Our delectable menu items and friendly service has warmed the palates and hearts of many patrons over the years.
Here's what some have had to say about . Il Sogno Ristorante...
Excellent, Fresh Italian in Casual, Friendly Environment with Terrific Service, Great Wines
Jimmy's new location in Port Chester is a home-run! Just went with my wife for our first try and were very impressed. Food is creative yet simple focusing on fresh & delicious... This is high-quality NYC Italian... elegant dishes in a casual setting. The bread sets the tone (wam and fresh), appetizers are flavorful and interesting (not too heavy), pastas are made to order - quality... Have you ever said "I wish there was a reliable, high-quality Italian restaurant in Westchester like we had in NYC"...? Well this is one. The meal was terrific, dining room spacious, comfortable and attractive... Go there... Jimmy is a most gracious host. This place will be a Westchester staple, soon. Check it out.
"So many of Westchester’s newcomers seem clustered along its eastern edge, like Francesca’s Bistro and Three-Five-Three, both in Bedford Village, and in Mamaroneck Tollgate Steakhouse, revived under dynamic new ownership. Then there is Il Sogno, a Rafael Palomino co-ownership venture, in Port Chester. Another Port Chester newcomer is The Tarry Lodge, whose guiding light is celebrity super-chef Mario Batali. Port Chester has long been on the verge of being the next restaurant town to break through. With promising arrivals like Chef Batali's place and the centrally located Il Sogno, 2009 should finally be Port Chester's year."
Il Sogno makes dreams come true
Creative Italian/Mediterranean cuisine in an elegant setting
By Jananne Abel
It wasn’t long after the closing of Pacifico in early October that another restaurant took its place on Port Chester’s Boston Post Road. Il Sogno, serving up creative Italian/Mediterranean cuisine, opened on Nov. 24 at #316, near Route 1’s intersection with South Regent Street, after only a month of renovations.Jimmy Resulbegu of Manhattan, who hails from Montenegro (the former Republic of Yugoslavia), partnered with Raphael Palomino of Bedford on this new venture. Palomino previously owned Pacifico and still has restaurants by that name serving primarily seafood with a Latin flair in New Haven, Conn. and Lehigh Valley, Pa. He also co-owns Sonora in Port Chester, serving Nuevo Latino cuisine, and Palomino’s in Old Greenwich, specializing in American food. The two restaurateurs met when the former Sonora was on 39th Street in New York City. Il Sogno, too, was on 39th between 2nd and 3rd avenues in the East Gate Tower Hotel for 4 ½ years.“We lost the lease over there,” said Resulbegu. The hotel was bought by Marriott Marquis which wanted to expand the lobby and do away with the restaurant. That’s when he got together with Palomino who thought it would be a good idea for Il Sogno to move to Port Chester. Il Sogno means “The Dream.” “I always had a dream since I became a bus boy in this country to have a restaurant,” said Resulbegu, who came to the United States in 1989 and got much of his training at San Pietro Restaurant on 54th Street between Madison and 5th avenues where he worked for eight years.
At least 1,000 dishes per year
The co-owner and head chef, a dynamic fellow who is always on the premises and circulates among his customers, said the restaurant serves 1,000 to 1,200 different dishes per year, with the menu changing four times a year and many specials every day—usually three appetizers, one soup, two pastas, one fish, one chicken and one veal dish as well as a risotto.“We have a lot of seafood dishes,” said Resulbegu, many of which are not on the menu. He mentioned sardines, octopus, langoustines (which he called “the best shellfish on earth”), cuddle fish and whole Italian sea bass (branzino) baked under a sea salt crust.Truffle dishes such as risotto with cream of white truffles in a parmesan cheese crust (delicious!) and fettuccini with cream of white truffles are other specialties as is Carpaccio— very thin sliced and sometimes raw and marinated beef, salmon and tuna. An example is vitello tonnato—filet of veal roasted and thin-sliced Carpaccio style served cold as an appetizer with a tuna, mayonnaise and caper sauce ($12).
