sign in sign up
<<
Home , Zeppole

Newsletter February 2015 Your Hosts – The Lisio Family

Romance Night Set in Our New Romantic Private Room Celebrate Valentine’s 5-Course Menu Day with your

sweetheart in our Chacuturie Board accompanied mini bottle of Romance Room! Mionetto Prosecco

We will again be transforming our private room into a Romantic Candle Lit Dining Room for four nights – February 12-15 (no children please). Choice of , Ravioli, or to Share (served with choice of wine) You will enjoy a 5-course meal, Prosecco toast, wine, and flowers for only $115 per couple. Choice of Two Entrées Don’t miss out! served with roasted potatoes, green beans, or house salad: Make this Valentine’s Day one to remember. Petite Open Tenderloin Veal Pizzaioli All you need to do is call to reserve your table Chicken Cutlet and we will do the rest! Broiled Scallops We are also accepting reservations for the main dining or Shrimp Scampi room for Valentine’s Day, February 14. Our regular menu will be available in the dining room. Dessert Choice of Three Dessert Shooters and/or to share Seating is limited and begins at 4:00 pm. Reservations are required. Tax and gratuity is NOT included. Sorry, no coupons accepted.

RemodelingNews Win the Way to Your Man’s It’s hard to believe it will be four months on Valentine’s Day (or Woman’s) Heart since we opened the new dining room! It has been great through their stomach! seeing everyone’s reactions as they walk through our new doors. The remodeled space has been very well-received. Forget the chocolates… Treat Thank you for everyone’s kind words and support through your sweetheart to Little Venice this new transition. Sweet Sauce this Valentine’s Day! Our newest private room – “Binghamton” – opened in Place all shipping orders by January. This room features 20 paintings by Armondo February 10 for delivery in time Dellasanta, all of downtown Binghamton. The next step will for Valentine’s Day. be to close the “old” private room for remodeling.

National Drink Wine Day: Wednesday, February 18 Celebrate National Drink Wine Day with Little Venice! All bottles and carafes of wine will be half price all day (since it is a Wednesday)! In addition to our great regular special, we will also have our first Lobby Tasting in our new dining room in front of the wine wall. Bill Hotaling of Southern Wine Spirits will be here educating and sampling us on great Italian wines, from 5 pm to 8 pm. See you then!

111 Chenango Street • Binghamton, NY 13901 • 607-724-2513 • LittleVeniceRestaurant.com Little Venice Sauce is Traveling DiLascia Tees for Little Venice In just a little over a year’s time, Little Venice’s bottled When clothing designer Patrick DiLascia agreed to sauce has been getting around! design t-shirts for Little Venice, we were beyond excited! Binghamtonians may remember Patrick’s family name Our sauce has been available in bottles for shipping from DiLascia , located in downtown Binghamton. for approximately one year. We are beyond excited and In 2009, Patrick re-opened thankful for all the love you have given our jars of sauce! the family business as a Every Tuesday and Thursday we ship cases of sauce all clothing line, with brother Dan over the United States and, to date, are in over 40 retail and sister Kelly. We are happy stores… and counting. New retail locations are listed to be working with another below. Use the sauce locator on our web-site (see screen “local” family business to shot/url below) to find the closest jar of Little Venice Sauce bring you a fun line of Little to you, or order online and we will deliver to your door! Venice tee shirts. Newest Retail Locations: For all of you reading this out Quinns- Pittston, PA on the west coast (LA area), Schneiders, Susquehanna, PA stop in and visit the DiLascia Big M, Deposit, NY family at their store at 8250 Great American, Sidney, NY Santa Monica Boulevard, West Direnzo’s Bakery, Binghamton, NY Hollywood, CA 90046 or visit them online: www.dilasciashop.com. Little Venice DiLascia tees are available in three styles on our website and in the restaurant.

