Nolan Thornton

About Nolan Thornton

Nolan Thornton is a screenwriter and freelance journalist living in the Hudson Valley of New York.

Benvenuto! At Tesoro D’Italia, Expect an ‘Old School Attention to Detail’

April 8, 2022 by Nolan Thornton

Enjoy Tesoro D’Italia for their New Event Options and a Fine Dining Experience Anytime!

Tesoro D’Italia is quickly becoming one of Pleasantville’s go-to spots for a date-night, private event, family dinner, and everything in between. Located at 160 Marble Avenue, the Italian restaurant caters to Pleasantville and the surrounding area. The space is quite large, but it’s inviting too. Inside, the decor is familiar: authentic, yet fresh. Bottles of wine line the walls of their private event room. It’s a space you want to enjoy an Italian meal in!

“My menu is mostly classic Italian northern cuisine, with a little bit of southern,” said owner and proprietor Peter Lucaj. The menu ranges from kid-friendly dishes like Penne Alla Vodka to more refined options like Chicken Ripieno, which is stuffed with asparagus, mozzarella, and fontina cheese. “My restaurant is like three restaurants in one,” said Lucaj. It certainly is. Tesoro D’Italia has just about every Italian entree you’ve heard of, plus some you haven’t.

As with all great restaurants, sometimes it can be difficult to decide what to eat. Luckily, Lucaj has us covered. Their signature dish is the Pappardelle Tesoro, which he highly recommends. The pasta dish is made with their homemade meat sauce, fresh tomatoes, basil, and mushrooms, with light cream.

If you’re craving chicken, you can’t go wrong with Chicken Della Nonna, an intriguing dish of pan-seared chicken topped with prosciutto, broccoli rabe, and mozzarella cheese in a pesto cream sauce topped with two jumbo shrimp. The dish is named after Lucaj’s grandmother.

Not only does Tesoro D’Italia feature an extensive menu, they are proud to offer a weekly rotating-specials menu. Lucaj is adamant that the specials not just include an appetizer, entree, and a desert, but one of each type of appetizer and entree, i.e. a pasta special and a seafood special.. A friendly staff are always more than happy to assist with ordering from the many choices on the menu.

Discover its Jewel of a Private Wine Cellar

The multitude of options aren’t limited to the food. “I have over 350 different wines by the bottle,” Lucaj said. The gem of Tesoro’s collection is a jaw-dropping $1,600 Schrader Cellars wine out of Napa. But you don’t have to break the bank at Tesoro either. Bottles of wine start at $30.

Tesoro’s private dining room also happens to be a private wine cellar. Lined with thousands of bottles, the room is the perfect place for events of up to 25 people. Tesoro also has a semi-private area that can accommodate up to 150 people. With all the different private spaces, you would think there’s no room for the main dining room, but you would be underestimating Tesoro D’Italia’s building. “I love this place,” said Lucaj. It’s almost like it was purposely built to host his business.

Most people who host events at Tesoro opt for house wine, but Peter will work with you if you want to upgrade. There are many different event packages available. The private wine cellar space even comes equipped with a flatscreen TV on the wall for corporate events. In fact, events are part of the DNA of Tesoro. Lucaj worked hard to ensure his restaurant is the perfect place to host a part of any size.

Lucaj and his entire team at Tesoro work hard. Tesoro D’Italia cares about their customers, and it shows. “As soon as a customer walks in the door, we do everything we can to make them feel at home,” said Lucaj. “If just one person leaves my restaurant before I get a chance to ask them personally how their meal is, something is wrong.” It’s that kind of old-school attention to detail that makes Tesoro D’Italia the truly special place that it is. While great for events, it’s also perfect for a date-night, or a family meal. “I always tell my customers, don’t come without the kids,” said Lucaj.

Whatever your occasion is, Tesoro D’Italia can make it special. Start off with the Antipasto Platter and finish off with the Pappardelle Tesoro for your main, if you’re going for dinner, and enjoy some wine from their remarkable collection. It’s a perfect night or day out, no matter the occasion. Visit tesoroditaliany.com

Spring Hiking At Easy to Reach and Popular Westchester County Park Locales

April 8, 2022 by Nolan Thornton

Photo by Elena Wolfe for Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture

Looking for a fun new hike for this Spring? Look no further. We put together a short list of diverse trails to blaze as the weather turns warmer. After all, Spring in New York is that perfect sweet spot when it’s not too cold and not too hot. In other words, it’s the perfect time of year to put down those phones and go to the park!

