Hunka Hunka Wood-Fired Love
By B.A. Nilsson
February 2-8, 2006 Issue
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Bruno’s
237 Union Ave., Saratoga Springs, 583-3333. Serving Sun-Wed 5-9, Thu-Sat 5-10 (and later daily as warranted). AE, D, MC, V.
Cuisine: pizza and pub fare
Entrée price range: $8 (small pizza) to $21 (steak au poivre)
Ambiance: Saratogian
Gone are the ’50s geegaws: the record album covers, the linoleum-topped tables, the jukebox, the pages from Life and Look. Bruno’s has been streamlined. When it opened, in 1986, it charmed us with its good food and nonstop memorabilia.
But cute puppies soon grow up and lose that hobbledehoy charm. “It needed a makeover,” says new owner Davis Mead. “It just wasn’t me. I couldn’t do Howdy Doody and Buffalo Bob.” Mead is a co-owner of Siro’s, the fine-dining restaurant across Union Avenue that he’s been part of for a third of its 75 years. More to the point, he’s a thoroughgoing Thoroughbred racing fan, and he considers Saratoga to be the epicenter of that attraction. “We have the National Racing Museum down the street, the Oklahoma Track out the back door, and across the street is the best track in the country, if NYRA gets its act together.”
Instead of Elvis memorabilia crowding the walls, you’ll see racing-related photos and prints. Replacing the sprawling former menu is a short, brisk list of appetizers, pizzas, sandwiches and a few choice entrées. As before, the pizza bakes in a wood-fired oven, and everything is made from scratch. “We start each morning with a 50-pound bag of flour,” says Mead.
He adds: “We pared down the menu and added a few things. We’ll be changing the menu again soon. And if there’s something you used to have at Bruno’s that you don’t see on the menu now, just ask us. If we have the ingredients, we’ll make it.” He notes that he was so advised, not too long ago, “by a boy who must have been 7 or 8. He thought we should be serving macaroni and cheese. So we made it for him.”
My prevailing image of Bruno’s, that long, green building with the neon signs across Union Avenue from the flat track, is that of a crowded, noisy place where you’re forced to fight for attention. In its new incarnation, the floor seems less jammed and we had an excellent rapport with the servers—and Mead himself is also on the floor, making sure all is running smoothly.
What first hits your table is a basket of freshly baked rolls and a dish of seasoned oil and vinegar. With a couple of soups, five appetizers, eight entrées and, of course, a bunch of pizza combinations to choose among, you won’t agonize long.
Pizza, of course, is the longtime draw, and its longtime spirit has been preserved even if the naming conventions have changed. If you’re looking for pie with the usual, the toppings are listed, with a few less-common items like smoked gouda, caramelized onions, feta, grilled eggplant and even pineapple.
But the eight specialty pizzas (tagged now with race-related monikers) offer tempting combos. Sea Biscuit, for instance, sports goat cheese and bacon along with roasted garlic and fresh tomatoes; John Henry is a melange of zucchini, snow peas, spinach, broccoli, mushrooms and more. We tried the Four Star Dave because my daughter is nuts about barbecued chicken pizza; this one adds cilantro, smoked gouda, Bermuda onion, and fresh tomato slices, on a crust that is crisp but still chewy. $14 gets you a large specialty pizza, $10 a small.
Tucked under the pizza listing are a couple of calzones; the East Ave. ($10), which we sampled, was a sprawling assembly of chicken slices sautéed in garlic-thyme butter, with ham and a mix of ricotta and mozzarella cheeses.
Heading the apps list is antipasto ($13), a meal-in-itself compote of choice cold cuts (sopressata, prosciutto, sliced ham, aged provolone, among others) on a big bed of greens. Roasted red pepper, marinated eggplant, kalamata olives and artichoke hearts are other ingredients.
The $8 spinach-and-artichoke dip is creamy and rich, served in a hot gratin dish; a little spicy, perhaps, but that’s a flavor that fades up against the tostada chips served alongside.
The entrée list runs an impressive gamut, from a $12 plate of spaghetti and meatballs to a $21 steak au poivre. Most of the items are Italian-inspired: eggplant parmigiana ($14), chicken piccatta ($16) and homemade lasagna ($14) among them. In the specialty-sandwiches department, a meatball hoagie ($9) proved its worth both in terms of the quality of the meat and sauce and in the size of the damned thing, which provided a lunch the following day.
Although right now Bruno’s is a dinner-only operation, Mead is looking at offering breakfast once the Oklahoma Track opens in May. Meanwhile, now that the revamped Bruno’s has been open for over a month, he’ll celebrate Sunday’s Super Bowl with a party. “We’ll be open from 2 PM until the game ends,” he says. “It’ll be our Grand Reopening-Super Bowl-Elvis has left the building party. Pizza and wings will be on us.”