Binghamton Restaurant Week March 23–April 2 The 11th edition of Binghamton Restaurant Week will begin MARCH 23! This spring’s event will be benefiting the Boys and Girls Club of Binghamton & Habitat for Humanity. Little Venice will be serving a 3-course lunch for $12 and a 3-course dinner for $20. For more details and other participating restaurants, be sure to follow Binghamton Restaurant Week on Facebook or visit BinghamtonRestaurantWeek.com. #BingRW http://littlevenicerestaurant.com/sauce-locator/

National Frozen Food Day – March 6 Who knew there was such a holiday as National Frozen Food Day?!?! And what better way to celebrate than with Little Venice! For ONE DAY ONLY – March 6 – Purchase any three frozen dinners for $20! Come stock your freezer so at any time you will have a homemade meal ready in minutes. (Offer Valid March 6 ONLY for pick up orders, while supplies last. Sorry this deal does not include 6-packs of Meat Logs.) Carnevale: Celebrate Easter Sunday, April 5 Fat Tuesday with Little Venice FEBRUARY 17 Now accepting reservations. Traveling to Venice, , might be out All children 12 and under will receive a complimentary Puppa (doll) di Pasqua of the question for Carnevale, so come Pupi di Pasqua (Easter Dolls) celebrate at Little Venice! Every year as children, the girls in our family received cookie dolls and boys horses. We will be serving a special 4-course This is an old Italian tradition that my Nonna and then my mother kept alive for us. Carnevale Menu: The tradition of preparing special Easter began in . Often the breads Antipasti (choose one) included an egg symbolizing the resurrection of Christ. The special breads took Italian Wedding Soup –or– on different shapes such as dolls, horses, or other monsters, wrapped around a Venice Salad hard boiled egg. The names and shapes of the special breads evolved across the regions of Italy. Today the most common is sweet covered with a simple Primi lemon sugar icing, similar to taralluci cookies. The texture of this bread is more like House Made Macaroni a firm dry cake; more like a cookie than bread. with Meat Sauce Pupi di Pasqua are given to children as a traditional Easter gift. Girls are usually Secondo given dolls, while boys receive birds, chickens, horses, or baskets. Usually the sweet bread dolls are decorated with colored sprinkles, cloves for eyes and braided Pork Roast/ served with hair. Traditionally, whatever shape the bread was formed into included a hard boiled Roasted Potatoes egg; however, when mom made them for us she omitted the egg. (See the recipe below to make your own Pupi di Pasqua.) Dolce Chicerchiata (Fried ) Italy has many Easter traditions that vary throughout the country. Pasquetta is one Served with tradition that is followed throughout all of Italy. On Easter Monday, families pack up Coffee, , or their meals and head out for a picnic in local parks, out to the country side, or in their backyards. This is a major holiday for all and just about every business is shut All for only $30! down on Easter Monday. Roads and highways become parking lots with families heading to picnics and with the others that have pulled of the side of the road to Make reservations to reserve a table picnic in fields nearby. for this Mardi Gras Special (regular Pupi Di Pasqua Recipe menu will also be available). Don’t forget your beads and masks. Reserve 4 cups of flour 2 teaspoons vanilla early to be seated in our Venetian 2/3 cup sugar 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest dining room. 1 Tablespoon powder 6 tablespoons, melted and cooled 1 teaspoon salt About 2/3 cup milk Carnevale, which means “farewell to 3 eggs, room temperature meat,” is one of the biggest festivals In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl beat together in Italy and begins two or three the eggs, vanilla, and lemon zest. Stir the mixture into the dry ingredients. Stir in the melted . weeks before Ash Wednesday. The Gradually stir in enough milk to form a . Form the dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and celebration started to usher in the refrigerate for one hour. sober, meat-free period of Lent (the Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease two large baking sheets. 40 days prior to Easter). Italians began On a floured work surface, divide the dough into 4 or 8 pieces (depending on the size dolls you want). throwing wild costume parties where revelers ate up all the rich foods they To make a doll, take a portion of the dough the size of a small egg and set it aside. Shape the remainder into three balls, each one slightly smaller than the next (like a snowman). Arrange the balls on one of had on hand, including plenty of meat. the prepared baking sheets. Flatten each one slightly. Traditionally at this time, rules and Optional – Press a whole colored egg into the bottom section of the doll. Pinch off a piece of the customs go out the window in favor of reserved dough and form into two thin ropes. Crisscross the ropes over the egg and press the ends beautiful, ornate masked disguises, into the body of the doll. public plays and exhibitions, and Use the remaining dough to make arms, hair, mouth, etc. Add currants, pine nuts, or other edible items celebratory feasts. to decorate the doll. Repeat with the remaining dough. Fritelle, or , (with or without Brush the egg wash over the dolls. Decorate with candy pastry-cream filling) are the most sprinkles. common sweets associated with Bake for 30 minutes or until brown. Cool on wire rack. Venetian Carnevale. Savory foods Share your pictures of your Pupi di Pasqua served during this period lean toward with us on our Facebook or Instagram. – such as gnocchi, lasagna, and Use our official hashtag #LittleVeniceNY tortelli. #PupadiPasqua. Make sure your profile is public for us to see your photos. (http://www.delish.com/food-fun/italy-carnevale- carnival-food#slide-) 111 Chenango Street $100 Gift Certificate Winners! Every month in our newsletter we pick one comment card at random and Binghamton, NY 13901 award them a $100 Gift Certificate. 607-724-2513 Congratulations to this month’s winner: Marc & Angela Leach, Binghamton, NY Fax: 607-723-0990 Would you like the chance to win a $100 gift certificate? All you have to do is fill out a comment card the next time you visit Little Venice!

