as a second restaurant called Villago Pizzeria & Ristorante in Ballston Lake.
While Mancinone manages the restaurant today, founders Guerrera and Foster are still very involved, and don’t see themselves retiring anytime soon. “The restaurant business is a way of life,” Foster said. “You either embrace it or you don’t.”
After growing up in the business, Mancinone inherited the same hands-on work ethic as her mother. “It’s something that just comes naturally to me,” she said, calling it second nature. “I love entertaining.”
Mancinone believes that attentiveness is one of the biggest keys to the restaurant’s success, and plans to match it on for many years to come.
Looking ahead, she said, “As an only child, I feel like a have a certain responsibility to uphold their legacy, and work as hard as they do, so that hopefully someday day they don’t have to work as hard.”
While Galway can seem like the middle of nowhere to some visitors. “We’ve kind of put this town on the map,” Mancinone said. “Everybody knows where Village Pizzeria is.”
Some customers travel from far and wide to enjoy a meal at Village Pizzeria. “It’s the best food and the best wine list in the region,” said longtime customer Bill Justice, of Kentucky. Justice bought a house in downtown Saratoga Springs 17 years ago to be in walking distance of all the great restaurants, but then discovered that his favorite spot was out in the country. “We bought downtown to be next to the restaurants, but we come here all the time,” he said. “I got introduced to Village Pizzeria and I come here three or four nights a week.” His typical order, Justice shared, is clams and white sauce with sausage - “and a lot of wine.”
Assemblywoman Mary Beth Walsh, a customer and friend, also had a positive review of Village Pizzeria. “I think it’s amazing that you’ve reached this milestone,” she said during the ribbon cutting ceremony last week. “To do it and to do it at such a level is really impressive.”
Village Pizzeria & Ristorante is open from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday and 4 to 10 p.m. on Monday.
More information about Village Pizzeria & Ristorante is available online at www. villagepizzeria.com or by calling 518-882-9431.