TROY — Testo’s, an Italian restaurant in Lansingburgh since 1976, is the 300th business added to the New York State Historic Business Preservation Registry.
Managed by the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, the registry was launched in 2022 to highlight businesses open for at least 50 years that have “helped craft the very culture of New York state and support local communities and their people,” according to the announcement from OPRHP.
The Niskayuna Co-op started serving shoppers during World War II.
Will Waldron/Times Union
Founded in Albany 81 years ago, Cardona’s Market added locations in Latham, above, and Saratoga Springs in 2021.
Will Waldron/Times Union
New Way Lunch hot dogs have been its signature offering since the business was established in Glens Falls in 1919 by a Greek immigrant. It is now a fourth-generation business.
Alexandria Mineo/New Way Lunch
DeFazio’s now includes adjoining import store and tiny pizzeria, a huge location a few blocks away and a satellite in Albany.
Tyler A. McNeil/Times Union
Gade Farm in Guilderland was recognized on the state’s Historic Business Preservation Registry in fall 2024.
Will Waldron/Times Union
The owner of Gus’s Hot Dogs in Watervliet started working at the business at age 6.
Michael P. Farrell
A seventh-generation farm in the Catskills, Hull-I Farms in Durham began operations 240 years ago under English immigrant John Hull.
Charlie Samuels
RELATED: Cardona’s Market, New Way Lunch added to NY historic list
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The entry for Testo’s on the registry database says in part, “Founded in 1976 by Charles and Philomena Testo and their 4 children, Testo’s Restaurant has been feeding the Lansingburgh neighborhood and beyond for 50 years. Specializing in authentic, homecooked Italian food, Testo’s has long been a fan favorite. As the years flew by, and the world was ever-changing, one thing remained: Testo’s Restaurant at the corner of 124th and 4th Avenue, serving the community consistently good, reasonably priced food. Supporting local programs such as the Troy Boys & Girls Club, sponsoring little league teams and donating gift certificates or food, to the ever-increasing requests for a contribution of the various causes around the city, Testo’s has always given back to people and organizations they serve. The answer was never ‘no.’”
The restaurant was nominated by Assemblyman John McDonald, who said in a statement, “Generations of the Testo family have shared their passion for authentic Italian cuisine, building a tradition rooted in hard work, hospitality and family.”
Testo’s had one of the longest pandemic pauses for in-house dining in the region. The dining room was closed for about three full years, from the start of the pandemic lockdown in March 2020 until spring 2023.
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The problem getting the dining room back open, John Testo said at the time, is that they were too good at takeout.
“We’ve always done a lot of takeout, but it just exploded,” he said. “We were so busy with it for so long that we couldn’t reopen the dining room for the longest time.” Testo runs the restaurant with his younger brother, Jim; it was founded by their elder brother, Chuck, now semiretired, and their parents, Charles and Philomena, who died six days apart in 2011. A satellite Testo’s, on Pawling Avenue in Troy’s Eastside neighborhood, was open from 2017 to fall 2022.
The property and business were put on the market in October 2024, but the restaurant remains open. Hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Saturday for takeout, from 4 to 8 p.m. Monday to Saturday for dine-in dinner.
The Daily Grind has been mainstay of Albany’s Lark Street for five decades.
Lori Van Buren/Times Union
Other regional food businesses added to the registry in the most recent batch, bringing the total to 321 statewide, are the Capital District Regional Market in Menands (founded in 1933), the Daily Grind in Albany (1976), Kay’s Pizza on Burden Lake (1958) and the Niskayuna Co-op in Niskayuna (1943). Cardona’s Market, with three Capital Region locations (1945), and New Way Lunch in Glens Falls and Warrensburg (1919) were listed on the registry in January. About 20 food businesses from Dutchess County to Warrensburg are so recognized.
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Others and their year of founding:
President Adine Viscusi tastes a sauce in the production area at the Casa Visco bottling facility in Schenectady. Her grandparents opened the business in 1954.