Chicken Martini is a signature dish not on the menu—breast of chicken lightly pounded and dipped in parmesan cheese and then dipped in a lemon and white wine sauce.
Dry-aged sirloin flavored with the restaurant’s own seasoning ($35) is another entrée special. Soups include asparagus with a mushroom purée and potato base, pasta fagioli and eggplant purée. A tomato salad combines cucumbers, celery, red onions and tomatoes in a simply delightful lemon and oil house dressing topped with Italian buffalo mozzarella. The misto di golfo appetizer ($12) allows you to try a sampling of seafood: one baked clam, one clam casino, one shrimp oreganata, one grilled scallop and two mussels stuffed with bread crumbs, garlic and parsley. Farfalle al salmona grappa is a special consisting of bow tie pasta topped with a light pink sauce, fresh smoked salmon and asparagus tips. Another is parpardella (flat pasta) with mixed mushrooms, port wine and a shaving of Italian ricotta. Resulbegu is the head chef, developing the menu and specials. “Once in a while I cook,” he said, “but I like to be in the dining room.” The chef, who actually does the cooking, is Raul Gomez. He worked with Resulbegu at San Pietro.
Jimmy’s wife Luana does the paperwork for the business and can also be seen greeting customers on occasion.
Why will Il Sogno succeed?
Why will Il Sogno succeed in Port Chester when Pacifico couldn’t, especially in these trying economic times?“The food and service and my personality because I am all the time here,” said Resulbegu. “It’s different when I tell the specials than the waiters. I know the kitchen.”Santiago Tapia of Port Chester, who was a manager and bartender at Pacifico and has stayed on as a waiter at Il Sogno, said this new restaurant is very exciting with tasty dishes like the Carpaccio and branzino. “It is a show the way he filets it,” said Tapia of Resulbegu. “He is a showman.”“I’m very confident in my food here in the restaurant,” said Resulbegu. “That’s why I decided to open. It’s something different. Veal piccata, anybody can do that.”
Simply elegant decor
The décor at Il Sogno, nothing like that at Pacifico, is simply elegant in beige and brown. The dream theme starts on the brown and beige awning and signs on the front of the building as well as on the pole sign next to it where you see the logo of a woman sleeping. It carries through to the building entrance where that face is etched in the glass on the front door and appears on panels at the side of the structure. The restaurant seats 85-90 downstairs in the main dining room, another 35 in a room up a few steps behind the bar and another 45 in a room upstairs. The latter two can be used for overflow from the main dining room or for private parties. The only thing that hasn’t changed is the stone accents in three corners of the main dining room. Walls are beige with white trim around the many windows shaded by dark brown verticals. White cloths cover the tables set with wooden chairs with cross-hatched backs and fabric seats in a beige and brown leaf pattern. Floors are knotty pine. Just this week the wall art has begun to arrive—tapestries and oil paintings depicting Italian scenes. A big red poinsettia sits on a table bearing homemade cookies for the holiday season which will later be replaced by a large flower arrangement.
At night the lighting is low from recessed lights in the dark brown ceiling and small candles on each table. Soothing music plays in the background. A long mahogany bar is situated to your left after entering and has stools that match the chairs in the dining room.
Dinner for two
Meals begin with extra crusty Terranova bread served warm with ever-changing dipping sauces and spreads. On a recent Sunday night there was a tangy tomato-based vegetable spread with reduced balsamic vinegar and olive oil and pan-fried zucchini marinated in olive oil, garlic and red wine vinegar. All were excellent including the bread. For appetizer, the Carpaccio di Salmone ($11), marinated thin sliced Norwegian salmon served with frisée, pears and gorgonzola, proved an interesting combination of flavors and textures. The Insalata di Gamberetti, Funghi e Peperoni—mixed greens with six good-sized shrimp, shitake mushrooms and roasted peppers in extra virgin olive oil and lemon— was not only extra fresh and tasty but a great value for $9. As it turns out, we selected one of the house signature dishes for entrée: the Orata Aqua Pazza ($24), Mediterranean sea brim steamed with white wine, artichokes, cherry tomatoes, black and green olives, tiny pieces of potato, garlic, thyme and red wine vinegar. The fish literally melted in your mouth and the entire package produced a pleasant combination of flavors.
