Savor the great food at Villa Fiore

Villa Fiore, located in Malone, New York, looks small from the outside, but you’ll be surprised once you step inside. Not only does the restaurant seat over 180 people, soon it will be expanding to seat about 600!

Opened in 1997, Chef Mario and hosts Zuckie and Kenny designed the restaurant to resemble their home in Kosovo, Yugoslavia. When you walk in, it’s hard not to notice all the flowers which are included in the wallpaper, paintings, and placed on the window sills. "Villa Fiore" is Italian for “House of the Flower.”

Next to us, a window overlooks Main Street. Kenny Cecunjanin, our waiter and manager of the restaurant, greets us with a smile. Kenny came to the United States six years ago from Kosovo. He is the big brother of Zuckie and Mario. All three left Kosovo in search of freedom and to pursue their love of cooking. Liking the area, they decided they wanted to open their own restaurant in Malone. With 67 restaurants in the United States and 32 dance clubs attached to them, their 40-year business has sure been a success.

With Italian music playing in the background, warm Italian bread was brought to the table with a garlic and oil mixture for dipping. Kenny describes it to us as olive oil with garlic. “After we make it by hand, we keep it contained for six months . . . and after six months we start to use it.” Our bread was followed by spinach salads with fresh pepper on it.

I ordered the Ziti Parmigiana and my mother chose the Chicken á la Malone. Served hot and fresh, the Chicken a la Malone consisted of chicken dipped in egg, sauteed in butter, and simmered in lemon. It was topped off with garlic roasted peppers, mushrooms, artichoke, white wine sauce, and served with a side of spaghetti. Both dishes were amazingly delicious. Besides chicken and pasta, the menu also includes seafood and steaks. Seafood is their specialty, which is delivered fresh from Boston three times a week.

Villa Fiore is also the name of a winery in the Veneto Region of Italy, near Venice. Zuckie got permission to use Villa Fiore wine as their house wine, which happens to be the most popular. There is a wide variety of wines to choose from. For white, red, and blush wines it’s $3.50 for a glass, $8 for half a carafe, and $16 for a full carafe.Wines range from $12.95 (White Zinfandel) to $24.95 (Chianti Classico Riserva Banfi). Incase you don't know, a carafe is a bottle shaped like an hourglass with a flaring lip and holds about 30 ounces of wine.

For dessert, we chose a specialty dessert from Italy called Manhattan Tartufo. It was a four-layer extravagant of creamy chocolate and vanilla ice cream, coated with rich chocolate, cherries in the middle and topped with whipped cream. I can honestly say I’ve never had a better dessert.

What a great restaurant! And you definitely won’t be let down with Mario cooking your food. He won Chef of the Year for the North Country! Just one thing, beware of the pigeons that like to hang around the entrance of Villa Fiore.

Recipe for Shrimp Fiore:

5 shrimp

Few cloves of garlic

½ head of chopped broccoli

5-6 slices of chopped sun-dried tomatoes

10 spinach leaves

½ tablespoon of butter

Olive oil

Serve with white wine

Buon Appetito!

Have you had some delicious Italian food lately? Tell us about it!

Rating   Service:   Food:   Atmosphere:   Cleanliness:   $$$:   Butt Comfort:   Overall Rating:     Rating Key Well worth it! It beats eating Ramen. You'd be better off eating at McDonald's. Even the rats won't eat here.