Toward the downtown end of Watertown's Arsenal Street, a mile or two from "restaurant row," there's a family-owned Italian place that's been around for a long time.
Pete's is located just off Arsenal on Breen Avenue across from the Travelodge motel. If you've been to Pete's in the past, you'll find that it has a new look. The outside is wrapped in dark red siding. The bar area (a separate room in the front) is bright and clean and very popular, judging from the weeknight after-work crowd.
The dining room hasn't changed much and neither has the menu. It's full of neighborhood Italian favorites like baked ziti, lasagna, stuffed rigatoni, chicken cacciatore, eggplant Parmesan and fettuccini Alfredo. All-American favorites, too, like shrimp scampi, haddock, scallops, veal and steak.
A closer look revealed some more adventurous signature dishes: chicken Tetrazzini (roasted peppers, mushrooms, cream sauce), pollo Rosa Maria (mozzarella, ham, broccoli), veal Melanzane (veal and eggplant Parm) and veal Costanzo (broccoli, shrimp, béarnaise).
We began with appetizers that were a little out of the ordinary, and all had the restaurant's own stamp on them.
The portobello mushroom ($7) got us off to a good start. A sliced portobello (which nicely facilitated sharing) and roasted red peppers were sautéed in olive oil and garlic and topped with Gorgonzola (a milder, creamier version of blue cheese) — a portion generous enough for two.
Johnny wings ($6.95) had a personality all their own, too. A dozen wings, somehow greaseless although they were deep-fried, were coated with grated Parmesan cheese and black pepper, and served with blue cheese dressing and lots of celery.
Here's another one unique to Pete's: homemade gnocchi (Italian dumplings), served scampi-style with shrimp ($7.95). The gnocchi were little cylinders about the size of bay scallops, lots of them, with a nice chewiness, and just enough scampi sauce to provide flavor. The two shrimp on top were nicely cooked and lightly seasoned.
By the way, gnocchi is pronounced NYOH-kee. Jennie, our waitress, corrected our incorrect pronunciation, in a nice way. She was young and confident, friendly and brisk. We especially appreciated the brisk part as it related to our beer and wine orders.
Have you ever had Stracciatella? It's Italian egg drop soup ($3.50), made with chicken stock, chicken, finely ground semolina and egg. It was full of flavor, perhaps just a little salty, but made us want to research recipes and try to make it at home.
A big loaf of warm, dense bread arrived on a cutting board. Had it arrived a few minutes earlier, we would have used it to sop up the portobello sauce.
Salads were next, simple and effective with crisp, chilled iceberg lettuce, a little red cabbage and shredded carrot, thin slices of white onion, black olives and wedges of tomato.
I don't know what it is about Italian dressing in an Italian restaurant, but the dressing at Pete's was perfect. Blue cheese (which actually might have been Gorgonzola) added 65 cents to the complimentary salad.
We occasionally lost some of our silverware when it traveled back to the kitchen on our dirty plates. Luckily there was an unoccupied table right next to us that ended up short a few pieces by the end of the night.
Veal Costanzo ($16.95) consisted of tender, lightly breaded veal smothered with béarnaise sauce (a little pasty), lots of perfectly steamed broccoli and two tasty, seasoned shrimp. A side of spaghetti with garlicky marinara accompanied.
Veal Costanzo can also be prepared with chicken, as can veal Melanzane. We decided to try the Melanzane with chicken ($14.95), a large plate full of chicken and eggplant Parmesan (more chickeny than eggplanty) layered together with provolone and covered with red sauce.
You know how you see something on a menu and get your heart set on it, only to find out it's not available? It happened to us when we ordered the "wide" homemade macaroni ($10.95) with braciole (add $7.75). Braciole is thinly pounded beef wrapped around a filling of cheese, breadcrumbs and ground meat. They were all out.
We subbed sausage ($2.75) that we were told was Gianelli, which would have been fine had it not been overcooked and pretty dried out. The disappointment of unavailable braciole and the overcooked sausage made for a disappointing pasta dish, homemade or not.
Chicken cacciatore ($11.95) made up for it, however.
This is a simple, classic Italian dish made with slow-cooked (almost shredded) breast meat, simmered in tomato sauce with onions, green pepper and mushrooms. Green pepper gives it a very distinctive flavor, and the kitchen used just the right amount. We'll be back again to get a take-out container or two of this.
Desserts are all homemade, priced at $5 each. Disappointment struck again when we heard they were out of chocolate chip cheesecake, but there were plenty of other choices to keep us happy.
We enjoyed lemon meringue and coconut cream. Good fillings, good crust.
And if you like chocolate, you'll love the fudge-like flourless chocolate cake.
Dinner for four came to $118 before tip but with tax. A couple of beers and house Chardonnays added $16.50 to the tab.
Portions were plentiful. We ended up with enough Styrofoam to-go containers to require a bag.
One criticism, and not just about Pete's. Why can't servers match the food orders with the orderers? More often than not, they just indiscriminately plop the food down on the table, leaving the customers to figure out who ordered what.
There's a system to doing it right, and it's not that hard. But it's sure impressive when it happens.
Waterown is fortunate to have several neighborhood Italian restaurants. Pete's ranks right up there with the others. Be sure to give them a try the next time you're looking for good, home-cooked Italian food prepared with care and family pride
TIDBITS
The Shoreline in Hannawa Falls has been sold and renamed The Shorelounge.
They're serving brunch on Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Hours will be expanded pending the arrival of their liquor license.
You can contact Walter E. Siebel via e-mail: wsiebel@wdt.net.
Pete's Restaurant
111 Breen Ave.
Watertown
782-6640
Good, home-cooked Italian dishes prepared with care and family pride.
HOURS: Monday through Saturday 4:30 to 10 p.m.
Sunday 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.
APPETIZER PICKS: All good and all different: portobello with roasted red pepper and Gorgonzola, gnocchi scampi with shrimp, Parmesan wings, Stracciatella soup.
ENTRÉE PICKS: Chicken cacciatore, veal Costanzo, chicken Melanzane.
RATING: 3 and one-half forks
