Italian Restaurant

Dear Lynne: An Italian restaurant in New York had these vegetables waiting on a side table, not refrigerated. They were served before the meal and with bread to soak up their juices. Our kids treat vegetables like poison, but these they liked. Tastes were like halfway between pickled and marinated, especially the carrots (which I never think of as an Italian vegetable) and the zucchini. Was this a New York specialty, or was it authentic Italian? Do you have recipes? -- Thanks, Lucy from Winona, Minn.

Name of business: Sharpsburg Pizzeria and Italian Restaurant Owner: Alberto Calderon Address: 208 S. Church St., Sharpsburg Opening date: April 18 Products and services: Dine-in restaurant with pizza, lasagna, stromboli, manicotti, subs, spaghetti, fettuccine, linguini, shrimp, calzones and Sicilian pizza. How did you get into your business, or what motivated you to start it? "Started working in restaurant in New York City. I love to cook, and was ambitious to have own store.

by RICHARD T. MEAGHER / staff photographer enlargement Restaurant owner teaches about faith, freedom CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - When Aram Hessami fled his native Iran as a teenager to avoid religious persecution, he did not know what the future held for him. Certainly, he never expected to own an Italian restaurant in Charles Town. "My family back in Iran is particularly proud of me. I don't know why. I'm selling spaghetti and meatballs," said Hessami, 38, laughing.

julieg@herald-mail.com More casual dining restaurants and a 100-room hotel are on the way to the Hagerstown area, with announcements expected this summer concerning specific businesses, the president of Bowman Development Corp. said Tuesday. With Martin's Food Market deciding to build a bigger store on Wesel Boulevard instead of on Railway Lane, Bowman Development is moving forward with its previous plan for a hotel and casual dining park along Railway Lane, David Taylor said.

Twilight's Ristorante has new owner, chef, menu By JULIE E. GREENE / Staff Writer Twilight's Ristorante got a new chef and a new menu this week. David Jones, who was co-owner of the Steakout Restaurant, took over Twilight's on Tuesday from owner Mike Pishvaian. Jones, 44, of Smithsburg, has a five-year lease on the restaurant, bar and deli, with two five-year options, Pishvaian said. The restaurant has 15 employees. The restaurant's name will be changed to the New Twilight's By Chef David.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - While the view out the windows at La Trattoria Italian Eatery is unmistakably Martinsburg, inside the sights, the smells and, especially, the tastes are pure Italy. Located along busy Edwin Miller Boulevard, the atmosphere inside the pleasantly decorated restaurant is calm and restful. My two dining companions and I each ordered entrees, and each was prepared masterfully and quickly on a busy Friday evening. My all-time favorite Italian meal is spaghetti with meatballs - I tend to order that nearly every time I go to an Italian restaurant.

julieg@herald-mail.com WASHINGTON COUNTY - Three restaurants new to Washington County are to open in the spring in Valley Center at Railway, a casual dining and hotel park being developed by Bowman Development Corp., the company president said Tuesday. David Taylor said The Bowman Group is acquiring a franchise license to open and operate a hotel with a nationally recognized name. The hotel, with 85 to 100 suites, would be designed for people who want to stay three or more days, Taylor said.

The former Corsi's Pizza Parlour on Maryland Avenue could reopen as a restaurant if a proposed zoning overlay passes city muster. The Hagerstown Planning Commission on Sept. 15 discussed applying a local conversion overlay district to the property at 991 Maryland Ave. (also 202 W. Wilson Blvd.) to allow it to again operate with mixed uses. The overlay would not affect the zoning of other properties in the neighborhood. Local conversion districts allow adaptive reuse of existing nonresidential and mixed-use structures in residential districts, according to city documents.

SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - The Savory Sam clan has a soft spot for Italian-Mediterranean food with its emphasis on fresh ingredients and regional specialties. So we put The Press Room, a new restaurant in Shepherdstown high on our list of places to visit. When the clan visited recently, we were hugely pleased. The Press Room's kitchen doesn't produce standardized Italian-American food. The food reminded us of what we ate on our recent visit to Italy. First impressions say a lot, and at a glance, we liked the main dining room of The Press Room.

By SAVORY SAM SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. -- The Savory Sam clan has a soft spot for Italian-Mediterranean food with its emphasis on fresh ingredients and regional specialties. So we put The Press Room, a new restaurant in Shepherdstown high on our list of places to visit. When the clan visited recently, we were hugely pleased. The Press Room's kitchen doesn't produce standardized Italian-American food. The food reminded us of what we ate on our recent visit to Italy. First impressions say a lot, and at a glance, we liked the main dining room of The Press Room.

