The Rivertowns Enterprise
December 4, 2009

First-time restaurateurs introduce Rainwater Grill
By David Maggiotto

On the heels of Blue Moon’s waning at 19 Main Street, the Rainwater Grill opens at that address tonight (Dec 4) with an 8 p.m. concert and prix fixe dinner. The debut coincides with the village’s Friday Night Live, an event that offers extended hours of downtown shops and community activities. Tomorrow Rainwater Grill opens it’s doors for regular business beginning at 5 p.m.

Tonight’s dinner is hosted by Common Ground, a monthly music and performing art series run by the First Unitarian Society of Westchester in Hastings. Singer/songwriter Jen Chapin and band will perform in the restaurant during the three-course meal. Tickets are $50, and a portion of the event’s proceeds will benefit World Hunger Year in its efforts to combat global hunger.

Rainwater Grill’s co-managing partners, Tony fortunate and Ken Lauro Jr., coordinated their opening with Friday Night Live in the hopes of drawing local attention to the village’s newest dining option. Tonight’s diner is a set menu limited to ticket holders, but the expansive bar area will be open to walk-in patrons late into the night.

Fortunate said earlier this week that he hopes the business will hit the ground running.

“It’s great food at reasonable prices,” Fortunate said. Only two entrees on the menu- the New York strip steak and the Main lobster – exceed $20. Instead, the casual American fare features appetizers, sandwiches and burgers that hover closer to $10. “Our philosophy is profit from high cover counts” Fortunate said, using industry jargon to explain that the restaurants success would be based on volume of dinners versus price of dinners.

Lauro and fortunate met as co-workers in 2001 at Mighty Joe Young’s, the restaurant on West Hartsdale Avenue in White Plains. Two years later fortunate was hired as the director of purchasing for a Westchester bar and restaurant group; Lauro continued as bar manager at Mighty Joe Young’s.

About a year ago friends began seriously scouting locations for opening their own place - a longtime dream. They visited Hastings’ Blue Moon – the franchise that occupied the space at 19 Main from the summer of 2008 until early last month – having learned that the space was possibly coming available. The 2,900-square-foot location appealed more than two other potential sites in Pleasantville and Briarcliff, and the partners took over the lease on Nov. 6.

Fortunate is from White Plains and lives with his wife and children in Briarcliff Manor. He will manage the restaurant floor every day. He believes his recent behind-the-scenes work might prove more crucial to Rainwater Grill’s success than his previous front-of-the-house experience. “Managing is one thing, back office operation is another,” he said “It’s reading the menu versus reading the PNLs [profit and loss statements].

Lauro was raised in Mahopac, where he lives with his family. He will manage and tend the bar, while both men will oversee the busboys, runners, and servers. A team of chefs Fortunate and Lauro know from having worked together in other restaurants will run the kitchen.

The menu is familiar, but hardly prosaic. Basic burgers are available for lunch and dinner, as are “Inside Out” burgers-beef patties stuffed with Gorgonzola cheese and bacon, served on a bun, with shoestring fries. A full, separate, vegetarian menu is always available, as is the “Hastings Tastings,” a separate bar menu that offers finger foods like boneless wings, and Portobello skewers, along with five variations of sliders.

The owners aim to cultivate a bar crowd in the late hours. They plan to install lounge-style couches in the barroom, where four TVs, which will have the sound turned off, are important because, as Fortunate said, “We all want to catch football on Sunday, and watch the Yankees in November.”

The restaurant features a full specialty cocktail menu created by Lauro. Martini-style cocktails – ranging from $9 to $12 – including the “Bazooka Joe,” a concoction with Blue Curacao, Baileys, and Crème de Banana, and the “Sacra-Licious Sunshine,” a martini made with grapefruit-infused vodka, 7-Up, and orange juice.

Behind the center of the bar is a large mirror engraved with the restaurant’s name and logo. The engraver is Hastings-based artist Alex Gardega, whose watercolors adorn the restaurant.

The most striking decorative feature of the restaurant is the waterfall that cascades over the bar mirror. That signature element was hand-built and installed by Steve-Quaranta of QDC construction. Fortunate said the waterfall ties into “a natural theme” that reflected in the menu’s ingredients and highlights the restaurant’s name, which was brainstormed by his wife.

The Physical layout of Rainwater Grill follows the footprint of Blue Moon, which succeeded the short-lived Bloom, a high-end organic restaurant, and, prior to that, the more informal 19 Main. Until the late 90’s Manzi’s Restaurant thrived at the same location for multiple decades, a fact that encourages faith in the business owners. “We know that at one point a restaurant existed here for a long time. We’d like to be the other bookend,” Fortunate said.