SCHENECTADY — The restaurant Cornell's in Little Italy is ready to reopen, having been revived by its next-door neighbor, Maria Perreca Papa, whose family founded the neighboring Perreca’s Bakery in 1913.
She told me she rehired much of the Cornell's staff, brought aboard Scott Carlton, recently of Tala American Bistro in Latham, as chef, and is simply awaiting a liquor license from the State Liquor Authority.
"As soon as that comes in the mail," she said, "we're ready to go." Papa hopes to begin serving customers within a month, she said.
Cornell’s closed at the beginning of the pandemic, in March 2020, with the owners saying they were unable to adapt to the takeout-only model then dictated by the state.
In addition to Tala, Carlton was head chef at Sperry's in Saratoga Springs and from 2014 to 2016 was chef-owner of the Schenectady Italian restaurant E.K.’s Cibo. His menu for Cornell's will include many of its familiar dishes, recipes for which were purchased along with the building and are included in a binder given to Papa, she said.
The reopening and revival of the Cornell's in Little Italy brand brings together names that have helped define Italian food in the Electric City for nearly 190 years combined. The 13,600-square-foot Cornell’s building, at 39 N. Jay St., is across a parking lot from Perreca's Bakery, owned by Papa and her brother Anthony Perreca Papa, and the adjoining restaurant More Perreca's, owned by Maria Perreca Papa and a silent partner. She and the silent partner bought the Cornell's building over the summer for $450,000. The Perreca’s address is 31-33 N. Jay.
Located on Van Vrankern Avenue for 60 years, Cornell’s Restaurant moved to the Little Italy neighborhood in 2003. Its most recent owners — former Daily Gazette publisher Jack Hume, his wife, Connie, and business partner George Ryon — bought it from the daughter of the founder in 2011 and renamed it Cornell’s in Little Italy.
When Papa announced she was buying the Cornell's building, she told me, "My dad used to tell stories about stopping in at Cornell's when it was on Van Vranken, delivering his bread, dipping it in their sauce with meatballs that was on the stove and chit-chatting with Mrs. Cornell." Perreca's Italian bread, famed for its thick, crisp crust and pillowy interior, is made in a coal-fired oven that, according to lore, has rarely fully cooled down between baking sessions over its 108-year history.
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October 26, 2021 at 11:35PM
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Cornell's ready to reopen, awaits SLA permit - Times Union
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