The former Corsi's Pizza Parlour on Maryland Avenue could reopen as a restaurant if a proposed zoning overlay passes city muster. The Hagerstown Planning Commission on Sept. 15 discussed applying a local conversion overlay district to the property at 991 Maryland Ave. (also 202 W. Wilson Blvd.) to allow it to again operate with mixed uses. The overlay would not affect the zoning of other properties in the neighborhood. Local conversion districts allow adaptive reuse of existing nonresidential and mixed-use structures in residential districts, according to city documents.

Carmine's Italian Restaurant offers the taste, smell and feel of Italy --all at its location at Village Place Shopping Center on Jefferson Boulevard in Smithsburg. Our friend, Lora, who had lived abroad, joined us for an evening of good Italian food. She met us under the big sign that read "Carmine's" at 4:30 exactly --we were there for the early bird special on Friday night. The entrance of the restaurant was a large space designed for take-out orders. The wall was decorated with children's colorings of a cartoon version of owner Carmine Shiano Moriello, with his handlebar mustache, long face and big round eyes.

Dear Lynne: An Italian restaurant in New York had these vegetables waiting on a side table, not refrigerated. They were served before the meal and with bread to soak up their juices. Our kids treat vegetables like poison, but these they liked. Tastes were like halfway between pickled and marinated, especially the carrots (which I never think of as an Italian vegetable) and the zucchini. Was this a New York specialty, or was it authentic Italian? Do you have recipes? -- Thanks, Lucy from Winona, Minn.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - When I heard about the opening of yet another restaurant specializing in Italian food, I admit a chip appeared on my shoulder. I like Italian food as much as the next reviewer, but a) there are already plenty of Italian restaurants in the greater Hagerstown area, and b) most of the Italian dishes in this area are Americanized versions of the dishes I ate in Italy. So I went to Martinsburg with a bit of an attitude to check out the new Corleone Ristorante.

SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - The Savory Sam clan has a soft spot for Italian-Mediterranean food with its emphasis on fresh ingredients and regional specialties. So we put The Press Room, a new restaurant in Shepherdstown high on our list of places to visit. When the clan visited recently, we were hugely pleased. The Press Room's kitchen doesn't produce standardized Italian-American food. The food reminded us of what we ate on our recent visit to Italy. First impressions say a lot, and at a glance, we liked the main dining room of The Press Room.

By SAVORY SAM SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. -- The Savory Sam clan has a soft spot for Italian-Mediterranean food with its emphasis on fresh ingredients and regional specialties. So we put The Press Room, a new restaurant in Shepherdstown high on our list of places to visit. When the clan visited recently, we were hugely pleased. The Press Room's kitchen doesn't produce standardized Italian-American food. The food reminded us of what we ate on our recent visit to Italy. First impressions say a lot, and at a glance, we liked the main dining room of The Press Room.

It was happenstance that Rocco's Italian Restaurant, then named Rocco's Tavern, opened July 4, 1936. The owners had planned to open a few days later, but changed their minds and opened on Independence Day when a crowd, fresh from watching a fireworks display at the fairgrounds, showed up looking for that American pleasure - cold beer. Since then, Rocco's has expanded from operating in a two-room basement that specialized in serving spaghetti to a full-scale restaurant with seating for 135, a balcony, a water fountain and a mural painted by Hagerstown artist Clyde Roberts that depicts Rome's famous Fountain of Trevi.

Name of business: Sharpsburg Pizzeria and Italian Restaurant Owner: Alberto Calderon Address: 208 S. Church St., Sharpsburg Opening date: April 18 Products and services: Dine-in restaurant with pizza, lasagna, stromboli, manicotti, subs, spaghetti, fettuccine, linguini, shrimp, calzones and Sicilian pizza. How did you get into your business, or what motivated you to start it? "Started working in restaurant in New York City. I love to cook, and was ambitious to have own store.

julieg@herald-mail.com WASHINGTON COUNTY - Three restaurants new to Washington County are to open in the spring in Valley Center at Railway, a casual dining and hotel park being developed by Bowman Development Corp., the company president said Tuesday. David Taylor said The Bowman Group is acquiring a franchise license to open and operate a hotel with a nationally recognized name. The hotel, with 85 to 100 suites, would be designed for people who want to stay three or more days, Taylor said.

julieg@herald-mail.com More casual dining restaurants and a 100-room hotel are on the way to the Hagerstown area, with announcements expected this summer concerning specific businesses, the president of Bowman Development Corp. said Tuesday. With Martin's Food Market deciding to build a bigger store on Wesel Boulevard instead of on Railway Lane, Bowman Development is moving forward with its previous plan for a hotel and casual dining park along Railway Lane, David Taylor said.