Review: Cortese Restaurant in Binghamton, New York

This review is a compilation of my dining experiences at Cortese Restaurant in Binghamton, NY inspired by my recent trip in January with my family to Cortese. Cortese Restaurant is one of Binghamton's finest Italian American restaurants that offers fine dining in a casual atmosphere. In addition, Cortese does events, parties and catering as well as take-out. They have a separate facility for catering if you so choose, but you can also decide to have your event in one of the three rooms in the restaurant itself.

I have dined at Cortese Restaurant on at least a dozen occasions over the last several years, and have never walked away from a dining experience there with regret for money wasted as I have in many of Binghamton's local restaurants. There have been a few dishes I have not been thrilled with but 99 percent of the time, I am pleased with my food at Cortese. The wait service is typically very good and if you have a complaint about the food they do actually want to hear it and will try to amend the mistake, whether it is re-cooking your order, taking money off your bill or offering a complimentary drink or dessert.

From the moment you walk into Cortese you can see that this restaurant stands apart from the other Italian American Restaurants in Binghamton. The first thing you notice is the deliciously intoxicating aroma that hits your face as soon as you open the door of the restaurant. The place smells wonderfully garlicky and I can guarantee that you will not leave Cortese without smelling like garlic! . You are greeted by a hostess in a small room, offset one of the dining rooms and then seated. There is a coat room where you can independently hang your coats and several chairs and tables where you can wait should your reservation not be ready or on busy evenings while you are waiting for a table. While waiting, feel free to get yourself a drink from the bar in the next room. Most nights, Cortese is packed and I recommend a reservation, particularly on the weekends but I have never waited too long for a table when I did not have one. Cortese has room for a few hundred people in their three dining areas.

Another neat aspect of Cortese is the ability to order pizza online. You can get homemade pizza delivered right to your home. Take out is also available. You can order any item off the menu, but some of the more popular take out items are the pizzas. Cortese offers delicious pizza in a unique rectangular shape. The crust is flaky, crispy and there is the perfect amount of sauce. One of the more interesting pies is the spinach Florentine-spinach, sour cream and fresh onion. Their white garlic pie is my favorite but beware-this pizza is packed with garlic. The red sauce pies has just enough sauce-the crust does not get soggy and the cheese atop the pies are baked to perfection. You can choose to add a number of toppings such as salami, sliced sausage, meatballs, black olives or onions for about $2.50 per topping.

Cortese has an incredible wine and beer selection. They have about 80 wines from what I counted off the menu, including both imported and domestic wines. Their wine menu is cleverly arranged by reds and whites listed from the sweetest and lightest to the driest and most full bodied. This is very handy for those who may not be wine connosieurs but enjoy a good glass of wine! This is just one of the examples of how Cortese sets apart from other restaurants in Binghamton.

Cortese has a number of different appetizers, including antipasto, several different types of shrimp such as cocktail, bbq shrimp and scampi., fettucine alfredo, calamari fried or with white or red sauce, oysters on the halfshell, and clams casino. Appetizers range from $3.75 to $10.50. The cheese and crackers platter for $5.75 is served with pepperoni, and the absolute best tasting provolone I have ever tried (and I truly love provolone and have tasted quite a few). I recommend using the crusty bread served at each table instead of the packaged crackers. The calamari for $8.50 have been both very good and very rubbery and overdone on two separate occasions. If you love calamari, I suggest ordering it but specifying that you do not want it overcooked, or sending it back if it is overcooked. The antipasto for $5.50 in my opinion is overpriced and disappointing. There were too many veggies and not enough meat or cheese which is to be expected of a traditional antipasto.

Cortese has an extensive menu that you can literally spend hours perusing especially with a very hungry belly when everything looks delicious. You can download a copy of their menu off of their website, which I tend to do so that I can get a head start on deciding what I want to order. to In addition to eggplant parmesan (which is truly delicious and delicate and my favorite dish at Cortese), there are numerous chicken dishes to select from, including Chicken Angelina with garlic butter sauce (an egg dipped chicken sautéed in olive oil), chicken parmesan, chicken Palermo (alfredo sauce with spinach and tomato underneath a chicken breast), chicken saltimbocca, chicken picatta and chicken marsala. Overall, the chicken dishes are good, and the chicken breasts are juicy, cooked perfectly and those with large appetites will be pleased to see two chicken breasts on their plates.

I have tried the chicken parmesan, the chicken angelina, and the chicken saltimbocca. Each time I have tried the chicken, I have been presented with juicy chicken breasts that are not overdone or dry. The chicken breasts are either breaded and sauted or dipped in egg and sauted. The Chicken Angelina was also very good. It was served with a small cup of chopped garlic and butter sauce for dipping. The chicken itself was served plain. You have to love garlic to enjoy this dish, and although I adore garlic, I found that even I had to be cautious with the garlic butter sauce as its flavor was a bit overpowering.I did however enjoy the egg dipped coating on this chicken and would order this again minus the garlic sauce, or ask that the chef go easy on the garlic. The chicken parmesan is excellent as the sauce and melted mozzarella served atop it is delicious and provides a nice balance with the more plain chicken. The chicken saltimbocca was a bit disappointing as it tasted more like a marsala to me, and I am not a huge fan of chicken marsala. This dish was topped with prosciutto, swiss and mozzarella cheeses and served with a cream sherry sauce. I have dined with a number of people who have loved the chicken marsala, stating it was among the best or the best they had ever had. I have been dying to try the chicken palermo but have not as of yet because I am not the biggest fan of their rather plain alfredo sauce, although one of my family member's tried this dish and really enjoyed it.

