nibot | Antonetta's Restaurant and Party House

Antonetta's Restaurant and Party House. May 16, 2006.

Prof. Hagen teaches graduate quantum mechanics here; maybe you're familiar with the anecdotes. Once upon a time we suggested holding some make-up lecture or discussion section or exam or something on a Friday night. "Oh no," he said. "There's a place I go." And so the mystery was created of, where is it that Dr. Hagen goes on Friday nights? One day at the beginning of this school year, a reception was held for the incoming students. I took the opportunity to socialize with Dr. H and he mentioned this place, Antonetta's. "I love that place," he said. "I go there every Friday." What is it, I asked. What kind of food? "Oh, I don't go for the food. I go for the ambiance!"

And so we found out the name of the place, even its address, but I never tracked it down, until Nate and I accidentally stumbled across it, while transporting gravel to build our hot tub foundation. So, yesterday, hungry after house-hunting and neighborhood-wandering, Bree and I stopped by Antonetta's Restaurant and Party House.

And it's awesome! I was worried that it wouldn't be a lunch place, but it turned out to be packed at 2pm, full of middle-age and older, mostly Italian folks. There's a simple, small menu with pasta and diner-style burgers, there's a bar with what looks like a good whiskey selection and Rochester's own Genny on tap. It's extremely cheap, too, cheaper than most diners, but in honest-to-goodness restaurant form. Bree had rigatoni with meatballs and sausage. I had the "Antonetta Burger," which is topped by mushrooms, peppers, cheese, and hot sauce—it was great, though the hot sauce turned out to be the rochester kind. The best thing about the place is how hidden away it is, and how much it feels like you're in a mobster movie when you're there.

I look forward to drinking gin on their porch come summer.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I think we should get a bunch of physics grad students to descend on the place. Take the new firsties or something.

Hi Tobin. My name is Melody Friend. Please hear me out. Now I know you were given a raw deal as far as credit for how much interest you created with your visit and blog on the San Juan Capistrano Hot Springs and even though I had nothing to do with it I am sorry you got burned. But what I am trying to do down there is something important. What am I doing?? I have founded an organization called 'itengvu- The San Juan Capistrano Hot Springs Preservation Project. In conjunction with trying to save them outright from neglect or commercial exploitation and get them open to the public again as a historical destination I am also trying to create a book about the human history of the place to save the written history and oral history which is fragmented and largely obsure. I intend to contact and collect as many oral accounts as possible to add to that history as well. I must thank you and give you credit for reviving interest with your blog. Because of your visit and blog, you too are part of its history. With a great deal of luck I hope to see an interpretive center there and to see access and space provided for the native indigenous people to practice ceremony because the hot springs are sacred to thier culture. Who am I? I am an LA based woman who was just a volunteer for the park that they are in and have worked around the springs for five years. I believe it is my calling to do what I can to save them from obsurity and neglect. I am currently trying to sign on a sacred sites foundation as a fiscal agent and have a board of advisors that are volunteering all thier services with out benifit of pay or favor.
I know you have left that all behind you and I am sorry if I have caused any discomfort in contacting you, but I would certainly like to know if you would consider writing to me so I can ask you a few things about the responses you got and your experiences off this blog?

Thanks. itengvu@gmail.com or maddiesmelody@yahoo.com

Antonetta's Restaurant and Party House

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