I know..this restaurant has been reviewed before. We actually hadn’t intended to eat at Perugia last night. Here’s what happened…
I went to a CNY website where it listed restaurants and menus in Upstate New York. I clicked on Clinton, NY and OConnors Alexander Hamilton Inn popped up. I thought that restaurant had closed a few years ago, but out of curiosity, dialed the number. An elderly woman picked up with a simple “Hello?”. I asked “Is this Alexander Hamilton Inn?” She hesitated and said “Yes“. “Are you serving dinner tonight”? “Yes”. “Do I need a reservation?” She responded…”Oh I don’t know. Why don’t you call the front desk? Here is the number.…” I took down the number but didn’t call thinking that Ted and I would simply take a drive there and hope for the best.
As you can tell by this posts title, there was no longer an Alexander Hamilton Inn at the location we were familiar with. I don’t know where I called or maybe that little old lady was goofin’ on me, but we couldn’t find the old restaurant. We took the scenic route through Clinton, it was a nice evening, and ended up at Perugia’s for a very quiet, gourmet meal.
As we were shown to our romatic corner table, Mary Jo (the Manager/Owner) asked if we minded the flowers and if they were a bother, she would kindly remove them. There was a big, beautiful bouquet of flowers on the shelf that would be behind us as we sat down. It smelled wonderful and I said “flowers are never a bother”. We enjoyed the sweet aroma throughout dinner. You see, the restaurant had entertained a floral dinner the previous night with 25 adults and 16 or so youngsters. Quite the to-do. We were fortunate to enjoy the leftover arrangements.
As usual, we enjoyed the variety of warm breads. For just the two of us, we were given 5 different bread varieties. Of course I tasted every one of them. My favorite was an onion-herb roll.
The breads were followed by our appetizer of “Tuna Trio – Tartar, Sesame Encrusted, and Blackened”.
The appetizer was followed by a bright, vibrant salad of mixed greens with pinenuts, dried cranberries in a sherry vinaigrette.
This salad was so good, Ted insisted on showing you all just how good it was….
That Ted!
While waiting for dinner, we finished our first glass of wine for the evening…can you believe we didn’t have any before we left the house?! Amazing. So we were due a 2nd glass to share. Our first glass of wine was a wonderfully complex petite syrah ..shame on me, I didn’t catch the Vineyard name. For our second glass, we wanted a white but couldn’t decide. I asked Mary Jo for a Chardonnay..but oakey, not steel cask fermented. She said she had two that I could choose from, and we did a tasting…
I opted for the glass on the left as it was smoother but with less introduction. Ted said his choice would have been the other one. As for the names….double slap on the wrist because I don’t remember the names of the white wines. I’m batting a thousand, aren’t I?!
Dinner arrived and there was a lot of oohing and aahing coming from our table:
My dinner was a Pan Seared Atlantic Salmon with Tarragon, Chive Dijon Aioli. That is broccolini on the side. FANTASTIC! It was perfect for me. I believe Ted would have preferred his salmon done a little less, but he didn’t have this dish anyway. He had the special of the night which was a tenderloin saltimbucco.
As for a grand finale, the best we could do was a cup of smooth, fresh, hot coffee…
A very fine restaurant. Worth a try.
The Perugia Restaurant 8195 Seneca Turnpike Clinton, NY 13323 Phone: 315-732-2022
Executive Chef: Craig L. Post
Saturday Run…
This morning, Shane and I ran up Sherman Drive. Okay – I just lied. I WANTED to run up Sherman drive but Shane was “doggin’ it”.
As for the rest of this sunny, warm day in Upstate, we will be preparing a cake and oatmeal raisin cookies for that very special family, the Fenners. I hope to get out strawberry picking at some point this weekend. But that’s it for now. Have your self a wonderful day.
