Nonna Fina banishes memories of Burger King

SARANAC LAKE — It's not often you hear of a name-brand fast food restaurant pulling up stakes and leaving town.

But Burger King did just that in Saranac Lake quite some time ago. The building sat idle for years until a local entrepreneur, Paolo Magro, turned a vision into reality.

In January, Nonna Fina opened at the former BK location. Someone did a remarkable renovation job, transforming a fast food joint into a warm, inviting, full-fledged, sit-down Italian restaurant.

The smell of burgers and greasy fries has been replaced with the aroma of garlic and freshly baked bread. A small, well-stocked five-stool bar catches your eye straight ahead as you enter. You get a peek at the open kitchen to your right before entering the dining rooms on the left.

Paolo is no newcomer to the food business. He started the Little Italy chain of pizzerias in the north country more than a decade ago and still maintains ownership of the locations in Tupper Lake and right down the block in Saranac Lake.

Nonna Fina's menu features nearly 50 pasta combinations: spaghetti with various sauces; capellini with basil pesto plus your choice of chicken or shrimp; penne a la vodka with the same protein options; linguini with garlic, oil and broccoli as well as red or white clam sauce; fettuccini Alfredo or carbonara; and filled pasta like ravioli stuffed with cheese, lobster or smoked duck.

And that's just the beginning.

Choose from two dozen main courses featuring steak, fish, chicken, pork and veal with preparations that include piccata, Florentine, Marsala, caprese, Milanese and saltimbocca.

So let's get started.

Our waiter brought a basket of warm rolls to the table along with the menus.

We were chatting, enjoying a relaxing evening out, hadn't even opened our menus yet, and he was back way too soon with the hackneyed "So are you ready to order?"

Didn't his boss tell him this isn't a fast food restaurant anymore?

We decided to put our appetizer order in first, primarily to slow the pace down and to get Eager Beaver off our backs.

Bruschetta ($6) is always a good choice. It's a chance to see what the kitchen can do with something prepared right there, and allows for easy sharing.

Four long slices of Italian bread were topped with chopped tomatoes and a smattering of basil, onion and olive oil. Very tasty, to the point that we abandoned our partially uneaten rolls in favor of the bruschetta.

Grilled portobello ($7) was simply a large portobello mushroom cap soaked in balsamic vinaigrette and grilled, if nothing else, concentrating the already-strong balsamic. Way too much vinegar taste. And what would it have taken to throw some greens or sundried tomatoes or artichokes and a little cheese on top?

Calamari ($8.95) was truly hand breaded. (We checked that out in advance with Mr. Beaver.) Nothing worse than that freezer-to-fryer stuff that's 90 percent breading and 10 percent content.

Let me tell you, this calamari was super fine — 90 percent tender squid, body ringlets and tentacles (my favorite), 10 percent light, crunchy breading, served with house marinara.

The menu says the appetizer mussels or clams ($8.95) are steamed in "crazy water." So I asked The Beav, "Hey, what's this 'crazy water' stuff all about?"

After about 10 seconds of silence and a deer-in-the-headlights look, I got a double talk answer about the mussels being in a red sauce and the clams in a garlic broth, or something like that. (Keep in mind the menu spelled out the crazy water: "a mildly spicy blend of spices, white wine and olive oil.")

I chose the clams, and the "crazy water" was fabulous — exactly as described, fabulous mopped up with the house rolls we had begun to dispose of earlier.

Time to order our entrées.

I had a question about the three braised pork shank preparations. I knew what barbecued was, but had to ask our waiter exactly what the difference was between Italian and Sicilian.

Now get this — he actually reached down to my menu on the table and spun it around and began reading the descriptions to me. Hey, I could have done that!

I was ready to cut him some slack, thinking he was just hired last week, but when I asked him how long he had worked there, the answer was, "Since we opened."

Yikes.

Salads were quite enjoyable, fresh greens and veggies, adequate dressings.

The Sicilian pork shank ($14.95) was outstanding. The slow-cooked meat literally fell off the bones, simmered in a cacciatore-like stew of tomatoes, roasted red peppers, onions and garlic, and served over a bed of spaghetti.

Next in the pecking order of goodness was veal saltimbocca ($14.95), which our waiter was unable to pronounce. Four lightly sautéed veal medallions were topped with a slice of prosciutto, a slice of less-than-ripe tomato and a touch of mozzarella cheese, served over angel hair pasta.

Chicken caprese ($14.95) was a similar preparation, medallions of chicken (the menu specified an 8-ounce breast) topped with fresh basil, a slice of "winter" tomato and melted mozzarella. (If only we could get red, ripe tomatoes in the north country year-round). The tomato sauce on the angel hair underneath was a little flat, bland. The dish was generally lacking pizzazz.

To try something from the huge pasta section of the menu, we ordered linguini with sausage, broccoli, garlic and oil ($12.95). All pasta dishes are available as lunch portions for $2 less.

It was generally tasty, although the broccoli could have had a bit more crunch. I enjoyed the flavor of the sausage; others at the table thought it was so-so.

The decorating of the plates and extra attention to presentation enhanced the good quality commercial desserts, priced at $5.95 each.

A large slice of three-layer chocolate cake was moist and good, zig-zag lines of chocolate syrup a plus. Tiramisu was presented in a large stemmed goblet, chocolate syrup lining the inside of the glass and a fresh strawberry crowning the creamy coffee-flavored confection. Berry flan (made right there, according to our waiter) left something to be desired with its soggy crust and non-flan-like filling.

Dinner for four cost $122 before tip. Two glasses of Mondavi house wine added $11 to the total.

The food at Nonna Fina is certainly above average, and the ambiance definitely helps kick the dining experience up a notch. But a big part of dining out for us is the service. Our waiter tried his best, but just didn't have it together at all.

The restaurant is also open daily for lunch, offering burgers, paninis, sandwiches, quesadillas and wraps.

You can contact restaurant reviewer Walter Siebel via e-mail: wsiebel@wdt.net.

Nonna Fina

151 River St.

Saranac Lake, NY

1 (518) 891-4444

A new Italian restaurant offering an extensive menu that includes pasta, chicken, veal, fish and steaks.

HOURS: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday

11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday

11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday

APPETIZER PICKS: Hand-breaded calamari; clams in "crazy water"

ENTRÉE PICK: Sicilian pork shank

DESSERT PICK: Tiramisu

Rating: 3 and one-half forks