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Ronnie and Gi Solevo (center) and their team for Solevo Kitchen and Social’s grand opening. Photos provided.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — On Sept. 21 Solevo Kitchen and Social celebrated their official opening at the new authentic, old- school Italian restaurant located at 55 Phila St.The Solevo Kitchen and Social space is part of the Caffe Lena renovation and newly constructed Spencer Condominiums built by Bonacio Construction. The restaurant features an open kitchen, 14-seat bar and dining room equipped to seat roughly 50 guests.
Brother and sister Ronald and Giovannina Solevo, Ronnie and Gi for short, are fourth generation Italian-American restaurateurs. Originally from Connecticut, the two have operated restaurants in New Haven, Conn. and New York City. Both Ronnie and Gi were raised in the restaurant kitchens of their parents and grandparents. Ronnie Solevo, chef, said this past summer was his thirty-third summer in Saratoga.
“The dream for our whole family, our grandparents and our parents, was always to have a restaurant in Saratoga. We think that our Italian food fits so well here... Then we saw this opportunity popped up and
we jumped on it. We love this location, we love being on Phila Street downtown,” Solevo said.
According to Solevo, between his grandparents and their siblings there were a dozen restaurants owned by his family in the New Haven, Conn. area.
“This business is in us, having grown up in it. This is the combination of just so much hard work not only for us, but generations before us, to be here,” Solevo said.
Solevo Kitchen and Social is focused on scratch cooking, using the abundance of local and organic ingredients available in upstate New York. All of the pasta is made in-house and the market driven menu will change often to reflect the seasons. The menu will pay homage to the recipes passed down through the Solevo family’s generations of Southern Italian chefs and restaurant owners. Solevo calls them “peasant style” dishes and adds that there will be some Italian-American dishes as well.
Aside from the scratch cooking, both Ronnie and Gi are proud to admit that everything from the interior design to the graphic design of the menus and website, they do themselves as well. The spot’s atmosphere reflects the old-school Italian American social clubs of decades past giving off an 1940’s Art Deco vibe.
“Growing up our parents were always part of local Italian- American social clubs, so we wanted to create that here but not being a place where you have to pay for membership,” Solevo said.
“We’re really happy and proud of what we do, and more that anything else we’re really happy and proud to be doing it in Saratoga,” he added.
