Toto's restaurant

By LONG ISLAND WINE DAD December 19, 2021

We looked for a change of pace and discovered a new old friend. We have been to Per'Un'Angelo many times before, but it closed a while back. Today the team from Per'Un'Angelo and Villa D'Aqua are back at the Jones Beach Hotel (3275 Byron St Wantagh NY 11793) under the new name Toto's. The new theme is an Italian steak house, and it truly hits the mark. Last Saturday, we stopped in for a late lunch early dinner and had no problem getting a table for three. The outside remains the same but with new signage (Figure 1). Inside has been refreshed, becoming airy, bright, and cheery (Figure 2). The staff was friendly attentive, and Tom (Owner) stopped by to say hello.

We started with glasses of house Pinot Noir and house Sauvignon Blanc (Figure 3). Both were surprisingly good for house wines and an excellent value for the cost.

For the starters, we had a Caesar salad (Figure 4), Mussels in red sauce (Figure 5), and grilled Octopus (Figure 6). The Caesar salad was fresh, Crisp Romaine Lettuce, crispy, flavorful croutons, and a perky dressing. The mussels in a red sauce were a very generous portion of mussels suitable for sharing in a red sauce. We were expecting a traditional marinara sauce, but this was different and much better, pairing with the perfectly cooked mussels. Finally, the grilled Octopus stole the show; grilled to perfection not chewy resting on a bed of Broccoli Rabe, Garlic, Capers, and a nice hit of hot Cherry Peppers. There were many more options for starters, and one could make a complete meal of the starters alone.

We ordered our main entrees; the Fish was a special for the evening; Jo and I shared the prime steak for two. The Fish was a large portion of Halibut, several large Shrimp, Clams, Mussels in a red sauce sitting atop a bed of black pasta. (Figure 7). The plate was a fantastic presentation of the Halibut and well worth having again. The prime steak for two (Figure 8) was a Porterhouse style about 1 inch thick and cooked to medium rare with a heavy char on the bone, just as we ordered. The steak was presented on a ragingly hot plate, pre-sliced, and plated tableside along with our sides (Figure 9). The steak was well-marbled and very flavorful. We select mushrooms and spinach as our sides. The mushrooms were diverse fungi sautéed in perfect balance with onion and garlic. The spinach was creamed style, and the cream complimented the spinach instead the burying is as is often the case. We had a second round of drinks, and I switched to a house Chianti that was quite good but a bit lighter on tannins than expected.

We managed to save a bit of room for desserts, and the ladies had the chocolate velvet cake (Figure 10) and the Lemon sorbet (Figure 11) with a double expresso for me. The ladies also had cappuccinos to compliment the Chocolate cake (Figure 12). Finally, we closed the meal with a complimentary round of after-dinner drinks.

Overall, this was a fine meal, at a fair price, and worth many return visits—the best of luck to the team on this new venture.