Grappa '72 carries on tradition

When Carmine's Restaurant closed last summer, longtime maitre'd Armand Ymeraj was understandably disappointed. After all, he was out of a job. But Armand wasn't just upset because he lost his job after eight years. He was saddened by the loss of such a landmark establishment in this area.

Today, Armand is carrying on that tradition--right in the same spot. He opened Grappa '72 in the former Carmine's, making this restaurant a destination for fine dining. Grappa '72 features a menu that is "pure Italian," he says, and a list that's straight from the old country. In fact, Ymeraj boasts that his new restaurant has the largest Italian wine selection in upstate New York.

Opened three months ago, Grappa '72 is already successful, and that's because many of the customers are former Carmine's customers. Ymeraj says much of the clientele has been coming to the restaurant for years, and in the Italian tradition of hospitality, he welcomes them back with open arms. But the customers aren't the only familiar faces; many of the new restaurant's employees also worked at Carmine's and stayed on to work under Ymeraj's capable hands.

Ymeraj has been managing restaurants his whole life, first in Canada and then in New York. While Ymeraj has plenty of management experience, this is the first restaurant he's opened on his own. He's enjoying his new enterprise, although he does acknowledge that it's not withoutits drawbacks. "When you work for yourself, things get more complicated," he says with a laugh.

Walking into Grappa, it seems like old times. Even though it's been refurbished top to bottom, the restaurant has maintained a sense of warm elegance. Families enjoy their dinner in the dining room, while business execs take a drink at the bar. Ymeraj knows how to treat his customers, and the bar patrons enjoy some appetizers on the house while they watch the baseball game on T.V.

At the very back of the restaurant, in a quaint room with floor-to-ceiling wine racks, more patrons enjoy their dinners around a long family-style table.