History of the Club
Soccer
Other Sports (boccie, briskula,
golf, etc.)
Celebrated member sportsmen -
Nevio
Dobry
Calendar of Events
The Restaurant (per below)
Astoria
on the Adriatic
Istria begins at
Trieste and extends southward into the Adriatic Sea, scarcely 50
miles east of Venice as the snapper swims. Currently part of
Croatia [ed. note: also Slovenia and Italy], in the last hundred
years this hilly peninsula has belonged to Austria, Italy, and
Yugoslavia, promoting a multi-cultural identity among homeys who
split 2-to-one Croatian to ethnic Italian. Founded in 1959 by
immigrants from the region, Istria Sport Club has a dining area
that mimics a suburban rec room, the blond paneling lined with
soccer trophies and men playing card games - in this case tresete
and briskula, but walk out back and find the best tables
on a covered terrace overlooking boccie courts and a sunny
vegetable garden. As you begin your meal, the feeling creeps up
that you're sitting, not in a backyard in Astoria, New York, USA
but in a villa on the Adriatic.
There is no menu; the waiter
recites the short list of dishes, pausing to describe them in
Italian to a member of our party, who translates into English.
The thing to get is fuzi ($8), a homemade pasta made by taking
squares of dough and folding in two opposite corners, making
envelopes like miniature Danish. The abundant heap is sauced
with chunks of veal in a light brown gravy laced with paprika
and garlic, a cousin of goulash that's a particular specialty of
Trieste. Potato gnocchi, nearly as good, offer an agreeable
earthy flavor and the same sauce. Another fine choice is
cevapcici ($8), shotgun shells of grilled beef on a bed of red
onions, the meat sausage-textured and accompanied by a zingy
dipping sauce of pureed red pepper called ivar. In happier days,
this was the national dish of Yugoslavia.
Ther are always a couple of
fresh seafood choices, like roasted red snapper ($15), littered
with coarsely chopped garlic, parsley, and salt, and served with
a gravy boat of flavored olive oil that also goes great on
bread. Non-pasta entrées come with a choice of green salad,
french fries, or a vegetable of the day - the other night a
fabulous mash of potatoes and cauliflower irresistibly scented
with garlic (also available a side for $2; don't miss it). When
there's soup du jour, it's usually minestrone ($3), which could
easily serve as a main course. Much heartier than its Italian
counterpart, the Istrian version suspends red beans, spaghetti,
and potatoes in a thick, apparently meatless broth that owes
much of its consistency and all of its flavor to smoked hamhock.
The rather dull selection of
beers - Beck's, Heineken, Budweiser, and Amstel Light - may fore
you to explore the world of Istrian wines, priced at $14 a
bottle. The heavy cabernet sauvignon rocks with the seafood and
pasta, while the merlot is so light it almost blows off the
table. On our first visit we had trouble getting the waiter to
give us a bottle of the third Istrian red, Teran, which is dry
and acidic with a flinty undertaste, but after we extracted a
bottle from him on a subsequent visit, he sheepishly admitted it
was his favorite wine. The Sports Club is jusifiably proud of
its single dessert, called palacinke - light crepes filled with
Nutella or fruit jam, priced at $1 each.
As the sun begins to set, the
players abondon their cards, file past our table, and assemble
on to the boccie courts to begin a spirited game.
Robert Sietsema Customers'
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