Testo’s

853 4th Ave. (corner of 124th St.), Troy, 235-0444. Serving Tue-Sat 11:30-9. D, MC, V.

Cuisine: classic Italian

Entrée price range: $7.25 (spaghetti dinner) to $13.75 (linguini with clam sauce)

Ambiance: neighborhood eatery

A Troy Tradition

By B. A. Nilsson

Like Uncle Sam, Testo’s is a Troy institution, a 31-year-old phenomenon that defies both the logic and the odds of the restaurant industry. No effort is made here to adapt to dining trends. No market-research-fueled design innovations have changed the look of the place. As other North Troy eateries come and go, Testo’s continues to do what it’s been doing all along. And it thrives.

We saw the evidence during a recent middle-of-the-week visit. We arrived before six for dinner (early for me) and found the place already dotted with diners; by the time we left, it was practically full. And that doesn’t count the vigorous take-out business.

“We’ve stayed the course,” says John Testo, one of the second-generation owners. “We’ve weathered all the storms.” The secret, he explains, is simple: “We stick with what we do best.”

He runs the place with his brother, Chuck; their father founded it and developed a menu based on familiar family recipes.

The food addict in me loves oversized, multi-page menus in imposing bindings. A seemingly unlimited amount of food is available; the possibilities seem reassuringly endless. And then comes the moment of truth. The server stands by, order pad poised, eyebrows up, waiting. What’ll it be?

You scan the pages in a panic now. Do I commit to lasagna? Do I really want a steak? Because this is it: This is your dinner.

Thankfully, at Testo’s you’re confronted with a compact menu, two pages of options that pretty much cover the standards. And the indecisive diner in me was grateful.

We had an antipasto ($8.50) to start, proving that even with only two pages in front of me I’m incapable of reading closely—two of the entrées we ordered are served with salads. Even though our very accommodating server no doubt would have let me change my appetizer without fuss, I was too stubborn or embarrassed (or both) to budge.

Besides, that meant that the salad recipients—my wife and daughter—would be less inclined to plunder my antipasto plate, and who, when you get right down to it, really wants to share food? There’s a deep, antediluvian desire to hoard.

Nothing unexpected about the antipasto. A bed of unchallenging iceberg, slices of salami and a couple of types of ham, onions, olives, tomatoes, chunks of provolone—your standard-issue assortment, but an easygoing starter when there’s pasta ahead.

And this isn’t to ignore the other appetizer choices, which include roasted red peppers, pasta e fagioli, mozzarella sticks, chicken wings and more, and even a fried combo platter, all in the $6-$7 range.

Here are the bargains. Pasta dinners, starting with spaghetti, ziti or linguine, served with a salad and bread, for $7.25. Add mushrooms or peppers, or make a dinner out of cavatelli, it’s $10. And for less than $11 there’s ravioli, lasagna, stuffed shells and more, including my daughter’s entrée: ziti Alfredo with broccoli ($10.75).

Alfredo means cream, a cream sauce made with egg yolks and cheese, about as rich a topping as they come, a dinner that lights up the palate. For once, she wasn’t the least interested in the pizza I ordered, and she insists that had nothing to do with the anchovies on it.

That’s my pizza secret, you see. Top it with anchovies and you never have to share. Testo’s is justifiably celebrated for its pizza, boxes of which fly out of the place like a blizzard, and your dinner options are eight- or 12-cut pies with the familiar choice of toppings. Go with one item and it’s $9.50 for the eight-cut—a generous-sized square pan—and $13 for the 12. The eight will serve three people who aren’t too worried about the math.

I went with an eight-cut topped with “the works,” a monument of sausage and mushrooms and peppers and onions and on and on and, of course, those salty little fish strips. A terrific dinner, and a terrific lunch the following day.

Only one chicken preparation is listed, so it took my wife a few moments to zero in on it. (Were chickens ever to disappear from the earth, I’d have to find a new dining companion.) As parmigiana, it’s available on a mozzarella-topped torpedo roll ($6.75) or in dinner form ($11.50). She ordered the latter, which comes with a side of spaghetti, and there’s not much out of the ordinary to report. It’s a classic.

Other entrée options include eggplant parmigiana ($11.50), sausage and peppers or sausage and mushrooms ($12), veal and peppers, veal parmigiana or veal and eggplant ($13.50). The most costly items, at $13.75 apiece, are the seafood dishes, which include baked haddock, shrimp scampi, baked scallops and linguine with red or white clam sauce.

We had a show to catch; we didn’t stay for dessert. But we did stop in next door and pick up a quart of Testo’s meat sauce, a product good enough to make it to the shelves of local supermarkets. Tonight I’ll prepare some pasta, top it with the sauce, and enjoy an echo of the pleasant time at Testo’s. I’ll even share it with the rest of my family.

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