Another indication that Cortese aims to please their customers and is concerned about their customers, is their various selections of heart healthy items, which are indicated on the menu by a small heart. Examples of these dishes include the chicken Angelina (without butter sauce-which I recommend as the butter sauce is overpowering and the chicken alone plain is delicious)-, veal or chicken piccata, chicken ccacciatore, petite cuts of filet mignon or rib-eye, fresh scallops, salmon and haddock.

No Italian American restaurant is complete without pasta selections, and Cortese offers a wide range of these, most available in either half or full orders, depending on your appetite. From the homemade spaghetti for $6.95 for a half order to the fettucine alfredo, the homemade ravioli, manicotti made with homemade crepes, Cortese has a pasta dish to please any pasta aficionado. Pasta selections are offered with red, alfredo or pesto sauces. You may also elect to add broccoli, mushroom, or chicken to your pasta dishes for a small additional fee. The red sauce at Cortese is delicious, not too sweet or too salty, and just like your grandma made. The only pasta dish I have not been too thrilled with is the fettucine alfredo because I prefer a thicker alfredo sauce and the alfredo at Cortese is a bit on the thin size and lacking in some cheesy flavor. I have also tried the lasagna which was good but had sausage and meat inside that I thought was a bit much. The cheese in the layers was delicious and seasoned well and the melted mozzarella on top was served nicely browned with a wonderful crust on the edges.

Other meat options at Cortese include the delectable Veal parmesan, which I am told by my father is outstanding and the Pork Chop (you can select either one or two chops) which is as juicy and succulent as a pork chop can be is my father in law's absolute favorite and a dish he gets each time he eats at Cortese. The Milanese is recommended with the chop and you can decide if you want it sizzling or just sauced. If you decide on the sizzling Milanese (for your pork chop or steaks), your meal will be served on a cast iron heated platter, the Milanese will be poured in front of you so you can inhale the intoxicating scent of the pungent garlic in the sauce. If no other dish indicates to you how much Cortese cooks love garlic, this dish with its large chunks of seemingly endless garlic surely will. Filet mignon, ribeye, chateaubriand (for two) and NY Strip are some of the steak options ordered. Steaks are cooked to order, have always been excellent cuts and cooked the way you specified in all my dining experiences at Cortese. My husband tends to order a ribeye each time we eat at Cortese and really loves both the cut and doneness (he always orders rare and they cook it to perfection unlike most places)

Seafood options are quite a few at Cortese. Lobster tails, shrimp parmesan, salmon, haddock, scallops, mussels, clams and the festa corrado- (linguine heaped with scallops, mussels, clams and shrimp)-a true seafood lover's delight!

Dinner entrees are served with your choice of soup or the day or house salad, and warm bread with butter is placed at your table. The house salad is good and my favorite is the house italian dressing. The vegetables always taste fresh and crispy. The warm bread is crusty and perfect for dipping into your sauce or having with a little butter. For pasta selections, salads are a la carte. Cortese offers coke products to my personal delight but their soft drink servings are small, served in tall glasses, perhaps to make them look bigger than they really are. If you like to drink a lot, you may want to consider ordering a pitcher for about five bucks. Dinner entrees also come with a choice of two sides: vegetable of the day, pasta of the day, baked potatoe, french fries, franconi potatoes or rice. Sometimes the vegetable has been offered as eggplant, which I urge you to try. I personally do not like the franconi potatoes-they are sliced potatoes roasted but I felt they were not cooked well enough and just did not stand out to me. The rice and french fries have always been cooked well, with the fries crispy and golden. I tend to get the pasta as the side dish and with a little grated parmesan sitting right at the table, I am always glad I did.

In addition, Cortese offers a variety of salads, submarine sandwiches and fried food such as chicken fingers, onion rings, and mozzarella sticks for those looking for a snack, some take out or even for lunch.

I have attended several events at Cortese as well as hosted an event myself there and have overall been pleased with each experience. The service is typically good, with a few exceptions, but overall they cater to try to meet your expectations and each detail and prior to the event the manager is very generous with her time in working with you to ensure all your needs and desires are met. Cost per plate for events in the restaurant is according to price on the menu. The catering building next to Cortese is for larger events and is one room in which food is carried over from the restaurant and served in large pans such as in a buffet.

Cortese is one of our favorite restaurants to go to on a night out. It can be a little on the pricey side, depending on what you order, but the food is well worth it. Most chicken dishes are in the $15-17 range, while steaks are more expensive for about $22-25 and seafood in a similar range with certain specialty seafood dishes priced according to market price. It has a nice atmosphere and you can dress in a pair of nice jeans or a dress, depending on your preference.

If you go:

117 Robinson St. Binghamton 13904 607-723-6440
Reservations on weekends suggested.