Utica certainly has no shortage of Italian-American restaurants–from Ventura’s to It’s A Utica Thing–anyone searching for chicken riggies or a lasagna will quickly find their head spinning from the plethora of options. Among this abundance, Pellettieri Joe’s distinctly homey ambience and deep history make it a staple of the Utica community. Officially named Joe’s Restaurant but nearly ubiquitously called Pellettieri Joe’s, this restaurant has been serving the Utica community for over 100 years. Its place in the community is cemented, with die-hard fans and a packed house.
However, the entire restaurant, from the recipes to the decor to its building, are up for sale with an asking price of $650,000.
According to an article in the Rome Sentinel, the current owners are hoping that a younger, entrepreneurial buyer will come along and preserve the restaurant’s place in Utica. However, given that the restaurant was put up for sale in ten months ago in March, I spoke with a community member, who voiced his concerns that no one would step up to buy the restaurant which would result in its permanent closure.
The idea of change is almost antithetical to the restaurant, as everything about the place feels like it has not budged an inch in decades.
The menu, written on a whiteboard tucked in the corner of the dining room, does not embellish any details. It is about as straightforward and classically Italian-American as it gets. There are fewer than fifteen options, and most of them include either meatballs or sausage. The portions are huge, and the meatballs are the size of a tennis ball, nestled into a bed of spaghetti doused in red sauce.
For a dish that was sitting on practically every table, the sauce did not have much flavor and the pasta was overcooked. The meatballs were soft and salty, but they were lacking any fresh herbs or spices. The antipasto (or ‘antipast,’ as pronounced by the waitress with a strong Italian-American accent), was a plate of bland provolone cheese and salami that was probably the cheapest option at the grocery store.
One of the most popular dishes on the tables around me were the sweet or hot peppers, although the plates of floppy, dull green peppers did not look particularly inviting. The highlight of the meal was the stuffed hot cherry peppers. The mild spice and brininess from the peppers was offset by the rich meat filling, and it was all drenched in a thick, syrupy balsamic vinegar which was generously drizzled over.
Pellettieri Joe’s mainly functions as a bar that serves no food, except for the lunch hours on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Given the choice between the two days, I would recommend visiting on a Tuesday, as the daily specials of braciole and eggplant parmesan were enthusiastically praised. Most online reviews and recommendations point explicitly to these specials, suggesting that Tuesday’s menu is the favorite. The restaurant is cash only, so make sure to come prepared.
The true highlight of a visit to Pellettieri Joe’s is simply enjoying the ambience, taking in its warmth and coziness. The staff is incredibly friendly and welcoming from the second you step into the historic, vividly red building lined with green shingles. Every inch of the walls are covered in retro beer or wine advertisements, or signs resembling an early 20th-Century Italian restaurant, an era when you could enjoy a plate of spaghetti and meatballs for under $2. Make sure to glance up at the rafters, aesthetically lined with old beer and wine bottles.
From the service to the decorations to the customers, Pellettieri Joe’s instantly feels like a perfectly preserved Italian-American oasis, frozen in time.
A visit to Pellettieri Joe’s is not a culinary excursion. Rather, it is a moment to enter a space steeped in nostalgia. One can only hope that the restaurant is kept running, so that the loyal guests ordering the classic hot peppers and ‘antipast’ can pass down this tradition through generations. The posting for the restaurant now shows the building as off the market, and yet there is no indication what is going to happen to the place, either online or in person. The loss of this space would certainly be felt by every person who has stepped through the red doors and experienced the distinct ambience and environment of Pellettieri Joe’s.
