Portico By Fabio Viviani: del Lago’s high roller menu pays off (Dining Out Review)

BY JANE MARMADUKE WOODMAN
[email protected]
Contributing writer

On a recent sunny (finally!) Wednesday evening, we set out for Fabio Viviani’s Portico restaurant with high hopes. After all, this new place bears the name of a celebrity chef and leads a list of nine places to eat at the new casino, ranging from fast food (Moe’s is here, as is a pizzeria) to the steak and Italian venue we hoped to enjoy.

Portico is fairly expensive for our area, and we were ready to see it with a critical eye. After all, applying a well-known name sometimes raises prices without increasing quality. However, what we found was a shiny new spot that was worth both the drive and the cost, even if only on special occasions.

The main dining room is bright, spacious and comfortable. Its proximity to the bar and a huge enclosed cube-shaped room full of wine racks lends sparkle under bright lights. Large tables in the center are surrounded by even larger cushiony booths around the edge of the room.

Portico’s menu is relatively brief and familiar, featuring starters from $10 potato skins through $12 smoked bacon and salads to a $20 charcuterie platter. Pasta dishes range from bolognese at $14 to $18 for truffle rock shrimp macaroni and cheese.

Mains start at $20 for meatloaf and include salmon puttanesca at $32, sea bass at $40, and a New York strip for $45. Sauces may be added to steaks and chops for an additional $5, and sides like mushrooms, cauliflower and creamed spinach are available for $7, with sausage macaroni and cheese for $9.

Oddly, offerings that use several types of seafood, including tuna, octopus, shrimp, clams, mussels and lobster are labeled on the menu as vegetarian. Some menu items are also marked as gluten-free or dairy-free. Given the seafood listings, it might be best to ask questions before assuming anything.

We started our meal with a bottle of Uppercut Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 ($55), our server’s recommendation from an enormous and mostly expensive wine list. The wine had the dark fruity spiciness we like, with a substantial edge of tannins. It went well with the heaviness of the dishes we selected.

Bread service was pretty as well as tasty, with crusty rolls, a light focaccia and bread sticks that had surprising flavor given their thinness. An accompanying tomato-olive tapenade was lighter than the usual oil or butter.

Our appetizers, a wedge salad ($12) and coccoli platter ($13), were substantial. The coccoli were popover-like dough balls drizzled with truffle honey and served with prosciutto, stracchiano cheese, and herb oil. These would make a good appetizer for three people.

Our red butter lettuce was dressed with chunks of lean smoked bacon, truffle-Parmesan dressing, lightly roasted cherry tomatoes and accompanied by a thin wedge of Muranda blue cheese. This salad would have made a more appropriate appetizer for one person. Both dishes were too good not to share.

We took our server’s recommendation for one of our mains: a whole semi-boneless chicken ($30). Presentation was interesting, the small chicken served in a casserole dish over stuffing based on focaccia and tiny sweet potato dice. The chicken was tender and flavorful, but it was the lemony sauce that made the dish.

The current price, $55, for the butcher’s cut ribeye (a rib steak, being bone-in) seemed high. However, at 28 ounces, this steak could easily serve two people. More importantly, it was the best ribeye we have enjoyed in Central New York. Perfectly cooked to medium-rare, both its flavor and its tenderness were remarkable. A side of creamy, salty Gorgonzola fondue ($5) perfected it.

For sides, we chose roasted Brussels sprouts and a sweet potato ($7 each). The potato was well roasted, sliced in half, finished with a brulee topping, and served with a ramekin of real maple syrup. Our sprouts were the only misstep of the evening, having been nicely charred without being adequately cooked, leaving the large sprouts too crunchy.

Desserts after packing up enough food for two subsequent meals seemed superfluous, but we ordered them anyway: the chocolate dome and the limoncello cake, each at $10.

Our chocolate dome must have been based on flourless chocolate cake, as we found no cake-like element predicted by the menu. But the fudgy dome, covered in a shiny chocolate glaze and surrounded by chopped pistachios, was delicious.

Limoncello cake is wonderful, and this was served with mascarpone cream, raspberries and candied lemon slices. We shared both desserts with the last of the red wine and marveled at the sheer amount of food with which we were about to leave.

Service is excellent at Portico: Solicitous but never hovering, friendly without chumminess, and unusually well informed. Every course arrived after exactly the momentary pause we prefer. Our server told us that there is no fee for splitting plates, a good thing considering the generosity of the portions.

Portico’s goal is to offer the best New York cuisine outside of Manhattan. Situated in a noisy casino, Portico lacks the quiet and bits of pretentiousness of fine dining. But if the meal we enjoyed is their norm, it is fine enough for us.

The Details
The Restaurant: Portico by Fabio Viviani, 1133 Rte. 414 at Del Lago Resort & Casino, Waterloo. 315-946-1777.
Credit Cards? Yes
Reservations? Yes
Access to Disabled? Yes, easy.
Children’s menu? No. Diners must be 21, according to the website.
Vegetarian Options? Yes, though fewer than the menu suggests.
Hours: Dinner Sunday and Thursday 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Wednesday 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 4:30 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Cost: Mains on the menu range from $20 to $55. A couple can dine here for $60-$100. For our review, we ordered as varied a series of choices as was reasonable to showcase the cuisine, and our total for two including wine, appetizers, mains, desserts, tax and a 20 percent tip was $260.32.