WARD POUND RIDGE RESERVATION

This stunning park clocks in at over 4,300 total acres, and is located in Pound Ridge, NY. According to a spokesman for Westchester County Parks, Linda Lovallo, “The Reservation is a mecca for hikers from nearby, as well as communities throughout Westchester, as well as Connecticut, New York City and even Long Island.” Because of the sheer size of the park, hikers have many choices for planning their routes. There are more moderate routes like the Pound Ridge Marsh Loop, a 2.6 mile loop, and there are far more challenging paths more experienced hikers can traverse on their own. Camping is offered at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation as well.

For programming, the reservation has much to offer. A particularly interesting program is called, “Gallery In the Park,” where artists exhibit their work in the beautiful surroundings of the reservation. There are two shows scheduled this spring. The first is, “For Mother Nature,” a multi-artist mixed-medium show that will celebrate Mother Nature, and will coincide with the weekend after Earth Day. There will be an opening reception scheduled for Saturday, April 23, from 1 to 4 p.m. There will be refreshments and live acoustic music. “For Mother Nature” will run through Sunday, June 5. The second show is by renowned wildlife photographer, Dona Tracy. The show will open Saturday and Sunday, June 11 and 12, from 1 to 4 p.m., and will feature live music on Saturday and a live Birds of Prey demonstration on Sunday. The show will run through August 14.

STONE BARNS

While perhaps a bit of an unconventional choice for a hike, unconventional isn’t necessarily a bad thing. While many trails are flooded with hikers when the nicer weather comes around, the 80-acres Stone Barns (located in Pocantico Hills) has to offer will be all yours (and getting up close to the animals who live there is just a bonus).

Blue Hill is the famous restaurant that Stone Barns serves, but the grounds aren’t just limited to their customers. A parking pass is available for $10 on the weekends (parking is free on weekdays) so that everyone can enjoy its beauty. “In the Stone Barns Center fields, you will see our hard-working teams making the transition from winter cover to spring abundance. The fields are coming alive with new growth of diversified vegetables, grains, herbs and flowers,” said Stone Barns crop director Jason Grauer.

You don’t have to just stay with the fields, either. Stone Barns offers guided tours of their facilities for $25 an adult, and $10 a kid over 5. “When visiting the Stone Barns Center Greenhouse this spring, one can see the propagation space, a warm nursery environment with tens of thousands of plants started from seed and plant tissue culture,” said Grauer. With Stone Barns, it’s not just a hike, it’s an entire agricultural experience.

The programs can get a little bit pricey, but they are top notch. They range from the relatively modest and children-friendly tour mentioned above, to a $75 tour led by a Stone Barns farmer and a Blue Hill chef, to a $95 sheep shearing demonstration. Stone Barns also features an upscale cafeteria that is open from Thursday to Sunday, starting at 10 a.m. The perfect place to end a hike!

CROTON POINT PARK

At 508 acres, it’s right in the middle of Pound Ridge and Stone Barns. Like Pound Ridge, Croton Point has many exciting amenities when you plan your visit. “This park offers year-round events and activities and has facilities for camping, hiking and swimming. Patrons come from Connecticut, all five boroughs of New York City, upstate New York, all parts of Westchester County, and from as far as Alaska and The Netherlands,” said Lovallo. You can go for a serious camping trip, or you can go for a quick three-minute walk or run.

During the summer months, the park is an attraction for swimmers. In the spring, the beautiful river-side park may just be the perfect place for hikes and visits of all types. In addition to camping and swimming, Croton Point Park offers other compelling programming as well. “The Croton Point Nature Center houses exhibits on local flora and fauna including Hudson River specimens, local and Native American history and hands-on activities,” said Lovallo. The park is on land that belonged to Native Americans, and the director of the center tries to reflect that.

