“‘Resurrected eyesore
in Henrietta,’ yeah, say that,” Mike Infantino tells me. Infantino’s Market
Restaurant now occupies the former Friendly’s on East Henrietta Road, which
stood empty for a couple of years. It did surprisingly well on Mushroom
Boulevard for nine years before the move — “A dead-end street!” Infantino
interjects, “And we had waiting lines! But the new spot is better.”
Mike Infantino describes himself as
a guy from the ‘hood, but explains, “God changed me unbelievable. I’m a legit
guy in the restaurant business.” Still, his family has been in the business for
years. His parents, Mike and Bonnie, opened the Pillar Steak House and ran the
Fan Party House. And his grandfather, Tom, ran the Platt Street Diner.
Infantino’s plays like one part
Antoinetta’s mixed with one part Coal Tower, with the slogan, “Italian-American
Comfort Food.” Homemade tripe and gnocchi live side by side with burgers,
soups, salads, and standard diner breakfast offerings.
Infantino’s well-known greens and
beans are delicious. Butter, garlic, lemon, and more butter sit proudly, not
bitterly, and the escarole is wilted, not overcooked. A huge portion is $5.99
(add $1.50 for sausage). This seriously overshadowed a middling potato soup.
But the soups are homemade, and sausage and lentil was much better.
Lemon chicken, a baked,
half-chicken, will appeal to the skin-and-bone lovers. The wing, thigh, and
drumstick were delicious, and the crisp-tangy skin helped out the somewhat dry
breast. For $7.99 with fair mashed potatoes and a good salad, it was a solid
value.
Linguine Alfredo was a highlight.
The pasta was al dente, the sauce
rich but not cloying, and large pieces of lightly-cooked mushrooms were a great
touch. I wasn’t as fond of the lasagna ($7.49), which featured hamburger rather
than sausage. When asked, Infantino said, “Yeah, that’d probably be better.”
Mitzi Sliker makes all the desserts
in-house. The bread pudding was good, but suffers from the benchmark problem:
it isn’t the Fishers Station bread pudding. Lemon crème pie was decent, as was
the carrot cake, though it could have been more moist.
Infantino’s excelled on my second
visit, when I brought my family for lunch. The factors that make a restaurant
good for families will get a separate article soon, but Infantino’s had much of
it covered. First, our waitress was an ace; sweet and attentive, she handled
special requests like they were nothing (“We need some napkins and an extra
straw.” “Sorry, but can we have just two more packages of crackers?”)
The food was largely to my kids’
liking. Breakfast is available all day on weekends, and Iris, my five-year-old,
took advantage by getting two excellent, fluffy pancakes ($2.49). Fruit cups
come with several of the “little folks” meals. My oldest was picky about the
chicken fingers, but that was just her; they were as good as that silly food
gets.
My wife, Anne, tried a portabello
mushroom sandwich ($5.99), which, in her words, “needed some zip.” She put some
honey-mustard dressing on and was happy. Echoing burgerologist Stan Merrell,
Anne pronounced the fries “coated” with some disdain. Coated or not, they were
crisp and plentiful.
Infantino’s Garbage Platter was
delectable ($6.29). It comes with beans rather than mac salad, so I went with
two Zweigle’s white hots. Mike Infantino claims his grandfather’s hot sauce
recipe is 100 years old. Perhaps. It is a great hot sauce, though, meaty, aromatic, and very hot. He cooks his
homefries crisp, which makes for a great bed, and with a ton of pepper,
accentuating the hot sauce.
Infantino’s is an Italian restaurant
in the sense that Mark’s is a Greek restaurant: it’s a diner with
Italian-American food on the menu. So, there’s eggplant parm ($7.29), linguine
with marinara sauce ($5.29), and pasta fagioli ($6.59). I didn’t find the sauce
distinctive, but it’s hard to tell people what they’ll like in a tomato sauce.
Loyal fans love it, so make up your own mind.
Mike Infantino is proud of the
“enjoyable, non-alcoholic atmosphere” he’s created. (“Write that,” he says
again.) He complains about the belligerent volume of many of the big,
family-oriented chains, and he’s on the money there. His wife, Colleen, “controls
the dining room,” he says, and it’s a tight ship.
“I hate that word, ‘tradition,'”
Infantino says. “Jesus don’t like that word either.” Still, you see the good
side of tradition at Infantino’s: family recipes for greens and beans or hot
sauce, and decades of experience in food service. But there is a power in
continually creating what you are and will be anew, and I think that’s what
Mike Infantino means. He’s proud of where he is right now and how, as he says,
“God twisted me.” And why not?
Infantino’s Market Restaurant, 2133
East Henrietta Road, 359-0990. Hours: Sunday, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Monday &
Tuesday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Wednesday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Food tip
Shiki, a new Japanese
restaurant, opened two weeks ago in the old Golden Port location, 1054 South
Clinton (Golden Port is now at 105 East Avenue). Shiki serves sushi and a wide
range of appetizers, noodles, teriyaki, and tempura for lunch Monday through
Friday, and dinner Monday through Saturday. 271-2090.
— Michael Warren
Thomas
Michael Warren Thomas
can be heard weekends on WYSL 1040 AM. Tune in on Saturdays for gardening,
restaurants, and Finger Lakes travel from 9 a.m. to noon. Visit
www.SavorLife.com to see photos of Shiki and its menu.
This article appears in Mar 3-9, 2004.
