Vince Anna’s - November 2017 (dt)
6.76 – 7.6, 7.2, 7, 7, 7, 6.8, 6.2, 6, 6
A stay-close-to-home almost-winter pick led us to Vince Anna’s,
with the core-6, Lynda & Ross & Den present and the
Florida-bound Monteverds absent.
Placement at a round table in the corner nearest the bar’s end
was much too our liking, enough so to mention earlier than usual.
Noise level was low, and we old-timers could easily hear the
conversation, unless three of them were happening at the same
time!
Vince Anna’s cuisine, as it has been for over 70 years is
decidedly Italian-themed. Comprising the menu are twenty
appetizers, fifteen pasta dishes, thirty Italian specialty
dishes, twenty more seafood dishes, ten other-meats dishes, ten
more open-faced sandwiches, and, of course, pizza.
A woven, cloth-covered basket of thinly
sliced Italian bread kept the nibblers happy. A ramekin of herbed
softened butter and another with olive oil added a satisfying
choice.
Waiter Valerie left a pitcher ice water
and we filled our glasses.
Last visit last winter, we ordered an
antipasto for the table and thought later it sapped our
appetites. Someone remembered this time. We heeded our own
advice, ordered no appetizer, and thanked ourselves later for not
overeating too much.
Our drink order had started with the early
arrivers quaffing drafts at the bar. These were complemented at
our table by two carafes of a nondescript house Chianti.
The house salad fits a molded, eight-inch
glass dish filled with mixed greens, a couple stubs of carrot,
several circles of onion, a few crescents of pepper, and a couple
of tomato slices – a sufficient and basic starter, with
dressings on the side. The alternate was the house soup. Eight
salads, one soup. All agreed: satisfactory-good.
Our choices of entrées, perhaps exhibiting a fair range of the
menu, included:
Most agreed our main courses were good, with a couple rated
excellent, and a couple average. Judgment of portion size varied.
Sides included: steamed broccoli for eight, and pasta with sauce
for one.
We sat a little and, by the time dessert was offered, the two
maybes agreed with the seven no’s and we asked for the bill.
Service from Valerie was good – attentive, cheerful, eager to
please. With Ken absent, the coffee standard is no longer judged.
Requests granted, questions answered.
If I had to quibble, there were a couple of lags of time. And a
personal peeve of mine is for a server to take orders in a
certain order, and then the deliverer of food (this time, someone
other than Valerie) having to ask who gets what.
The other quibble for which there is no easy fix, other than to
move the table away from the corner, is the tight fit of our
table in the corner. It seemed that three of us always thanked
our neighbor for passing the plates. We don’t mind but…
Ambiance can be gleaned from past write-ups. However, it should
be noted that the soapstone wood stove, located about twenty feet
in back of Chay and Den was a-cookin’, enough so that we should
have opened one of the windows to allow some of 40 degree air to
mix. Otherwise, Vince Anna’s has its own look that regulars
know well. Darkness starts settling by 5 p.m. and winter awaits.
(thinking of you, Tim)
The pacing of the meal was just about right. We had started at
6:30 and we were out almost at 8:30. And our new routine, about a
year and a half old, of Thursdays evenings often allows for a
quieter restaurant and that appeared to be the case this evening.
The final bill came to $64 per couple, including tax, tip and
drinks, a third less than last year’s bill. Consider an
appetizer and several desserts less than last year, and the math
holds up. And we will put in a plug for the Thursday night
special—buy one entrée, get the second half price. (Also good
on Tuesday and Wednesday.)
We again agreed on no pre-session, a much more common choice over
the last year, and thus met directly at VA.
The big topic of the evening was, of
course, Den’s showing of his photographs at the Colonie Town
Library with four other artists. He said the time flew by with
all the well-wishers, the curious, and those wishing to support
one of our own. One had to see the exhibition to appreciate the
quality of Den’s work. Suffice it to say that all were
impressed.
Topics at the table: the Notarnicola
traveling schedule, Thanksgiving plans, chances of snow before
Thanksgiving (slim), wood piles (like the ones lining the
sidewalk into V.A.’s), our real world worker, golfing season
just about kaput, cycling season just kaput, health of our
parents, doings of our children, recent obituaries, deer
beginning to stake out our yards, the upcoming deer season,
online shopping, wondering what the Quinns & Adamses &
Monteverds are doing, and lots of other directions that remain
elusive for this write-up.
Happy Thanksgiving and early Christmas shopping!