Eat Local – S3 E8 – ANCORA! Utica, New York

In an intimate and elegant atmosphere. With a welcoming wholesome personality behind the restaurant. Ancora! On Genesee st in Utica, New York is your number one spot in the city for casual fine dining. Seafood, pasta dishes and utica classics combined with cocktails made from some of the best bartenders and chefs around. Dan Loconti started of as a dish washer opening day and grinded to the point he was able to purchase and now own the restaurant we all know and love.
Ancora is the definition of eating local.

https://www.ancorautica.com/
261 Genesee St, Utica, NY 13501
(315) 724-4815

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Filmed & Edited By: Marcus Fuller with FullerFramez.
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A Grown Locally Production.
From The Minds Of: Gio Gump & DeeRok Jeter.

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this episode is brought to you
by you already know what it
is free rock
mpm no American
Dream real
life the you need a table
I hope you’re hungry we sering a culture
s hey yo what’s good all you soft on a
WAFF it’s your
boy I don’t think I need to say anything
else about I feel like I’m dripping as
hard as I’ve ever you already know what
it is as always my man full of friend
behind the camera I got my man benj the
producer hope yall
Hing this is eat local everyone eats
we’re at inora and you’re watching eat
local we got uh three specialty
cocktails here we got the tropical
passion Martini made with rum uh we got
an old fashioned here and we got
Blueberry Mojito Summer favorite love an
old love them love old fashion old
Fashions have come back as of late you
know it always does old fashioned does
come back right so Dan I want you to
talk a little bit about the restaurant
um when did it open all right so the
restaurant opened in uh February of 2005
um you’re looking at the opening day
dishwasher there we go crazy so I’ve
been I’ve been with this uh with this
restaurant since then so you took it
over so I I worked here for 9 years um
in between there I was in college for a
couple years and then uh I purchased it
in 2014 so that’s awesome so he he
worked here worked here putting the dues
washing the dishes to being able to to
purchase the spot and be doing what you
love and see now so uh how does that
feel to see that come full circle cuz we
love a full circle moment here it’s it’s
it’s a cool it’s a cool story to tell um
the the restaurant luckily was very
established like the the guys that I
worked for had a great reputation put
out great food um so I basically just
had to step in and not screwed up was my
job and I think you did a good job of
not screwing it upal kid too yeah local
local kid uan New York KB the wi guy you
guys know him um they grew up together
so um it’s really cool there we go so
it’s really it’s really cool to see that
come to fluish as well respectively
doing our thing and Dan over here doing
his thing over here so uh what’s the
full location here what’s that what’s
the full location here or address to
this location address 261 gen street
right next to the Stan okay so you heard
it here what would you like to um tell
people who never came here that uh how
to describe it to them how to describe
how to describe this place to them
casual fine dining casual fine dining we
don’t want people to think you got to
show up here in a suit I mean it’s not a
gym shorts type place but it’s you know
it’s casual casual and the foods the
foods are consistent
topnotch um just a good spot absolutely
spot what’s one dish on the men we’re
not going to price the UDA it’s you know
it’s a reasonably priced highend
restaurant beautiful restaurant I mean
art the decor beautiful Christmas tree
up over
here take down there you go like
everybody else right um what’s one dish
off the menu that you would recommend
anybody to try uh coming in for the
first time
I’m going to show you guys a couple of
the dishes that that we’re going to talk
about excited about so I’m very proud of
our chicken riggies I know it’s just a
ticus staple and everybody’s got their
own version but I think ours are you
know that’s top of the top City it is
that’s a big statement but outside of
that if if you’re somebody that’s had
that food so often that you’re just
tired of it um Seafood P we’re going to
taste that today nice um that’s that’s
our signature dish and something you
can’t get around the city anywhere as
far as I know we love to hear something
like that and uh the most important
question and last but not least what
does eat local mean to you when you hear
it eat local what does eat local mean to
me that’s a great question I
mean I don’t have a full answer for that
I don’t know you know you on the great
answer I mean I’m not one of those
