Mama Mias in Saratoga Living

Buon
Story by
NATON LESLIE
Photography by
TERRI-LYNN PELLEGRI
A ppetito!
At Mama Mia’s, a
mother’s recipes are
the secret to success.
W
Italian lagers and Mama Giovanna’s eggplant parmigiana pizza at Mama Mia’s on Ballston Avenue.
ith dozens of great restaurants
located on or near Broadway
in Saratoga Springs, who
would think to discover one in the Price
Chopper plaza on Ballston Avenue?
Perhaps you’ve spotted the place, wedged
between a mattress store and Quarters,
a neighborhood bar; its simple electric
signs announcing “Pizza” and “Café”
in red letters are that visible from the
road. Perhaps you’ve seen the other sign,
“Mama Mia’s,” and thought it must be
one in a chain of pizza parlors, the likes
of which can be found in any shopping
plaza in the region.
As you approach the restaurant, the
first tip-off that this might not be one of
those all-too familiar pizzerias is the sixfoot-tall plaster statue of a chef standing
outside the front door holding a sign
that reads “Open.” Except for his size,
he’s nothing special either, as this portly
puffy-cheeked chef-figure has become
ubiquitous as a restaurant-decorating
motif. But then you spy “Giuseppe”
printed neatly on his hatband.
That’s the name of the owner, Giuseppe
Grisio, from Bari, Italy. And a picture of
his 78-year-old mother Giovanna, who
lives in Italy, is depicted on the restaurant
window. This is the real deal: Italian food
just like Mama used to make.
Inside, you leave the sterile, over-lighted
hustle of the busy plaza parking lot for
a spacious dining area, elegant but cozy,
with intimately partitioned dining areas
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Left: The menu offers something for everyone, which
makes Mama Mia’s popular
with small groups and large
families alike.
Below: Crostino pizza (at left)
and spaghetti with marinara
sauce (at right) are among the
best-sellers on the menu.
and jazz playing softly in the background.
Photographs of Umbria, Florence and
Rome dot the walls, and wall sconces
and pendulum lighting further mute and
soften the warm wood paneling. It is quiet,
yet there is the pleasant ambient noise of
dishes, silverware and low conversation,
wafting with the whole note aromas of
marinara sauce and pizza dough baking
in their brick ovens.
Mama Mia’s is much more than a
pizza parlor, though it has been ranked
twice in The Saratogian as offering
the best pie in the area. Instead, this is
a full-service family restaurant, with
every one of the dozens of entrees priced
under $20. Here you can get a plate of
spaghetti and meatballs for under $10, or
lobster ravioli with pan-seared scallops
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for $17—the most expensive item on
the menu. Other items are rarely seen on
traditional family-style Italian menus,
such as straciatella, an egg-drop soup
with fresh spinach and cheese tortellini;
or a cranberry, feta and pear salad on a
bed of arugula, endive and radicchio.
The extensive menu is accompanied
by an equally impressive wine list, with
36 vintages offered—31 of them by the
glass—from all over the wine-making
world, from New Zealand to California,
though a healthy selection of Italian wines
are included. “And we have good Italian
beer,” Giuseppe reminded me. Mama
Mia’s serves the Italian beers Peroni and
Moretti, both pale lagers, and Moretti
darker ales as well.
Great entrees and wine list aside,
Mama Mia’s is still homey. Quart jars of
their sauce are for sale, in four different
varieties, and you can get pizza, calzones
or a hero, whether you dine in or do take
out. There is genuinely something for
everyone, which makes it popular among
families; we saw several enter and take up
huge tables in the front, three generations
eating together.
Against our judgment, having eaten at
plenty of full-bodied Italian restaurants,
my wife Susan and I decided to venture
with both an appetizer and an entrée, a
combo usually requiring an appetite of
mythic proportions. We started with the
cold antipasto for two, which came out
heaped in a deep-dish, 12-inch platter.
