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Ryan DuVall 01/15/12
Restaurant Critic - Journal Gazette Fort Wayne

Dining worth lines at Italian hideaway   

It is no longer just the cozy little place I happened upon in, of all places, a truck stop east of New Haven.

No, Salvatori's Authentic Italian Eatery has seen its reputation grow to the point that it is always packed and there is usually a line of folks waiting to get in.

One would think a bigger space was in order for the restaurant Sam Leto opened next to Bill's Sun Mart and Taco Bell along U.S. 30. But keeping the numbers low allows Leto and his crew to concentrate on what is most important – making from-scratch Italian food better than the bigger places.

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Pat White 11/06/11
Talk Radio Host

"My God, this place is incredible. Yes, it is in a truckstop, but the food is unreal. Make sure there is room in your fridge as you will be eating for days after dining there. From the appetisers to the desserts you simply can't go wrong. If you love Italian, this is the place to eat. 5-stars."

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Ryan DuVall 01/21/07
Restaurant Critic - Journal Gazette Fort Wayne

[This was our first review from the Fort Wayne Newspapers from 2007. It is the one that is hanging by the cash register. I can't believe that was five years ago.]

Salvatori's is a gem in the rough    

If there is one thing I have learned in my years of dining out, it is that you just never know what you are going to get.

Go to a five-star, $100-a-plate place and you might get just a few specks of food that look more like what is left on your plate when you are finished than what you start with. Then, go to a ramshackle roadside trailer and eat the best barbecued ribs your fingers have ever dirtied themselves on. So, when someone told me there was a new Italian restaurant connected to the Bill's Sun Mart outside of New Haven off U.S. 30 just east of Interstate 469, I didn't hesitate to check it out. And, boy, I was glad I did.

Located in a gas station, ambience is hard to come by, but the owners of Salvatori's have done their best. It has fast-food style booths and just a few tables and tile floors, but the walls are an attractive mustard color with red, green and white Italian flag stripes along the top, and there are several dated photos of Italy and a hodgepodge of Italian wares decorating them. I was seated as soon as I walked in the door both times by a friendly, smiling staff member who made me feel right at home. However, unlike my home, smoking is allowed in the smallish dining room, so beware. [Salvatori's went non-smokining in April 2011]

No sooner had I opened the menu than I knew this place was a far cry from the Taco Bell that shares the other side of the building. There are plenty of sandwiches, salads and pizza-by-the-slice for customers on the go (i.e. truck drivers who frequent the facility), but how many truck stops do hand-rolled manicotti or pasta primavera?

I opted to try the lasagna and manicotti during my first visit but had to at least sample one pizza. The 7-inch Veneto white pizza proved to be the perfect appetizer. The thin, more chewy than crispy crust was topped with Salvatori's Alfredo sauce, shaved chicken breast, red onions, mushrooms, fresh basil and mozzarella cheese. The chicken was juicy; the mushrooms really worked well with the sauce and the basil was a fantastic touch. Next time, however, I am going to ask for more onions. Not because there wasn't enough, I just love onions on chicken pizza.

I also tried a dinner salad, which is a half portion of the more meal-sized house salad. It was decent, and I would venture to say better than any other salad I have had at a gas station, although that isn't much of a venture. The blend of romaine and iceberg lettuce was tossed with diced red cabbage, carrot slivers, red onion and a blend of white cheeses. The house creamy Italian finished it off perfectly.

I also found that a couple of Salvatori's sides were pretty good as appetizers. The chilled tomato and cucumber salad was fresh, crispy and had the right vinegar zing, and the hot spicy cabbage was quite a find. Served piping hot with what I believe was a bit of olive oil or butter and a blend of red pepper and seasonings, this mix of red and green cabbage had just enough spices to make it interesting without being too harsh.

But how interesting the main courses were going to be was the big question. I ordered the full order of manicotti because, who am I kidding, I have a big appetite. But I didn't have one big enough to handle this giant plate of food. Salvatori's manicotti is made with lasagna noodles rolled end to end and stuffed with ricotta cheese and spices. It is topped with meat sauce, but marinara is available upon request. It was fantastic. The sauce is slightly sweet and quite meaty, and there is a ton of cheese that oozes out with each cut from the fork. The full order contained four giant rolls. I ate two and had plenty left for lunch the next day.

The lasagna was even better. Although it contained the same basic ingredients, there was a scrumptious surprise sitting under the top layer - thinly sliced meatballs. Salvatori's meatballs are homemade and have a good amount of garlic. They were so good; I am dying to go back and try a meatball sub.

Both dishes were served with garlic bread that, like the meatballs, was made on site. The Italian bread is just slightly toasted with a drizzle of olive oil, along with garlic and a pinch of spices. It is chewy and delicious. During my second visit, I decided a sandwich was in order, but chose the Maria - pepperoni, ground Italian sausage, salami, ham, marinara and mozzarella cheese - over the meatball. It was served on the same tasty bread the garlic bread is made with and it, too, didn't disappoint. There was a ton of meat, plenty of cheese, and the sauce was great. It was also topped with a large lettuce leaf that I tossed away. Who are they kidding? Lettuce belongs nowhere near this sandwich.

I chose another interesting side with my sandwich during this visit - the house potatoes. Chunks of soft, yellow, quartered potatoes were cooked up with ground sausage, chicken, onions, green peppers and roasted red peppers. It was a great side dish, but a starchy one for a place that specializes in pasta. Somewhere Dr. Atkins is rolling over in his grave.

The final pasta dish I tried - Basilicata sausage and peppers rigatoni - had a ton of sliced onions and green peppers and roasted red peppers with the large chunks of Italian sausage and marinara. The helping was huge, just like the manicotti, and I had plenty left over for lunch again. This may have been the best dish at Salvatori's. It was quite zesty and peppery, and even better with a sprinkle of red pepper flakes.

I also had to try another pizza and, of course, had to see how Salvatori's sausage roll measured up.

The Abruzzo all-meat pizza was a good pick, but not as good as the Veneto. There was plenty of pepperoni, Italian sausage, ham, bacon, salami (a great pizza topping in my book), cappicola (an even better topping) and ground beef, and the regular pizza sauce was fine, but the fresh basil and mushrooms on the Veneto made it my favorite. The sausage roll disappointed because it was more of a calzone with its bready covering. As a calzone, it was good, but don't try to pass it off as a sausage roll.

Salvatori's dessert selection is up to par with many other restaurants in the area, but that is not a good thing. The only options are cheesecake - turtle or white chocolate-raspberry. Sound familiar? It should, because I think one out of every three restaurants I visit in this area offers the same thing. They are good, sure, but unimaginative. Had Salvatori's offered, say, a homemade cannoli or some tiramisu, it would have had me thinking hard about giving a gas station restaurant five stars.

Regardless, Salvatori's is doing just fine. The food was fantastic and the service was great. I saw several truck drivers walking past the front window taking sacks of Taco Bell back to their rigs and shook my head. They didn't know what they were missing.

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