people that believes like oh you got to
eat at the small mom and pop shs
everybody’s got to make money so like
I’m not against chains and everything
like that but um you know there’s a lot
of lot of family traditions in the
restaurants that are around here you
know recipes stuff like that so you know
restaurant industry is a tight-knit you
know family it really
is I think that’s what it means to me
yeah that’s a great answer Dan thank you
very much for your time we can’t wait to
try the food and we can’t wait to have
some cocktails AR andini and everybody’s
favorite the brushetta okay and then
over here ingredients a favorite on our
uh on our show here that’s a fan
favorite the Bretta you you
guys oh they’re all we’re all going to
eat so you guys do you guys do the r the
smear here too it’s a goat cheese spread
okay you got the goat cheese spread here
mix goat cheese with cream cheese okay
that’s a little bit different so um we
like doing that because it uh it makes a
base so that the tomatoes don’t make it
sogg you know if the christinis if it
just goes straight on the christinis you
can make them soggy and you want that
crunch it also holds everything together
pretty well
Falls over then explain us
AO rice UHS
and Italian the sauce looks ridiculous
like some like home style Grandma
already know already know what yeah so
he’s bringing to the table this guy got
plates here you guys digging this is
like a can’t wait I got to definitely
grab one of those right off the rift
yeah we’ll go we’ll go this right off
you can tell this is a fresh why do
people have different different ways of
making it you know it’s it’s uh it’s one
of those dishes that you just
likey you can sit there and twist it and
twist it and twist it B the crostini is
very crunchy
already mhm can be a little messy to eat
but you know packing a lot of flavor
that’s the fun of it y it’s exactly how
I thought some like Tyson left
hook Fresh Veggies though veggie very
fresh you can tell yeah the balsamic yep
homemade balsamic in house yep figures
so you reduce that down yourself in
house yep figures that’s an extra step
that people don’t do sometimes they’ll
just have the uh bottled glaze that
they’ll throw on there they’re reducing
that down theirselves here you can taste
and tomatoes too oh the tomatoes are
Super Fresh very fresh get them in every
day just about that’s that’s a great way
to do it there the produce this bread is
kicking you get that locally um no
that’s actually ordered from one of our
prors okay yeah either way that’s one
that’s one of uh the best appetizers we
ever had really really good see mine is
gone done we brought we brought plenty
of Keith yeah those are uh those are R
yo bro yeah you guys have a chance to
sip on the cocktails we haven’t yet no
no we haven’t take a sip of one right
now though this was the uh blueberry say
that again Blueberry Blueberry Mojito
yep blueberry Mo big summer cocktail got
some real one of our one of our Staples
on the list got some Min Le in there
smells it smells really good too fresh
fresh mint in there lime fresh blueberry
you me before we yo don’t disrespect I’m
sorry brother that he’s right I’ll take
another step though cuz that’s very very
good o it’s like a smoky Mo Smokey old
fash refreshing it’s like uh the mint
taste love the peel that fresh mintt you
go James Bond with is the peel that’s
what I like about the lime in there I
like that though Blueberry
Mojito pass it over man try that try
pass it to the left and this one was the
old fashioned that’s old fashioned
tastes a little smoky that tastes pretty
SMY
lemon orange orange orange nice CIT
citrus peel on the side and fresh fruit
on the side of any glass is always great
to
see on point this is what I was I knew
you were going to like that this is like
like this is like an ice cream sunde you
got the cherries in there then put a put
a scoop of vanilla ice cream you know
something like that they got to change
the name to this to a problem cuz that’s
what this would be a problem both of
them though they’re great like sipper
drinks like you could sip those all like
through dinner let me get one of those
blueberry
mojito I like it yeah this is this is
really my style I like that um I like
that fashion a lot
100% that looks amazing this is going to
be a sweeter cocktail this is uh it’s
like I’m on a beach somewhere man
exactly exactly tropical passion shaking
shout out to the BART yeah bartend nice
job on the bar pretty impressive his
name uh Dylan Dylan shout out Dylan at
the bar he definitely T him well when
you come here okay he knew what he was
doing with that
one that definitely wasn’t his first
time fresh and it’s strong too that’s
fresh and strong yeah strong lime I’ll
take a boo all boo
100% feel like Game of Thrones yeah no
