Solevo Kitchen + Social set to open
Solevos opening business at 55 Phila St.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » Solevo Kitchen + Social is set to open soon, bringing a new Italian option to the Spa City dining scene.
The restaurant will open in the coming weeks at 55 Phila St. in downtown Saratoga Springs.
The new business intends to bring authentic, old school Italian cuisine and classic cocktails to the corner of Phila and Henry streets this September.
Owned and operated by new local residents and fourth-generation restaurateurs Giovannina Solevo and her brother, chef Ronald Solevo, the menu will pay homage to the recipes passed down through the Solevo family’s generations of Southern Italian chefs and restaurant owners.
On the restaurant’s title, “It’s less named after us and more so paying homage to the generations before us who have been doing this in our family for so long,” Ronald said. “We wanted to name it Solevo because we want it to honor them, but also really kind of brand our style of Italian cooking, which is different than some of the other Italian cooking around town, and we’re happy to fill that niche.”
Customers can expect old world authentic cooking, red sauce dishes done right, house made pastas, prime steaks, fresh seafood and an ice cold martini, a press release from the restaurant said. “Really it’s those classic Italian-American red sauce dishes,” Ronald said.
For first-time customers, the chef recommends one thing. “To know us best I think you have to try our Sunday red sauce,” he said. “Our slow-cooked, red sauce with meatballs and braciole.”
Solevo Kitchen + Social will practice scratch cooking, using the abundance of local and organic ingredients available in upstate New York. “Our focus is on quality ingredients, which is at the core of Italian cooking,” Ronald said.
The market-driven menu will change often to reflect the seasons. “We’re going to keep our classics, but the menu is going to change all the time, to highlight the region itself,” Ronald said. “I believe that true Italian cooking has been farm to table for decades and centuries, because it’s all about finding the best ingredients that are the least manipulated and just highlighting them in the best way possible. That’s where we draw a lot of our inspiration from.”
Furthermore, all of the pastas, along with all preparation from baking to butchery, will be done on site. “Everything is made inhouse, from scratch, by hand,” Ronald said.
The restaurant will add to the vibrant culinary and cultural offerings on historic Phila Street, the release said.
The Solevo Kitchen + Social space is part of the Caffe Lena renovation and newly constructed Spencer Condominiums, built by local company Bonacio Construction.
The restaurant will feature an open kitchen, 14-seat bar and an intimate dining room with a throwback cocktail club atmosphere akin to the Italian American Social Clubs of decades past, the Solevos said.
This sibling team brings extensive experience: raised in the restaurant kitchens of their parents and grandparents, years of working and training in the industry in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and a lifetime of accomplished eating. Originally from Connecticut, the Solevo family has spent summers in Saratoga Springs for generations.
“Saratoga was always our family’s summer vacation place,”
Ronald said. “We’ve always loved it here.”
Now, Ronald and Giovannina, or “Ronny and Gi,” are thrilled to be making their family’s long-time dream of opening a restaurant in The Spa a reality. “We love this town. Saratoga’s always been a second home, and it’s been the dream of not only us, but our parents and grandparents, to be cooking our food for the people of Saratoga, and we’re just really proud and happy to be able to finally do that.”
Looking ahead, the owners’ goal for the future at Solevo Kitchen + Social is to be a big part of the community. ”We see this as a town where we can grow with it, and we want to give back to the community as much as the community has already supported us,” Ronald said.
As a fully chef and owner-operated restaurant, he continued, “We have a lot of ideas and a lot of energy and a lot of excitement. We want to have a few different concepts, and just be feeding the masses, and truly the neighborhood.”
To start, Solevo Kitchen + Social will be dinner-only, but the owners plan to expand to full lunch and dinner hours, from noon to 10 p.m. seven days a week, shortly after opening. Reservations will be accepted. More information on Solevo Kitchen + Social is available online at www.solevokitchenandsocial.com or on social media at @solevokitchenandsocial.