CLIFTON PARK – When Jen Chura and David Siewert worked at Upstate Concert Hall and needed a quiet escape from the noise and swirl of bands and fans, they’d pop across the street to Antipasto’s Bistro & Wine Bar. Later, as co-owners of the Albany venue Empire Live, Antipasto’s remained their go-to spot for wine and pizza, because it is only minutes from their home.
Starting this week, Chura and Siewert are proprietors and part-owners of Antipasto’s as Steve Zumbno, who founded it in 1996, eases into retirement and concludes a restaurant legacy begun when his grandfather founded Panetta’s Restaurant in Albany in 1924. Chura and Siewert have been working at Antipasto’s since early summer while the sale was being finalized among them, Zumbo and Erik and Jen Bruhns, also longtime regulars who have become majority owners under the new structure.
Closed for a couple of days earlier this week for the transition, Antipasto’s reopens Wednesday, though a grand-opening fete likely won’t be held until December.
Chura and Siewert want to assure longtime fans that little will change at Antipasto’s, widely described as a vegetarian restaurant, though “almost vegetarian” is more accurate: Meatballs are available as an option for pasta dishes, and meatballs and pepperoni are among the pizza toppings. Zumbo, who earlier this year said meat accounted for only 2% of sales, long called the menu “Italian-style vegetarian cuisine.”
Siewert’s version: “We’re keeping it Mediterranean (and) Italian. … It’s vegetable-focused.”
Among the most obvious new elements will be what Siewert calls a “higher-end cocktail menu,” though it won’t be large. “We’re going to keep the wine as a strong focus of the business,” Siewert said. Minor cosmetic improvements are being made, and some new kitchen equipment is planned.
“It’s been a special place for a long time, and we just want to make it a little better, a little busier,” said Chura.
When Zumbo announced early this year that he intended to sell the restaurant, longtime Antipasto’s bartender Leila Evans and her husband, Craig, who had been assisting Zumbo with back-office operations, connected Chura and Siewert with the Bruhnses.
“We have to give Leila and Craig a lot of credit,” said Chura. “They’re the one who brought us together to sit down and really look at this as a real possibility.”
“I love this for them. They’re so talented and entrepreneurial,” said Ted Etoll, who was their boss at his music promotions company, Step Up Presents, and Upstate Concert Hall and now entrusts them with running Empire Live on a daily basis as his operating partners. Based on their management of Empire Live, Etoll said he is confident Antipasto’s, of which he too is a devotee, will be a success.
“I’ve never seen two people run things better than they do,” he said.
While Chura and Siewert said they expect to continue to be a regular presence at Empire Live, the club is now 5 years old and has a staff long experienced in the day-to-day execution of concerts.
“We’re supervising the business, but we don’t always have to be there for shows,” Siewert says. “Antipasto’s is small and has limited hours. We’ve been there since June, and it’s been very manageable.”
The new-but-largely-the-same Antipasto’s fulfills Zumbo’s hope when he announced he did not intend to renew the lease, which ended Oct. 31. His preferred outcome, as outlined in February: An eager younger operator or partners would buy Antipasto’s, keep the name and concept, add their own touches and ask him to stay on for a while as proprietor emeritus. Check, check, check and check.
Antipasto’s, at 1028 Route 146, serves from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Sunday and Monday and 5 to 9 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday, closed Tuesday. Call 518-383-1209.
Subscribe
There’s more to Albany with the Times Union. Subscribe today for just 25¢.
This article originally published at Empire Live owners to run Antipasto’s restaurant in Clifton Park.
Dining and Cooking