you just went both hands like a chalice
I’m really aome drinking out of a
chalice Lannister like the Giant
version I like it I like it it’s it
tastes like summer summer okay T like
summer I like that it’s a summer drink
for sure I can see I can see KB I can
see KB shoess on a beach drinking that
that that tastes really good that tastes
really good the oldfashioned you got the
oldfashioned Mojito and that’s just uh
what was that one tropical passion Mar
tropical passion shaking out St got
crack one that’s where we’re going next
brother next CLE plates that’s okay
let’s not let’s not dirty it too much
okay save the dishwash yeah absolutely
we know how it goes so do you that’s
right indeed I
do Vibe little crunchy right
here so what do you these are what so
you said deep it’s rice in there right
yep got
you deep fried tell that crisp on that
is is beautiful oh yeah that’s nice
that’s homade her and cheeese yeah look
at that a close up on that that’s how it
should look you know that’s uh yeah I
don’t even have to taste
it we’re not skiing on now you can tell
that thing you can tell you’re not
skipping out on much yet and how it
stays together but you can still get a
portion don’t don’t listen don’t do me
like that please this sauce has been I
smelled the sauce right when it came out
it do it definitely got to go in the dip
I’ve been excited to try of sauce just
by the look of it as
well wow that’s
amazing that’s a perfect bite the crispy
layer on the outside a little bit of
everything in each bite yeah the cheese
is is very well portioned yeah it’s like
seasoned too it’s got like it’s like you
that blend whatever that blend is let me
tell you that sauce that sauce right
there that that I just did fry just for
a couple minutes couple minutes in a
fryer that sauce right there something
something uh they work hard on I can
tell you that right now I know I would
drink that sauce you can tell it’s
homemade like really like this is off
the boat Italian like come on man the
plating too the plating too here is
absolutely
beautiful big for us 100% I mean it
should be should be anywhere and you
guys can tell that you guys pay extra
close um attention to detail here 100%
that’s that’s that’s next level though
this here I can eat 10 of those I might
just if I the filling if next time I
come here I’m getting just a couple
orders of these and I’ll be okay yeah
those are salad man good start is a good
start up a good warm up to your entree
I’m excited to see what’s what’s in
store fried fried perfect I think is
fried perfect really fried perfectly
Mick Fun Size digging it
that Anora
original an Anora original this right
here is um it’s our Seafood paa he says
casual
dining you can come in casual but
there’s nothing casual about this dish
right
here
scallions Fresh Veggies peas got teso
sausage in there gives it a nice kick
yeah it looks amazing and then muscles
muscles I’m just going to say that the
muscles this is uh this is a pleasure
just to look at I’m actually uh sad that
we have to uh dive into this not going
to lie to anybody here um
this
is this is a beautiful beautiful way to
display your food we’re going to go
we’re going to go fresh plate for this
one okay we’re go fresh plate for this
one I got tomatoes
and so you got and
just okay classic chicken Ries what’s
your spice level explain to them what
your SP l so we we offer them in you
know mild medium hot extra hot um our
mild has absolutely no cherry peppers in
it y hold off on that for a second we we
did a nice
we did a nice medium hot for you guys I
don’t want to hurt you but wanted you to
get some some spice in there so we got a
medium hot on the Ries yep and then I
got to dig into this hold on this is
always this has always got some spice to
it cuz it’s got fresh cherry peppers in
it look crazy it’s got cherry peppers in
it it’s got the cheeso so this does have
a little yeah no you can you can smell
everything you can see you can I don’t
even I’m very sad we like a
jum lot of people describe it it does
remind me of a
jumalia I’m taking a little bit of
everything here yeah jumbalaya for
sure Keith a little scoopage do like a
little similar serving there you got a
rice a little bit of rice there getting
one of those nice bites I want
everything I want the sausage I want the
peas let’s try that out this looks good
oh wow the freshness the smell of
everything just doesn’t seem like it’s
been out of a can or jar or anything
like that you can tell that this has
been worked on with their hands Fresh
Veggies that’s a wonderful bite of
everything it’s like a like a rice pea
type thing right the jumbalaya reallys
out the rice is cooked down with a with
a homemade uh Seafood stock that’s where
a lot of the flavor com yeah cuz it’s
got that cream oh I like that kick at
the end too that’s a very nice kick I