Hours PRSTD STD Tues.–Thurs., 11:30 am to 10 pm U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT # 197 Fri. & Sat., 11:30 am to 11 pm BINGHAMTON, NY Sunday, 11:30 am to 10 pm CLOSED Mondays

Photo by delbee_3. Want a chance to be featured on Little Venice’s social media or here in our newsletter? Use our official hash tag #LittleVeniceNY. Thanks for sharing! Calendar of Events FEBRUARY 5 Harlem Globetrotters – Maines Veterans Memorial Arena, 7:00 pm San Giuseppe: Feast Day – March 19 6 First Friday Art Walk – Downtown Binghamton The feast of Saint Joseph began in Sicily in the 7 National Fettucine Alfredo Day Middle Ages as a way to give thanks to Saint 6 & 8 Tri Cities Opera presents “The Italian Girl in Joseph for preventing a famine. Algiers,” Broome County Forum, 8 pm & 3 pm According to legend, there was a severe drought 12-15 Celebrate Valentine’s Day in our Romance at the time, and the people prayed for their patron Room saint to bring them rain. They promised that if 14 Valentine’s Day he answered their prayers, they would prepare a 17 Mardi Gras – special 4-course meal for $30 large feast to honor him. The rain did come, and 18 National Drink Wine Day: Lobby Wine Tasting the people of Sicily prepared a large banquet for from 5 pm – 8 pm their patron saint. MARCH 1 Broadway in Binghamton Presents The fava bean was the crop that saved the population from starvation and is a “Flashdance,” Broome County Forum, 3:00 pm & 7:30 pm traditional part of St. Joseph’s Day altars and traditions. 6 National Frozen Food Day – Buy 3 frozen meals for $20. (See inside for exclusions) Today the Feast of San Giuseppe is celebrated throughout Italy. Foods are traditionally served containing bread crumbs to represent saw dust since St. Joseph First Friday Art Walk – Downtown Binghamton was a carpenter. Typically the feast day falls during Lent, so traditionally the dishes 11 moe, Broome County Forum, 8:00 pm are meatless. Zeppole (Italian pastry consisting of a deep fired topped with 17 St. Patrick’s Day powdered sugar and peprhaps filled with , jelly, or -style cream) is the 24 Sesame Street Live, “Make a New Friend,” Broome County Forum, 3 dessert usually served in honor of Saint Joseph. :00 pm & 6:30 pm 23-4/2 11th Edition of Binghamton Restaurant Week In honor of San Giuseppe, Little Venice will be serving Zeppole as our featured 29 Broadway in Binghamton Presents “My dessert on March 19. Come in for lunch or dinner and enjoy this traditional Italian Mother’s Italian, My Father’s Jewish & I’m pastry in honor of Saint Joseph. in Therapy,” Broome County Forum 3:00 pm April 1-2 Last two days of Binghamton Restaurant Thanks for dining with us! Week @slal101013 3 Good Friday; Passover Begins at Sunset First Friday Art Walk – Downtown Binghamton Anthony is enjoying his spaghetti and meatlogs in 5 Easter Sunday – Now accepting reservations the appropriate DiLascia tee. 17 &19 Tri-Cities Opera presents Faust, Broome County Forum, 8 pm & 3 pm Use our official hashtag #LittleVeniceNY to share 26 Broadway in Binghamton presents “Anything your photos with us. (Remember your profile must be Goes,” Broome County Forum, 3 pm & 7:30 pm public for us to see and share your pics.)