Cindy Schultz
Casa Visco, Schenectady (1945): Italian immigrants Carmella and Joseph Viscusi Sr. opened a wholesale grocery business supplying Italian products for customers to whom Carmella would gift her tomato sauce. Its popularity led to a sauce-making business that today is led by the founders’ granddaughter Adine Viscusi, whose Instagram handle is The Sauce Queen.
DeFazio’s, Troy (1951): An Italian import market that grew into a three-location pizzeria with fans including Hillary Clinton. The third generation runs DeFazio’s today and, after a decade of effort, in winter 2025 added a huge new restaurant.
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Duncan’s Dairy Bar in Brunswick is 87 years old.
Tyler A. McNeil/Times Union
Duncan’s Dairy Bar, Brunswick (1939): Located just east of the Troy city line, Duncan’s started as an ice cream stand, expanding to hot dogs and sandwiches in the mid-1950s and becoming a full-service diner that opens at 4 a.m. seven days a week.
Fix Brothers Farm, Livingston (1899): A fifth-generation agricultural business established by a German immigrant, the farm today offers pick-your-own cherries, peaches, apples and pumpkins.
Gade Farm, Guilderland (1878): Now run by its fifth generation, the farm has a store that sells its produce, as well as apple cider doughnuts and many kinds of pies and other goods from a bakery added in 2009. It also stocks items from local artisans including specialty soaps.
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Gene’s Fish Fry in East Greenbush was added to the state’s Historic Business Preservation Registry last summer.
Lori Van Buren
Gene’s Fish Fry, East Greenbush (1961): Opened on what was then a country road with a slaughterhouse across the way, it has been owned since 1998 by Mark Halsey, son of the eponymous Gene, and Mark’s wife, Priscilla.
Gus’s Hot Dogs, Watervliet (1954): Owner Steve Haita, son of the eponymous founder, started working in the diminutive shack when he was 6 years old. To celebrate its 70th anniversary in April 2024, the business offered its dogs for the original price of 10 cents apiece. It sold out the supply of 10,000 hot dogs in about eight hours.
Hull-O Farms, Durham (1786): A seventh-generation farm in the Catskills, it began operations 240 years ago under English immigrant John Hull. Long a dairy farm, it pivoted to raising beef cattle, opened a pheasant preserve and for 30 years has been in agritourism, welcoming guests to the farm.
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Blueberries grow in the field at Lansing Farm in Colonie. Its 20 acres of fruit and vegetables are managed by the eighth generation of the original family.
Lori Van Buren
Lansing’s Farm, Colonie (1788): The second-oldest local business on the state registry and located on the border of Colonie and Schenectady, Lansing’s 20 acres produce fruits and vegetables under eighth-generation owner Al Lansing.
Oscar’s Smokehouse, Warrensburg (1945): Despite two fires over the decades that destroyed the facility, Oscar’s keeps going, now selling about 160 house-made products including smoked meats, cheeses and mustards.
A freshly cooked tomato pie is pulled from the coal-fired oven at Perreca’s Bakery in Schenectady. The business opened in 1914.
Jim Franco/Times Union
Perreca’s, Schenectady (1914): The fabled coal-fired oven at this bakery is said never to have fully cooled since it was first lit. The crusty Italian bread produced by third-generation owners Tony Papa and Maria Perreca Papa has a famously thick, crackly crust.
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Poopie DiManno’s Lunch, Glens Falls (1954): As a child, founder Joseph DiMano’s Italian-immigrant mother called him by the affectionate diminutive “Papino,” which is said later to have been changed by friends to Poopie. Now run by the family’s third generation, it offers, as the menu puts it, “Burgers. Soup. Breakfast.”
Verdile’s Restaurant, Troy (1943): Opened by Italian immigrants Raphael and Frances Verdile, the restaurant moved to its current location in 1951 and was enlarged in 1961 to include the present dining room. Michael Verdile and his family run the business opened by his grandparents. It is also for sale and remains open.
Verdile’s Restaurant in Lansingburgh celebrates its 83rd anniversary this year. The building and business are for sale but remain open.
Tyler A. McNeil/Times Union
Dining and Cooking