‘My Cousin Vinny’s’
LEWISTON – Everything about My Cousin Vinny’s Italian restaurant is authentic.
Italian sandwiches are called “grinders” on the menu. The Boston grinder features three spiced meats – capicola, mortadella and Genoa salami – and provolone, all mainstays of any good Italian deli.
But the most authentic thing in the restaurant is Vinny himself.
A native of Boston’s famous North End, Vinny Donatelli worked in his father’s pizza shop and other restaurants before coming to Lewiston and opening his own place. An imposing man at nearly 6-foot-4-inches tall and 264 pounds, his body hints at his previous career as a heavyweight boxer. But he breaks into a dimpled smile when he talks about his business.
“You’ve got to give customers whatever they want,” he said. “After all, they’re paying for it.”
Donatelli delights in special requests. He makes a pan of eggplant Parmesan for a Lee auto dealer every week because the dealer said it was the best he’d ever tasted. He prepared a special shrimp and clam sauce that he served over a bed of linguine to a customer celebrating an anniversary. Another customer told him she was hosting a visit from a priest and some nuns who love Italian food and he’s planning a special lasagna for them.
“I love doing it,” he said. “It’s my way of bringing a little bit of Boston here.”
Donatelli took over the former Engine House Deli and Pub on Lowell Street only a few weeks ago. But he already counts customers from L.L. Bean, Central Maine Medical Center and the Department of Human Services as regulars. He’s planning a grand opening this Saturday from noon to 9 p.m.
He serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. Prices are modest, with sandwiches falling in the $3-$5 range and dinners from $6 to $8. Standard fare such as salads, wraps and sandwiches are available, but the house specialty is Italian, of course.
Every morning Donatelli makes his own pizza sauce and his own spaghetti sauce and meatballs from scratch. When asked where he gets the recipe from, he just smiles and taps his head.
“It’s all up here,” he said.
Tony Legee can verify that; he runs the kitchen for Donatelli.
“He works in a corner of the kitchen and prepares everything himself,” said Legee. “It’s all his own work.”
The two have an easy rapport. Legee is local and speaks French, which comes in handy with some of the Franco customers. And Donatelli has a thick Boston accent that sometimes needs interpretation. Together they arrive at 7 or 8 a.m. to begin prepping for the day. They serve meals from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Donatelli already has plans to expand the restaurant. Right now there are seven tables in the interior of the restaurant with five more on an exterior deck. Donatelli plans to enclose the deck area for more interior seating, then locate an exterior deck on the second floor for outdoor dining. He hopes to convert another room upstairs into a private dining room that can be used as dining/conference space.
“I gave up fighting four years ago,” he said. “My second dream was to own my own restaurant, so here I am.”
His sister lives in Lewiston, which is how he came to know the area. He and his wife, Lisa, and their children are happy to be in Maine.
And although Donatelli loved the movie “My Cousin Vinny,” the restaurant’s name isn’t a tribute to the film.
“I like to help people out, you know, like a cousin,” he said. “For me, it’s important to treat people like family.”
Comments are no longer available on this story