The Pollo Diavolo ($19) didn’t compare to the fish although it was indeed flavorful and out of the ordinary. For this dish a roasted Cornish hen was marinated with olive oil, peppercorns and crushed red pepper, pan-seared till medium rare and then covered with Dijon mustard and bread crumbs, put in the oven and finally cut in sections. It was served with sprigs of rosemary for decoration and broccoli rabe which I hadn’t previously tried but found surprisingly good, not bitter as I had expected.
Dishes were beautifully presented.
A glass each of house chardonnay, a South African 2007 Ayama, and house Pinot Grigio, a 2007 Campagnola from Venice (each $8), went nicely with our meals. Each was smooth, the chardonnay having more robust flavor from my point of view.
For dessert, the crème brulée ($8) was light, creamy and had a subtle orange flavor. It was decorated with powdered sugar, a strawberry and a mint sprig. We ordered a cappuccino ($4) and an espresso ($3.50) to accompany our dessert. Complimentary farfalini, fried dough cookies sprinkled with powdered sugar, came with our coffee. On another visit, besides the farfalini, rotondi cookies made with oatmeal, dolce de leche and corn flakes were also being served with coffee. All the desserts are made on the premises and cost $8. Besides crème brulée, they include tiramisu, poached pear, chocolate mousse cake, ricotta cheesecake and sometimes cannoli and cold zabaglione (egg yolk and marsala wine mixed with whipped cream). Ice cream and sorbet are also available as well as a selection of three or four seasonal cheeses. Our check totaled $101.47.
Service by our waiter was attentive with Resulbegu checking in periodically to make sure everything was okay.
Wine list and menu
When we visited, the wine list was in the process of being developed, but Resulbegu said it would be 90% Italian, 5% Californian and 5% from the rest of the world, with the prices ranging from $32 to $900 and many unique vintages. The menu itself is interesting, but so are the specials. Plus Resulbegu made it clear that if they have the ingredients, the chef can make anything your heart desires. There are cold and hot antipasti ranging in price from $8-11 and including thin sliced air dried beef topped with arugula and a shaving of parmesan cheese in olive oil and lemon dressing ($11), marinated and grilled baby squid ($11) or sautéed mixed mushrooms with garlic, finished with a touch of truffle oil ($9). The soup on the menu is now chicken and vegetable ($8), there are two other salads besides the shrimp I selected: romaine with pear and gorgonzola cheese ($8) and Tri Colore con Parmigiano ($7). Eight pastas ($14-18) range from spaghetti with cherry tomatoes and fresh mozzarella ($14) to Fuzzi Casalinga ($15), homemade penne with veal, chicken ragu and a touch of tomato, to Ravioli Adriatico ($18), ravioli stuffed with shrimp and scallops sautéed with clams, mussels and cherry tomatoes. Entrées include fish, chicken and meat dishes such as Salmone alla Mostarda (salmon steak sautéed with white wine, Dijon mustard, sun-dried tomatoes and capers at $22), Pollo Lombardia (chicken breast sautéed with white wine and lemon topped with asparagus at $19), Scaloppine Torineze (veal scaloppini dipped in crushed bread sticks, pan fried and topped with arugula, fresh tomato and red onions at $22) and Bistecca alla Rugula(grilled and sliced shell steak served with arugula salad ($28). The lunch menu offers the same selections with smaller portions and lower prices. Specials remain the same for lunch and dinner unless they run out. For lunch, entrées cost $17-18 and a meal with appetizer,main course and dessert runs $25-30.
Hours, parking
Il Sogno is open seven days a week for lunch and dinner. Lunch runs from 12-3 p.m., dinner from 5-10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 5-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. On-site parking is available.