The salami, prosciutto and ham were
excellent, but the standout ingredients
Luigi Dalisa is the pizzaiolo (that’s Italian for “the guy who makes the pizzas”) at Mama Mia’s.
were the chunks of fresh mozzarella,
roasted red peppers, marinated eggplant
and artichoke hearts.
After this ample repast, we both
expected to be defeated by the entrées we
had ordered, but it was not to be. While
presented in the same generous portions
as the antipasto, each was simply too
good, too delectable, to leave unfinished.
Susan had the chicken saltimbocca, two
chicken breast fillets layered with sage
and prosciutto and served over sautéed
spinach in a savory garlic sauce. The
ingredients complemented each other,
balancing the sage, an herb that often
overwhelms my palate.
My entrée was tortellini alla boscaiola,
tortellini in a white sauce with peas, thin
strips of prosciutto, and as the name
suggests, mushrooms. This dish was
the epitome of Italian comfort food,
with a rich cream sauces and dense, al
dente tortellini—a pasta that is always
more filling than it appears, and which
I suspect (without real proof) actually
expands after it is eaten. Both entrees
were standout examples of good, honest
home-style Italian served in full, eatyour-fill proportions—no trendy “small
plates” here!
Owner Giuseppe Grisio has been in the
United States for 12 years, coming here
from the Puglia region of Italy, on the
Adriatic coast. He personally oversees all
aspects of the business, from the kitchen
to the dining room, and began working
in the food business in his family’s
restaurant in Italy. From there he traveled
to New York, where he worked at Bicé,
which he described as “one of a chain of
good Italian restaurants” found in major
cities of the United States. He arrived in
Saratoga Springs five years ago to meet
the parents of his future wife Lauren
Grodsky, a Saratoga native, and fell in
love with the city. “It’s beautiful,” he
said, remembering how when he first saw
Broadway it reminded him of European
cities. “It felt like I was going back
home,” he said, resting his hand lightly
over his heart. He decided to remain in
Saratoga Springs and open a restaurant,
and so he began Mama Mia’s at the
former location of a Chinese eatery. “The
Chinese Palace,” he said, pointing out
where the centrally located buffet had
been. The space was transformed and
now comfortably seats 70 to 85 people.
Giuseppe and Lauren own and operate
the restaurant, and Lauren’s sister, Kristine
Grodsky, and brother-in-law, Scott
Grodsky, are co-owners. “Sometimes
even my wife’s parents stop by to help—
it’s a family business,” he said, beaming.
In 2004, when he opened Mama Mia’s,
other Italian restaurants “were going
upscale,” he said. “I went back. I went
the opposite way,” offering the food he
remembers eating at his mother’s table
in the 1950s. “Some restaurants forget
about the simple stuff,” he said, proud of
the fact that his restaurant is not as fancy
as some, and certainly more affordable
than most. “You don’t need to spend
$100 for dinner.”
Giuseppe insisted that we could not
leave until we tried two of his signature
desserts, both made in-house from
Mama Giovanna’s original recipes:
a ricotta cheesecake adorned with a
raspberry drizzle and a tiramisu—a
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Tuscan confection favored by European
royalty. Both came in sizes proportionate
to our meals, but they were so dreamy
they vanished in minutes. The ricotta
cheesecake was lighter, less dense and
sweet than an American cheesecake,
and had a lemony edge. The tiramisu
was perfect, the biggest hunk I’ve ever
seen, but so delicate it was like eating a
chocolate cloud.
Together with the friendly, attentive
service, Mama Mia’s proved to be a
delightful alternative to upscale fine
dining on the one hand, and the
traditional pizza-to-go on the other. If
you are looking for a delectable, readyto-please selection of food and drink
without breaking the bank, Mama Mia’s
is undoubtedly a place the entire family
would enjoy. SL
Mama Mia’s, 185 Ballston Avenue,
Saratoga Springs, (518) 583-7783,
www.mamamiaspizzaandcafe.com.
Owners Giuseppe and Lauren Grisio (in front) with chef Serafino Zaccone (in the black shirt) and
pizza-maker Luigi Dalisa (in the white jacket).
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Naton Leslie writes a food feature for
every issue of Saratoga Living.