B.A. Nilsson

Under the Suburban Sun

tuscan’s grill

Parkwood Plaza, 1760 Route 9, Clifton Park, 371-5672. Serving lunch Mon-Fri 11:30-2:30, dinner Mon-Thu 4-10, Fri 4-11, Sat 2-11, Sun 1-9. AE, MC, V.

Cuisine: Italian-themed steakhouse

Entrée price range: $11 (spaghetti with sausage) to $25 (linguine pescatora)

Ambiance: bustling

By B.A. Nilsson

It’s such a culinary buzzword these days that “Tuscan” is applied to nearly anything that comes within a few miles of Italy. I don’t pretend to be an expert on things Tuscan—well, actually, I do pretend to be so, which gets me in trouble—but I had a feeling I wouldn’t be seeing roasts of wild boar (cinghiale) on the menu here at Tuscan’s Grill. And I was right.

What I did find was a scratch menu of solid Italian fare, overseen by chef Ray Crodelle (formerly of D’Raymond’s). He and owner Mike Powers have transformed what once was the Parkwood Restaurant into an accommodating eatery that knows its clientele.

And it has to, tucked as it is into an edge of Clifton Park’s sprawling array of chain restaurants. A few mavericks are successfully challenging this hegemony, and I’m betting Tuscan’s Grill will be one of them.

It’s not pretending to anything fussy or gourmet-driven, but I had an entrée of veal Tuscan’s style ($17, also available with chicken, $15) that turned out to be a variant of veal piccata. It featured larger slices of the meat, slices that still were very tender. After a light sauté, they’re finished in a lemony wine sauce, a perfect accompaniment to a Chardonnay (or is it the other way around?).

I hadn’t been in the Parkwood for well over 20 years, so I have no idea how it looked by the end. I do know that it’s been cleaned and refurbished, with a few changes in floor plan, and it has a bright, cheerful look from room to room. There are several, for general dining and for private parties.

We were seated in a room a few steps down from bar level (the bar dominates the center of the restaurant); through the translucent window curtains we could see the Vegas-like lights of the adjoining gift shop.

Rick, our server, was clearly on a mission to see that our dinner went well, an effort you can’t help but appreciate. It was he who steered me toward the veal, once I made it clear by my indifference to his initial recommendations that I wouldn’t be ordering the most- (or second-most-) expensive item.

I do regret not exploring the entrées in the grill category. That’s where the sirloin is listed, the filet mignon, the beef combos, the salmon. Other fish dishes, like cioppino ($22) merit listing in the pesce section, but you’ll find fish throughout the pasta section as well. This was where my daughter spotted linguine in white clam sauce ($14), something she’s grown to like over the summer.

The antipasti list is unsurprising, but the results are a treat. Bruschetta, of course, and calamari ($7) and mussels ($7) and the usual shrimp items ($8), but there also are stuffed roasted peppers ($7.50) and an appetizer I particularly enjoyed, the Tuscan greens ($7), which is jazzed-up greens and beans, the jazz being a substitution of hot peppers and prosciutto for the beans, with a finish of bread crumbs.

My daughter’s ravioli starter featured pasta rounds with fresh lobster and crab ($9), and we knew it was fresh. She found some crab shell, which the otherwise eager-to-please Rick seemed to think was unremarkable and thus not remediable. An outstanding feature, however, was the marinara, which sported juicy sun-dried tomatoes and an appropriately strong flavor.

The risotto of the day was built around a medley of fresh vegetables, set off by the orange of the carrots. Susan had an appetizer portion ($6), which was delicious but promised to be too much after the warm bread and a plate of salad. So she take-home-containered it and concentrated on her entrée, Chicken Sorrento ($15, $17 with veal).

This is a jazzed-up parmigiana, adding eggplant to the meat and finishing it with marinara and mozzarella. But the meat and vegetable are breaded and fried before getting sauced, and took on some extra oil in the process, as if it were sautéed at too low a temperature or simply took a trip through the fryolater. Otherwise, the flavors were just as you’d hope them to be. (I had a lot less trouble with this dish than my oil-wary wife.)

A side dish of sausage ($3.50) showed me what the kitchen really is doing. It’s the real thing, that sausage, a little spicy, the meat rough-cut and wonderfully textured. So it was no surprise that the linguine with white clam sauce proved to be a straight-ahead take on this classic dish. The pasta was al dente, the clams were fresh, and we might as well have been by the ocean.

If the success of a meal can be measured by your post-prandial sense of well-being, then this was a great success. Dinner had been filling (the mountain of take-home containers attested to that) and the table was comfortable, so I tormented my somnolent family by lingering over an espresso as they stared in the direction of the door.

Clifton Park sings a siren’s song to passing shoppers; once again, it’s good to have a good, locally owned restaurant to patronize when that’s where you happen to be.

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