Another fun feature of Croton Point Park is the miniature air field that Croton Point Field becomes when members of the Miniature Aircraft Association of Westchester gather. You won’t notice them on your hike, but you’ll pass right by them when on your way to park.

The 3.7 mile Croton Point Park trail is perfect for hikers of every skill level. It features a river view and, like all entries on this list, exemplifies the lush, beautiful greenery that the Hudson Valley is known for. At the end of the trail, you can even walk right up to the cliff overlooking the water (that is very safely protected with barricades). This trail is not to be missed in the spring. Bring the kids, bring the dog, bring the whole family!

Greeley’s Athletic Director Geoff Curtis Encourages an Emphasis on “Embracing the Journey & the Experience”

February 24, 2022 by Nolan Thornton

Geoff Curtis oversees, or in his words, is “a part of” the powerhouse that is Horace Greeley athletics in his role as athletic director. The boys swim team just wrapped up their undefeated conference season; the boys and girls ski team recently won team events; the girls swim team were State champs–winning at Ithaca College–and back in October the football team and the entire community celebrated a homecoming victory against the Irvington Bulldogs.

There are many coaches at Horace Greeley High School, but there is only one athletic director.

“I’ve been a pretty fortunate athlete and educator throughout my whole sporting life,” said Curtis. Curtis played baseball at Lewis-Clark State College for coach Ed Cheff, who recently passed away, then went on to assistant-coach under him while in grad school. Curtis learned much from his mentors and works to pay it forward. “I had high quality educators and coaches from the very start, and that rubbed off on me,” said Curtis.

While observing a PE elementary school class one morning, he saw students at the end of the game they were playing, turn to each other to say, “Good game.” This is exactly what Curtis wants to see among his students. According to Curtis, they have to understand that, “for them to enjoy this game, they need each other…

Working Toward Growth

“You are a student and a person first, and being an athlete comes second,” he said. This outlook permeates every team and every coach in his district. The idea is not just for his students, it’s for everyone. “We as people should always be working on our growth.”

In the unique individual sports, wrestling and swimming, students compete against each other, but the scores are kept as a team. Curtis pointed out that when the wrestling and swimming coaches come into his office to tell him about the meet, they never tell him about their best three athletes, they tell him how the team did. It’s not just about the talents of the few. It’s “the squad, not the individual. That’s something that really permeates our department,” said Curtis.

PHOTOS BY CHRISTINA SCHOONMAKER

Curtis highly values his co-workers and remains humble about his role as athletic director. “There are a lot of great things in place. I’m just looking around and seeing if there’s anything I can do to improve or acknowledge and continue what’s already here.” All he will allow is, “I’m fortunate to be in the position to have some impact – a small impact on all of it.”

Curtis has had to perform his duties during trying times. During the first year of COVID, he said, “Pretty soon it became clear, I’m not going to be able to meet with [my] students again. Except maybe a triple-masked senior ceremony on the baseball field.” It wasn’t just sports that were affected by COVID, of course. In Curtis’ words, everything that wasn’t the virtual classroom was canceled.

Staying Grateful

“It highlights how much we appreciate our extracurriculars. From the educators who put in extra time to help these young people to the parents who didn’t get to watch to the community members who just want to come out and cheer them on.” Curtis is very thankful that some degree of normalcy has returned, and that athletics are able to resume at the level they have been.

In fact, “We kind of went whole hog for homecoming,” he said. They scheduled as many home games as possible and built the ‘Greeley Zone’–a blocked off area of campus from the back parking lot to the tennis courts, where they had food trucks.

“People of every age were there,” said Curtis. “It was really a community event. There were young parents with not even school age kids who came by just to be a part of it.”

Curtis embraces this aspect of his job. “The job of an athletic director and really any administrator in a district like this is to embrace those community opportunities that are there.” And Curtis is excited about the future, given the past success of community events. “We’re looking at something similar this spring. It’s in the planning stages right now,” he said.

PHOTOS BY CHRISTINA SCHOONMAKER

“It’s the Time with the Team”

The community element of sports highlights how much more than a game these events really are. “It might not have to do with the equipment that you use to play your sport. It’s the time with the team, it’s the things you learned from the coaches, it’s the experience and the journey,” said Curtis.

