Sarducci's serves Mediterranean fare to Vermont's locals, tourists

Nation's Restaurant News, Sept 19, 1994 by Jack Hayes

MONTPELIER, VT. - Known for maple syrup and ski slopes and its much-publicized boycott of Wal-Mart, the Green Mountain State is giving a bright green light to Mediterranean dining.

Billed as one of northern Vermont's hottest new concepts, 75-seat Sarducci's is breaking 300 dinner covers and serving another 100 lunches to Montpelier's local and tourist crowd seven days a week.

"After talking about it for a long time, we finally decided to give Mediterranean a try," said Dorothy Korshak, who sold her interest in Julio's here - a well-established 60-seat Tex-Mex concept - and debuted Sarducci's with partner Carol Paquette in January.

Korshak and Paquette, who also had been with Julio's, recruited Joe Rusiski, a chef with the locally based New England Culinary Institute, to head up Sarducci's kitchen.

Though not disclosing start-up costs, Korshak said she visited New York, Chicago and Boston for ideas and took a 10-year lease on her Main Street property with a finished idea of the concept.

The dining room is garnished with a 12-seat bar, where lunch and dinner are served routinely, and an exhibition pizza oven near the rear kitchen.

Wearing a seafood and vegetarian slant, the dinner menu boasts six appetizers, six salads and soups, a dozen pizzas, 16 pastas and 10 separate entrees up to $13.95.

According to Korshak, top-sellers include a pasta dish called pugliese, featuring penne with wild mushrooms, spinach, black olives, roasted eggplant and garlic, as well as a more traditional shrimp and scallops combination.

"We're doing a lot of seafood," said Korshak, who managed health food restaurants in both New York and Boston. Pastas are making up 50 percent of the dinner mix, while pizzas add 24 percent and the more expensive entrees 26 percent, she added. A separate dessert menu showcases the top-selling tiramisu.

The week before Labor Day, Sarducci's dinner check average was $15.88. Lunch checks meanwhile were averaging $8.47, Korshak said.

Based on her numbers, the restaurant is heading for a $2 million first-year gross.

"They did no advertising, and the place has been jammed since it opened," observed Jim Higgins, a locally based marketing expert.

"I guess you could say we're taking the town by storm," Korshak said.