The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

#NationalSchoolWalkout

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

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PHOTOS BY Donna Mueller

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 

Here at Home: Area Students Plan to Support Their Peers in Parkland

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Following a tragic Valentine’s Day shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that claimed the lives of 14 students and three teachers, Women’s March Youth EMPOWER is calling for students, teachers, parents, school administrators, and allies to take part in a 17-minute #NationalSchoolWalkout at 10 a.m. across every time zone on March 14.

Parkland students made their collective voice unequivocally clear–breathing unprecedented youthful energy into a movement. They demand government get a grip on a gun and mass shooting epidemic. Their essential message: Enough is enough and that Congress must take action on gun control and pass legislation that will keep them safe from gun violence at school, home and places of worship.

Horace Greeley High School’s Hannah Fenlon was moved by the heartfelt response of Parkland high school students to organize a national student walkout.

“When my principal Mr. Rhodes asked whether I, student body president, was interested to help organize and plan Greeley’s student walkout, I surveyed the other members of student government,” Fenlon said via email. “We collectively agreed this event would be a great chance for our school community to come together and stand up for every student’s right to feel safe in school.”

The group is working with student leaders and administrators to safely plan the event, and hope it will be a meaningful tribute in remembrance of the student and staff lives lost that day. “While we decided that our walkout shouldn’t adopt an overtly political agenda, I also hope students will leave feeling empowered and ready to use their voices to spark positive, tangible change,” Fenlon said.

Chappaqua Central School District Superintendent Dr. Christine Ackerman said the district is aware of the National Movement for students to ‘walk-out’ of school on March 14 for 17 minutes in response to the horrific shooting in Parkland, Florida.

“While the rationale for individual involvement may be different, from my vantage point the ultimate goal for an event of this nature is to bring heightened awareness to the public regarding student concerns over safety,” Ackerman said.

“This is consistent with Project SAVE law enacted by the New York State Legislature in 2000,” she said. “Our secondary principals are working with our students who wish to part-take in this movement.”

Ackerman said the district sent a notice to families — a different notice based upon the students’ ages — Friday prior to the walkout about how it will handle the day in each building.

“In Chappaqua, we are incredibly fortunate to work with a supportive and involved Town of New Castle leadership team… to collaborate on ways to ensure we are cultivating emotionally and physically safe spaces for our children,” she said. “I look forward to working together with all of our community partners as we continuously look to improve our school district environment.”

Byram Hills CSD Superintendent Jen Lamia said students have been forthcoming, expressing their thoughts, and what we care about is they do this in a safe environment. “Our job as educators has been to educate and keep students safe. As a community, having students work with the administration and share what they’re thinking speaks to us maintaining our schools as safe places.”

Lamia felt, “Students are seeking a way to respond, to be heard, and to unify. Educators must do what we can to hear what students have to say and to keep them safe.”

Although Fox Lane High school in Bedford CSD will be participating, neither district Superintendent Dr. Christopher M. Manno, nor Pleasantville UFSD Superintendent Dr. Mary Fox-Alter — whose district high school is not listed as a participating school —responded to a request for comment.

Robert E. Bell Middle School eighth-grade student Isabelle Good-Ricardo encouraged her peers to participate in the March 14 walkout. Below, Good-Ricardo’s statement shares an encouraging message about evoking positive change in a peaceful way and emphasizes today’s students are making history and are tomorrow’s voters. For Isabelle’s comments, please go to: https://www.theinsidepress.com/bell-school-student-explains-why-the-youngest-voices-protesting-gun-violence-must-also-be-heard/

For general info about the walk and participating schools, please visit https://www.actionnetwork.org/event_campaigns/enough-national-school-walkout