like spicy that’s a nice kick at the end
there yeah the jumal ey I can see the
rice the weight the the texture of
everything y but those flavors with the
seafood no it’s a perfect mix lot of
flavor it’s a perfect mix this is
something that uh definitely fill you up
definitely fill you up that we do so we
do offer this this is the single size um
our double size muscles quite the thing
to see yeah you I don’t think you need a
double size of this if you come in here
and need a double size of this double
size meant to share meant to share yeah
you definitely need a family of six
three people can go at the uh the large
one
wow talk to him a little bit man cuz
listen I mean I’m tasting flavor I’m
tasting spice I’m tasting Fresh Veggies
yeah I’m tasting fresh seafood I mean
it’s it’s almost Flawless dish I’m not
going to lie to you it’s very
flavorful yeah A1 man this is like a I
don’t know Chef’s work hard no no they
do I’ll credit to the chefs and I can
tell you care about the ingredients
you know what I mean you’re not just
throwing stuff into a bowl and like this
almost like a Louisiana potluck dinner M
you know what I mean call that’s what I
would that’s what I would call it you
know what I mean get out of you to much
I wish I knew well just just to go along
with the jumbalaya with the SE and
everything right you can feed a lot of
people with this for sure yeah
definitely definitely it’s got like a uh
like a rice chili fill cuz us right here
we’re not going to finish this all of us
this is amazing though we’re going to
put a dent into it that’s for sure
presentation is amazing too the little
lobster t yeah the spices are
beautiful it’s next level man right here
on J Street this dis listen if you come
here so far out of everything we had has
been amazing but this right here you
have to try on chorus and original how
you say and for a reason Seafood p
seafood P it’s a Spanish
dish
um yeah they knew they were doing the
shrimp dude the shrimp has that nice
spice to it
too it’s good stuff yeah the menu the
menu set up specific so that you got the
pickiest cedar in the world there’s
something for them and if somebody wants
to try something they they’ve never had
that’s they got that as well that’s
great want to have a wide array of
different dishes on the menu got the
little garnish well the garnish the
garnish is beautiful look at the garnish
in there got to have the garnish noodles
El Dente I was waiting for it I knew it
was coming always red and green bell
peppers it looks like yeah nice hot bite
too heavy cream sauce yep
I lovey this is that’s that’s my style
too this that’s what I like to see heavy
and the further you get away from UDA
I’ve said it a lot but um you’re going
to see it get more water down more soupy
there’s so many variations people do a
lot of people like it with red sauce we
just our recip I think this is the best
way to do it with the heavy cream and
the red red and green bell you got
mushrooms in here no mushrooms they can
be added we we do it pretty simple
pretty basic with the veggies it’s just
uh cherry peppers uh bell peppers and
onions and that’s you want add mushrooms
there we’ve talked about that sometimes
uh you got the mushroom in the chicken
Ry sometimes you don’t I don’t like a
mushroom in my chicken Ry not just me
though and you see here you can come get
them without them as well or with them
customers always real another thing I
like to see those big chicken chunks
man that’s how you do it I mean I like
keep it from getting dried out very good
man the sauce is amazing the pepper
juices are all very dominant and I like
that definitely got a kick to it it’s
definitely it’s definitely spicy but I
like them spicy like noodles are cooked
absolutely perfect guys said you weren’t
afraid of spice so I told him to make it
close to a hot yeah no but it’s not
unbearable it’s not you can eat a bowl
full of these and still be not sweating
no this is good the peppers are a
perfect size and consistency that you’re
looking for in a bowl of chicken
reggies listen one thing I noticed man
these veggies these veggies fresh are
fresh every day I mean for the pepper to
keep the crunch even cooking it that’s
next level bro listen I’m not going to
lie to you these might be the best
chicken Ries I’ve had on the show my
man 100% live reaction RAW reviews and
100% authentic I won’t lie to you these
may be the best chicken rig we had on
the show 100% I appreciate that
gentlemen thank you for having us
appreciate you man I appreciate what you
guys are doing you know it’s it’s it’s
pretty cool that you guys are putting a
spotlight on you know local food we have
is not known for much and this is this
is one of the things
and I think we do a damn good job here
in UA with the food I mean this is