There are astonishing wins and brutal losses, but there is so much more than that. “It’s fun and it’s rewarding and it’s hard work, all rolled into one,” said Curtis. “But it’s not easy.”

These students made a commitment that everyone involved takes very seriously. That’s why a team’s players show up to practice multiple times a day, and that’s why people’s jobs revolve around it. But that’s not it either. It’s not one athlete, it’s not the entire town. It’s all the above.

Christina Schoonmaker is a Chappaqua-based freelance photographer. Her images capture events in photo journalistic style wrapped in emotion. Contact C73photography@gmail.com for more info.

A Community Treasure: Carolyn Vento, Master Hair Colorist at the King Street Salon

November 12, 2021 by Nolan Thornton

Carolyn Vento is a master hair colorist in much the same way your favorite artist is a master musician, painter, or sculptor. There are many who make a living doing what they do, but there are few who command the respect of the masters of the form. Vento likes to joke that hair is her canvas, but she’s right. Her 300-plus clients from all over Westchester and New York City seem to agree.

King Street Salon is owned by Vento’s sister, Rosemary Filancia, and her brother-in-law, Charles Fremolaro. Vento has been working with hair professionally for 37 years, and has an even longer history in the business. Her father was also a hairdresser. “I was eight years old, doing roller sets,” she said. Since her time at the family business, Vento has trained at the renowned Vidal Sassoon Sassoon Academy and has been certified by the American Association of Haircolorists. But Vento doesn’t rest on her laurels. When she’s not at work she’s at home watching new hair coloring tutorials on YouTube. “I learn from my assistant every day,” says Vento. With King Street Salon, you’re not just getting all the experience, you’re getting the lifelong pursuit of perfection.

Vento’s dedication is time consuming. “I work six days a week, 12 hours a day. What’s the alternative?” she says. You can expect to see her in the salon starting at 6:30 a.m., and you can expect her to still be there twelve hours later. After finally taking a much needed vacation, she said, by the second day, “I wished I was home.” Her dedication is unmatched. “My clients are my family. If they want to come in at 9 at night, I’ll do it.” All of Vento’s over 300 clients have her cell number, and that’s the only way she’d have it. It goes beyond merely running a business. Vento is part of the fabric of her community, and she knows it and takes it seriously.

Vento makes dreams come true in her own little corner of the world, and she’s fueled by it. Not only is it in her blood, it’s in her heart.

“I believe every merchant has the responsibility to serve the community in any way they can,” she says. This thought was running through her mind during the early days of quarantine when King Street Salon was shut down. Vento wondered what she could do to serve her community and to put food on her assistant’s table, when the idea came to her. If she couldn’t have people in her salon, she could do the next best thing and bring the salon to them with portable hair-coloring kits that she could drop off at her customer’s houses. It wasn’t as good as the real thing, but as Vento said, “It put a Band-Aid on the problem,” one that their hairdressers would thank her for later.

“I made 147 kits, and did 147 tutorials for husbands and kids,” says Vento. The kits were a huge success, and Vento put in the effort to ensure that they were applied correctly. She would make five tutorials a night for whichever relative or friend happened to be acting as her proxy. The kits were successful in large part due to the Chappaqua Moms Facebook group. All of King Street Salon’s business comes in through word of mouth, and with the support of a large group, businesses like Vento’s can really flourish. And of course it helps that no one has a bad thing to say about her.

The affection between Vento and her customers is mutual.

“I love this town,” says Vento. Growing up, she had lived above one of her father’s salons in Armonk. She returned to the area in 2012, leaving behind a highly successful salon in the East Village. Now, her former customers in Manhattan make the journey to Westchester to have Vento work her magic.

Vento is not only good at what she does, she really loves it. She adores what she’s able to do for her customers. She does it for that moment when, “A woman looks in the mirror and purses her lips, and for that split second she feels like a supermodel.” Vento makes dreams come true in her own little corner of the world, and she’s fueled by it. Not only is it in her blood, it’s in her heart. “I eat it, I drink it, I sleep it,” says Vento. It’s her whole life, and that’s the way she wants it. From the procedure itself to the customer’s reaction at the result, Vento is enthralled. After all, she must be worth every penny to bring city slickers to the suburbs.