Ernesto's: Incredible Old School Italian Food

I’ve been in NY visiting family for a few days and I’m trying to hit some of the highlights of NY food that just aren’t available in NY. One of these things is Italian food. Don’t get me wrong, Portland has good Italian food, but it doesn’t have good Italian American food, particularly of the type served in small neighborhood restaurants that exist throughout the NY metro area. My parents have been customers of Ernesto’s in White Plains for many years. It’s close by, and has great food and service.

Ernesto’s is old school. The room is very nice; the waiters wear suits and bow ties; the bread comes with butter and not olive oil; there’s Dean Martin and Tony Bennett playing quietly in the background; the waiters and Ernesto himself know the patrons. The menu is a little more upscale than most Italian American places, but it’s still an old school menu. They gave us a plate of focaccia with tomato sauce, which I assume is the same dough and tomato sauce they use for their pizzas next door in the pizzeria (there’s a pizzeria and the dinning room). We started with an order of Mussels, which were steamed with tomato sauce and garlic. Nothing fancy, but the mussels were perfect, the sauce was rich with a nice roasted garlic undertone. A single appetizer easily fed three of us. It was simplicity itself, but it was perfectly done. For dinner, two of us had the pollo tasca, which is chicken breast pounded thin and then rolled up with a slice of prosciutto, a layer of mozzarella cheese, and spinach. It’s sautéed and served in a mushroom, stock and (I believe) Marsala reduction and had a side of green beans with olive oil and garlic. It was amazing, and considerably more food than any one person should eat. My father has the sea bass special which came in a light, slightly sweet tomato sauce with mussels and clams on the side. The fish was perfectly cooked and incredibly fresh. The whole dish was light and balanced but also served in an enormous portion. We washed it all down with the house Trebbiano and Montepulciano. Both are work horse wines that went perfectly with the food. The meal was fabulous, and reminded me of other great Italian meals I’ve had in NY, but sadly, never in Portland. In Portland, all of the Italian food is New School, which, although it may be closer to “real” Italian food, can’t compare to the homey goodness of places like Ernesto’s. Plus, there was no snob factor. The service was great. The Maitre d’, Ernesto himself, and the floor manager all came by at different times to say hello and make sure we were happy. I told Ernesto how good the food was and how we couldn’t get food like this in Portland. He bought us a round of wine as well. Food snobs can keep talking about their “authentic” and “real” Italian food serve elsewhere for much more money. I’ll take a meal at Ernesto’s or any of the other great neighborhood Italian American places in NY anytime. And they’ll make me feel like family every time. When was the last time you had a meal like that in Portland?