something that was was bred and uh
brought to you by uans right here
chicken riggies and I’ll tell you what
amazing thank you amazing don’t get any
better than this he brought his he
brought his recipe to us and we we
tweaked it a little bit but for the most
part yeah explain to them who you’re
talking about so we didn’t have uh
chicken Ries on the menu originally um
and one of our chefs got to give him a
shout out uh Eric Grizz Gomez um brought
his recipe to us we tweaked it a tiny
bit but for the most part this is what
he brought so got to give him some love
on that definitely shout out Grizz man
yeah amazing amazing that’s wow I’ll say
it again best Ries we’ve had on the show
that’s a huge statement and I’ll stand
behind it if you want to go outside here
on J Street I’ll go down over those I’ll
go down over did this is something we’re
very proud of who yeah don’t take any of
that
yet D you got to talk to us a little bit
about
this damn o good catch so this dish
named by one of our customers shout out
to Jen um it’s called the 50 Shades of
crepe um at the time we had three
different Crepes on the menu one had
peanut butter one had Nutella one had
our
bananas we mixed them all together she
invented it one night and it’s stuck so
this is the 50 Shades of crepe you have
a chocolate crepe um fresh berries
always um inside you got those three
things I just talked about you got
Nutella you got peanut butter and you
got our Bananas Foster mix so let me
just once again say that these guys pay
attention to detail for one and uh I
don’t know what I’m going to do myself
with myself after this one I don’t know
how I’m getting home but uh this looks
absolutely uh phenomenal Crepes here put
us on the map you think so as far as
dessert goes yeah okay yeah it’s another
thing you can’t really get you know in a
ton of places around here um that [ __ ]
looks Next Level good stuff I’m actually
speechless the presentation is like
beautiful bro I had to get back there
and make one for you by the hands of the
guy I didn’t think about it I was like
we can’t let him leave without how would
you even attack that I’m attacking start
at one end and you guys meet in the
middle like uh lady in the [ __ ] excuse
me excuse me my bad my bad let’s 3D this
[ __ ] get the tables KB you got
to get some fruit too right get the
tables KB a little fruit little fruit
little cream end you got to get towards
the middle got to get little there you
go there you go okay okay all right good
hold up a minute good good good and I
got to get a fuit some fruit a little
bit of that look look look look let me
get let me get a bite of
that that was a baby
bite it’s warm it’s nice
bro the bananas do get sauteed before
they they go in and you the crepe The
Crepe comes right off the crepe machine
the banana is turned to a a hot banana
and mixes in with the Nutella yeah very
rich wow y very rich a lot going on
there not too much peanut butter it’s
almost a perfect little uh it’s a
perfect bite everything that we’ve had
here has been a perfect bite of flavor
not too much of this not too much of
that that’s how you do
it presentation though wow
word one word to describe this go
amazing say it’s amazing
bro that thing was amazing listen Dan
thank you very much absolutely this has
been it was a pleasure having you guys
here a festar meal you got the raw
authentic reaction here um everything
that we had here was
uh Poli tell them where we’re at though
we on Gene Street Gene Street he gave us
the full address in the ear part a lot
of great restaurants on this strip right
here you do you do you know you do got a
lot of good spots and if you’ve been
down there and you been up there and you
stopped and grabbed some pizza from here
to there maybe mellow Subs that’s right
put put this put this on your rotation
next if you haven’t been here in a while
if you’ve never been here this is your
next stop come say what’s up to Dan say
what’s up to the staff and grab some
food eat local all right so listen cold
Frid night we warmed up on some chicken
riggy and cor listen it was is
absolutely phenomenal right by the
Stanley genes Street kitty corner from
nostro come get yourself one of the best
meals that you can have one of the best
great experience great uh great dining
experience PL amazing beautifully plated
uh uh don’t be soft list support local
shop local eat local let them know
Season 3 bro listen season 3 tap in an
eat local serving culture dck 48 days
check my resume I don’t think that you
should St with me I come with juice you
don’t really want the sauce with me
[ __ ] I’m dripping came from the
basement to the kitchen now we cooking
up what’s up y’all how y’all doing
tonight y’all killing it out here
killing it out here tonight man
everything was
beautiful doing the
thing we’ love to see it