Geddes, N.Y. — It’s not exactly oceanfront property, but a corner of the New York State Fairgrounds will soon be home to a year-round seafood and pasta restaurant.
Daniella’s Fresh Seafood & Pasta House is expected to open as soon as late next week at the State Fair’s Empire Room.
It will be be operated by Charlie Roman, the veteran Central New York restaurateur who owns Daniella’s Steakhouse near the Fairgrounds on State Fair Boulevard in Lakeland.
Just before the 2019 State Fair, Roman won a five-year contract to operate the Empire Room under a lease with the state. He operated it as a bistro during last year’s fair and intended to use it for catering and events at other times of the year.
But catered events have disappeared during the coronavirus pandemic, and the 2020 State Fair was cancelled, too.
Meanwhile, Roman said he saw an opportunity to fill a void in Central New York’s dining scene, with an upscale restaurant dedicated to seafood.
“There are other restaurants that serve seafood, of course, but not with the focus and attention we’re putting on it,” Roman said. The menu will include a raw bar and fresh lobster and other seafood flown in from Boston.
He hopes to build on the reputation he’s earned at Daniella’s Steakhouse.
“I like to think our steakhouse has been fairly successful,” he said. “We want to maintain that brand and take it in a different direction."
Roman has hired two noted local chefs to run the kitchen: Kevin Gentile, who has operated his own restaurants in Syracuse and Utica, and Brad Benjamin, a former chef at the Lincklaen House in Cazenovia. They are still putting the finishing touches on the menu.
Roman is aiming to open next Friday — on what would have been the final weekend of the 2020 fair.
Under terms of the contract signed last year, Daniella’s pays the State Fair 3 percent of gross sales in the first year of the contract, rising to 5 percent in the second, third and fourth years, and eight percent in the fifth and final year.
Charlie Roman, owner of Daniella's Steakhouse in Lakeland, is opening a sister seafood restaurant at the Empire Room of the NY State Fairgrounds. This is the patio.
The Fair in recent years invested about $250,000 in a project to renovate and modernize the dining room, bar, kitchen and patio of the Empire Room, located at the far southeast corner of the Fairgrounds. Roman spent about $100,000 installing new kitchen equipment.
Together, in normal times, the dining room and patio can seat about 350. The seafood house’s opening now comes at a time when there are restrictions that limit restaurant to no more than 50% capacity.
Roman will operate the place when the next State Fair rolls around in 2021. During the run of the Fair, the menu will likely be “more Fair oriented, not as upscale,” Roman said. Roman has also operated a Fair stand along State Fair Boulevard whose menu options include a shrimp burger.
“This new restaurant will not only add to the mix of establishments in Central New York, but will provide jobs and tax revenue for the region during a challenging time and — as we build back stronger than ever — create a new food attraction at the Fair for years to come,” Fair Director Troy Waffner said in a statement.
Roman is a long-time and legendary restaurant and club owner who may be best known as the operator of the former Roman’s Tavern in the city’s Franklin Square, along with other places in both Syracuse and Alexandria Bay.
He’s looking forward to a new challenge, even during the pandemic.
“No guts, no glory,” he said.
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Don Cazentre writes for NYup.com, syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach him at dcazentre@nyup.com, or follow him at NYup.com, on Twitter or Facebook.