GREAT FOOD, GREAT WINE and Ivanka Trump   By Paige Donahoo

There is something exciting about being in a restaurant on a Monday night and having it packed feeling more like a Saturday night.  In this economy Rao’s restaurant has nothing to worry about; after all it has been in business for over 100 years.

      Try to get a reservation now and they will tell you nothing is available until 2010.

      What accounts for the staying power and allure of this East Harlem restaurant?  It isn’t the East Harlem location certainly.  Maybe Rao’s success is a combination of its miniscule size, its kitschy decorations (plastic poinsettias lining the fireplace and walls plastered with iconic and less known, movie, TV, politicians and sports personalities) combined with friendly service and honest Italian food.  Or maybe it is Americans love affair with Italian…

 … FOOD? I asked 10 people why they like Italian food. It’s delicious. It’s delicious. I remember seeing a picture of flappers in the 1920’s eating spaghetti in a Greenwich Village restaurant, the pasta dangling provocatively off their forks.  In the 20’s eating Italian was considered avant garde - that is if you were not Italian. Now Italian food is the staple food for a good portion of Americans. Who does not have macaroni in their cupboards?  If you are lucky you’ll also have a hefty wedge of the king of cheeses Parmigiano Reggiano and a bottle of balsamic vinegar. Italian food is deceptively simple in that it does not require the long and laborious reduction of multiple ingredient sauces like French food, but I don’t know anyone who does not love Italian food. And Rao’s has been a name synonymous with Italian food.

      Frank Pellegrino, co-owner with Ron Staci, has turned the popularity of Rao’s foods into 2 cookbooks and has founded Specialty Foods that makes their pasta sauces, oils, dressings and marinades available for home cooks. He is also an actor and singer.  He played an FBI agent on HBO’s “The Sopranos” and also had a part in Martin Scorcese’s “Goodfellas” and Woody Allen’s “Manhattan Murder Mystery.” He is always at the restaurant to greet customers and friends.  Frank has been at Rao’s since 1973.

      We are at Rao’s on a Monday night and the place is crowded and buzzing like a good party.  We are seated at a banquette with a small lamp that is made out of a jar of Rao’s pasta sauce overlooking us on our left is the wall of smiling photos. A large platter of cold lobster and calamari is placed in front of us, but momentarily eclipsed by the arrival of the young and beautiful Ivanka Trump and her entourage.  She was at the main round table behind us.  Both my “date” and I had sore necks the next morning from craning to get a glimpse of her and he swears he got a broad smile out of her, but he often exaggerates.

      The lobster and calamari were outstanding and we ordered a Rao’s wine to go with the appetizer. Now they have their own wine also available for sale in select wine stores.  It does not seem like a stretch that Rao’s would sell their pasta sauce, but wine? Even more oddly the source of the wine is not the Italian countryside, but Connecticut?  Certainly it was my first Connecticut wine. Hmm.  Before you laugh the Summer’s Ascot Reserve chardonnay is also on the wine list at Daniel and other prestigious restaurants.

      How does a wine from Connecticut become the house wine for Rao’s? A passion for wine has led to stranger things.

      Robert Summer and his wife Susan Kasen Summer got the wine bug while living in Tuscany.  Doesn’t everyone?  But the Summers had the guts, the money, and the moxie to start a vineyard, in… Connecticut.  The vineyard at Strawberry Ridge is responsible for Rao’s wines.  It is located on Lake Waramaug in Litchfield.  The first vines were planted in 1993 and their first successful commercial chardonnay was made in 1997.

      The Ascot Reserve chardonnay straddles the styles of California and French chardonnays.  It is crisp with tangy acidity and green apple and just ripe pear aromas and flavors.  Rebecca Belarge the sales and marketing director says people are shocked that Connecticut can produce such a wonderfully balanced chardonnay and she has only to let the taste of it convince skeptics. The Ascot Reserve chardonnay is a nice match for the calamari and lobster.

      Because the Summers have been long time patrons of Rao’s and because they were so successful producing a house wine for the Polpo restaurant in Greenwich, Rao’s wanted the Summers to make their house wine.  Rao’s wanted to make wines that suited their customers so the chardonnay spends more time in oak than the Ascot which makes it rounder and smoother with the classic pear and apple flavors blending with buttery vanilla aromas. The grapes are sourced from California which makes the wine a bit fruitier than the Ascot.  The Summers use only the best oak barrels which can cost upwards of $1000 and you can tell that the oak is seamlessly integrated.  The Rao’s chardonnay was fabulous paired with the lemon chicken one of the restaurants signature dishes.

      After the lemon chicken, meatballs were brought out, giant meatballs the size of a baseball, softball?

      At first the old Alka–Seltzer commercial came to mind. A newlywed was hiding in his bathroom trying to shush the noise of the Alka-Seltzer fizzing while his wife was outside the door saying something like “the recipe said to make 20 small dumplings but I decided to make one big one.” Although the size of the meatballs were initially cause for alarm they were light and airy, and soaked in red sauce that couldn’t have been better.  What wine might one pair with these behemoth meatballs?  The Rao’s merlot or cabernet sauvignon, which are also made at The Vineyard at Strawberry Ridge, goes perfectly. As the merlot and cabernet sauvignon are grapes that do not grow well in the cool Connecticut climate these grapes are sourced in Napa, California.  For perspective, Napa is the most well known wine growing region in the United States and although over 90% of US wines come from California only 4% come from the prestigious Napa Valley. The Rao’s merlot is a classic California merlot, all fruit of raspberry and blackberry with dark chocolate notes, and a smooth go down easy taste.  The cabernet sauvignon is a bit more complex with blackcurrant fruit and a bit of mint and spice aromas and flavors.

      So you don’t want to wait until 2010 to try the food and wines of Rao’s. Pick up a copy of Frank’s cookbook, pick up their wines and pretend you are dining at the legendary Rao’s Restaurant in East Harlem.  Now Rao’s also has a restaurant in Las Vegas at Caesar’s Palace, hop on a plane. The only thing you will be missing is Ivanka Trump.