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Ate: October 27, 2006 Published: October 29, 2006 $$$ When we selected Pacino's down south in Garden City, I have to admit that we were going to be especially tough customers. It had been soggy, gray and rainy, and all day, everybody's mood had seemed to match the weather. We needed a good dinner to boost our spirits. Their ad in the Sun-News called Pacino's an Italian restaurant with a Lebanese flair. It made for an intriguing combination, so we decided to check them out. We walked into a homey place where they apparently hadn't gotten the gloomy memo because the hostess greeted us with a warm smile. The waitress was just as friendly, and by the time our iced tea arrived, we were already getting into a better mood. The Lebanese flair is found mainly in their appetizers, many of which had exotic-sounding names. We ordered one called sambousak, small savory meat pies seasoned with onions and pine nuts. They had a flaky crust and a good crunch from the pine nuts. Served with a hummus paste, they didn't last long on our table. We could have easily eaten another six of them. But if we had, we wouldn't have had room for our main courses. Both of us had ordered from the evening's specials. My sweet bride got their asparagus-stuffed veal marsala. Rich and hearty, it was well prepared, well presented and she enjoyed it. Her only nit-pick was that the marsala sauce was a bit sweet, but only a bit. The couple of bites I tried matched her assessment. A tad sweet, but a perfect stick-to-your-ribs meal for a cold, wet Fall evening. When the waitress described the specials, the chicken trattoria had stuck in my mind, so that's what I ordered. The chicken breast was stuffed with what I'm pretty sure was a combination of escarole, onions, sun-dried tomatoes and garlic. The whole thing was then topped with a creamy white sauce and mushroom slices. It was all a good mix of textures and flavors that made for a very nice dinner. When we left Pacino's, it was still raining and it was still cold, but everything didn't seem to be as gloomy as it had been before dinner. As promised at the beginning of this review, we were tough customers. We had a few nit-picks, not everything was perfect. But Pacino's had done two very important things this evening. They had fed us a really good meal and they made us feel better. What more could anyone want from a dinner? |
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