‘WE LOST A LIFELONG FRIEND’
Owner grateful for community’s support, interested in re-opening
WYNANTSKILL >> The owner of a third- generation restaurant, described by some as a Capital District institution, has expressed an interest in re- opening the Italian eatery located on West Sand Lake Road which was declared a total loss following an inferno Tuesday night.
Villa Valenti Restaurant was the scene of a fully involved blaze that required about a dozen area fire departments to extinguish. After more than five hours, the building’s roof collapsed and the structure was not able to be saved. Thankfully, no one was hurt.
Soon after the blaze, area residents expressed their surprise and remorse over what happened. A fundraising site has been established to help the Valenti family, which also owns Villa Valenti Pub in Troy, and a “Memories of Villa Valenti” Facebook site already has dozens of digital entries, photos, and nearly 3,000 “likes” in less than 24 hours.
“Thank you all for such great support. The Villa was and will be an awesome place again. Loss of my Jarid keeps it in perspective though. A place is just a place no matter how great it is,” said Ralph Valenti, owner of the restaurant. He referenced his son, Jarid, who passed away during the summer of 2012.
Valenti was not available for additional comment about what would happen with the restaurant’s employees nor his exact plans for rebuilding the business.
Villa Valenti has family roots that go back to a restaurant that opened in
“Thank you all for such great support. The Villa was and will be an awesome place again. Loss of my Jarid keeps it in perspective though. A place is just a place no matter how great it is.”
— Ralph Valenti, owner of the restaurant
Troy in 1908 called the Volcano Restaurant, which was open for about 70 years, according to the Villa Valenti website.
The same people who brought the community that eatery later opened Villa Valenti in 1950, according to the “Memories of Villa Valenti” Facebook page, which was set up by Jay Carpinello, who used to live on Snyder’s Lake which is less than half a mile from “the Villa”, he said.
“The first time I went there was probably in the late 60s. At the time, it was the Capital District’s best kept secret. It was pretty well known for its pizza, but the fact that they had topshelf Italian food was still littlesaid Carpinello.
He said that back then the Valenti family also owned the Wagon Wheel which was nearby and, like the Villa, had live music from the early 1970s into the 1980s. He described the Villa as the area’s “premier night club for rock music, pre- dating the Hullaballoo, J.B. Scott’s, and Saratoga Winner’s.” After the music scene there died down, the emphasis again turned to the food.
Carpinello said it was not uncommon for people to say food elsewhere was “not as good as Emma’s”, referring to Emma and Sam Valenti, who started the business before their son, Ralph, took over.
“I always felt like I was one of Emma and Sammy’s kids,” remembered Carpinello. “So did every kid who lived anywhere in the neighborhood. Their kids, Donna, Ralph, Bernadette, Gary and Dave, were like brothers and sisters to all of us. And, when I say ‘all of us,’ I am referring to 50 to100 kids in the neighborhood.” Menu items that stood out include the manicotti and lasagna.
The restaurant had a similar impact on Christopher Linn, who spent just a few years in the area before moving to North Carolina. He felt such a connection to the restaurant that he set up a fundraising site to help the family.
“I loved Villa, and usually went there at least once per month, especially when I had family come up,” said Linn. “I’ve heard a few people talk about helping out, but not really having an outlet to do so. So, I set up a preliminary fundraising page. Whether it gets utilized or not, we’ll see. If not, I’ll just be merging it with any other program that gets set up for the folks up there, but if it does, the funds get routed to the owners in just under 30 days.”
The cause of the blaze is still unclear and an official from the Wynantskill Fire Department was not immediately available for comment.
“I think I can speak for about 5,000 people when I tell you we didn’t lose a building, or a restaurant ... we lost a lifelong friend. They will rebuild and the food will still be second to none, but our hearts will always be lost somewhere in the remains of the original Villa,” said Carpinello.