BRIDGEWATER – From the streets of Southern Pennsylvania, where Sunday was the day everyone made gravy, and the smell of simmering tomatoes, garlic and pork permeated his grandmother’s Italian neighborhood, to the old Gatesdale Dairy Bar on Route 20, in Bridgewater, in the heart of central New York, Dominick Bersani’s life passion is simmering on low and ready to be savored. Literally. It’s a dream he did not know he harbored until recently, after spending his life experiencing food, not just eating it. From his grandma’s “real” Italian kitchen, where they called sauce “gravy,” to sharing recipes with his dad, who slices his garlic razor-thin before simmering it in the best olive oil you can find, to his seven years as a chef at the Horned Dorsett Inn, Bersani’s whole life has led him to this moment. “The first time I opened the door I had a vision,” he said, beaming. “And it was through a lot of prayer and asking God for help that I’m here.” Up until a year ago, the Gatesdale was a landmark dairy bar where people travelling Route 20 between Albany and Buffalo would stop for an ice cream or something to eat. Bersani said over the years it opened and closed, remaining a dairy bar, until he saw it in May. “It didn’t even look like it had ever been painted. None of this was here,” he said, waving his arm at the fireplace, carpeting, tables with tablecloths and linen napkins tucked decoratively into the spotless glass wine glasses. “The area needs a place like this,” he said, noting it fills a niche somewhere between casual food places and the more formal, and more expensive, finer restaurants in Utica. “This area needed something in the middle. This was never a full scale restaurant, it was always a dairy bar, but it had this potential all that time.” Although he will be bringing something new to the area, his effort is steeped in honoring history, particularly the history of the Gatesdale, and its original owner. “I think we must have shared similar passions,” he said. “He was in a wheelchair and had a vision and created the dairy bar. He had to have passion to do this. His family had a farm near here and they used the milk to make their ice cream.” Local meats and vegetables will be used by Bersani as much as possible he said. “If I need a zucchini for a dish I’ll get it from a local farmer,” he said. Some of the dishes he and his brother, John, who he calls “my right hand man,” plan to cook and serve include “the classic French Onion Soup along with the Soup du Jour, which can be anything from wild mushroom bisque to seafood gumbo.” Other dishes he will be serving include shrimp and mussels, Delmonico steak, greens and brushetta and chilled antipasti. In honor of his grandmother, Bersani said he is keeping the traditional wording of “gravy” on the menu, as in the description “Rigatoni: A signature dish, rigatoni pasta served with meatball and sausage topped in a rich gravy.” His eyes light up as he draws a finger over the menu for Dominick’s Italian Bistro, which is set to open this week. “I named this one, Chicken Angelina, after my daughter,” he said with a “proud papa” look on his face. “Penne Pasta, breast of chicken, grilled seasonal vegetables, white wine, basil and cream sauce.” Family has played an important part of this dream, with Bersani recalling childhood days where he would walk down the street to the local butcher on Sunday morning to buy the ingredients his grandmother needed to cook her “gravy.” “Every Sunday morning, we would get up early and go down to the butcher and get her pork. It’s unbelievable what goes into a gravy,” he said. The hardest part of realizing his dream so far has been the process of acquiring his wine and beer license. But perseverance paid off, and he will be offering a full line of wine and beer on opening day. It is the wine that will enable him to honor not only the original owner, but the history of the place as well, he said, by slightly altering the landmark milk jug sign out front that so many used as a landmark to find the dairy bar throughout their travels. With the help of Brian and Kim Hackley, who are doing the sign renovations and helping Bersani prepare for opening day, “We made the cup a wine glass, and we’re turning the jug into a wine bottle, in honor of Gates,” he said.
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