Restaurant overcomes damaging fire

PLATTSBURGH — A damaging fire has been turned into a new opportunity at Giovanni’s Trattoria.

The downtown Plattsburgh restaurant at 15 Bridge St. was closed for more than two months due to a baseboard-heater fire on Saturday, April 22. The incident resulted in fire damage near the front window and more extensive smoke damage throughout the restaurant.

However, the damage has now been repaired, and no trace of the fire’s effects remains. And the restaurant is now re-opened.

„We re-opened on Saturday, July 1,“ said Executive Chef Laura Reiter. „And business has been incredible. Our opening night was a great success.“

In part, that’s because Reiter turned the crisis into an opportunity, making changes designed to increase the restaurant’s customer base. She designed a second menu, called an osteria menu — or bar menu. Giovanni’s will continue to offer its regular menu, which features authentic Italian dishes. At the same time, the bar menu will feature Italian-American dishes at lower prices.

„When I developed the osteria menu, I thought about what I would want to see on a lighter-fare menu,“ Reiter explained. „And I thought about a price range that would be suitable for anyone’s budget.“

The result is a menu that offers soups, salads and sandwiches as well as such well-known Italian-American dishes as chicken parmesan, spaghetti and meatballs and pasta primavera. Prices for a cup of soup or a house salad start at $2.50 and bar-menu entree prices run from $9 to $12.

The hours of the restaurant have also changed: Giovanni’s will no longer be open for lunch. Reiter and her colleagues want to concentrate their attention on dinner.

But some things have not changed. „I re-hired a lot of the old staff who had been here before,“ Reiter said. „Customers will see familiar faces and still get the same quality of service they have come to expect from Giovanni’s. I believe in surrounding myself with intelligent, talented people to run the front of the house while I run the kitchen.“

Reiter appreciates her staff — and she has thanks to offer to the City of Plattsburgh.

„We love the beautiful clock the city put out front. It definitely helps enhance the ambience, not only of our restaurant, but of the entire downtown.“

All in all, Reiter believes that Giovanni’s Trattoria has come back from the fire stronger than ever.

„I’m considering this a great opportunity. It was a chance to make changes to the menu and build a new clientele while still maintaining our old clientele.

„It’s like opening a brand-new restaurant,“ she concluded.

Source: pressrepublican.com