Cozza Osteria and Enoteca

Just had Al in for lunch today. His dinner last night went with a swing. He tells me he is hoping to open for lunch starting next week, and then dinner when he gets his liquor license through. I am going on Monday to check it out.

Al has opened his place for lunch! 11am to 2pm. Stop by and check it out if you are in the area. The address is 214 West Court St. in Jeff. I'll try to get a phone number and some of his items on the menu ASAP.

I guess I'll have to post the info in bits and pieces, but this is what I've gathered so far;
Lunch is from 11am to 3pm
Some of the items on the menu are Tuna Nicoise, Sherry mushroom soup, Chicken Modena, Cesar Basilica, seared tuna or beef tenderloin, Grandma Cozza's organic meatballs,and pasta dishes
I would call the servings portions "large Tapas"
Check them out. Chef Al has tons of personality and his food reflects it.

For you Facebook users, they created a page on there with some information: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jefferson ... 6906210046

For the non-Facebook users here is the main information found on their page:
Italian fusion cuisine is brought to Jeffersonville! Fresh local produce, grain fed beef, and fresh seafood flown in from the Outer Banks of North Carolina combine for a culinary experience like no other. Open daily for lunch, coming soon for dinner.
Location:
214 E. Court Ave
Jeffersonville, IN, 47130
Phone:
812-282-4420
Mon - Sun:
11:00 am - 2:00 pm

Attire:
Casual
Payment Options:
Accepts all major credit cards
Culinary Team:
Al Papsodero
Jonathon Crite
General Manager:
Martee Blair
Parking:
Parking Lot
Price Range:
$$ (10-30)
Services:
Takes Reservations
Walk-Ins Welcome
Good For Groups
Waiter Service
Outdoor Seating
Specialties:
Lunch
Dinner

I wish Al all the best of luck in that location. I think his price point might be a little high for most who reside on the Sunny Side. Timothy's was priced in about the same range and failed to make it there. I was dining there a couple of weeks after they had opened and I saw two tables get up and leave after they opened the menu and saw the prices. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the same thing happens alot when they open for dinner service. Most Jeffersonville residents aren't in the fine dining crowd. It's more of a $8.00 baked spaghetti kind of town, and some would think that's too expensive. Just look at Stratto's failure in Clarksville. Once the Olive Garden opened, people flocked there and still do. I do hope he can break the string of bad fortune since Ray Parrella's closed shop there.

I'm gonna need to see a menu for this place although I guess from the name there will be a lot of sea food.

I wish Al all the best of luck in that location. I think his price point might be a little high for most who reside on the Sunny Side. Timothy's was priced in about the same range and failed to make it there. I was dining there a couple of weeks after they had opened and I saw two tables get up and leave after they opened the menu and saw the prices. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the same thing happens alot when they open for dinner service. Most Jeffersonville residents aren't in the fine dining crowd. It's more of a $8.00 baked spaghetti kind of town, and some would think that's too expensive. Just look at Stratto's failure in Clarksville. Once the Olive Garden opened, people flocked there and still do. I do hope he can break the string of bad fortune since Ray Parrella's closed shop there.

Dan, sadly, i think you are right....and i live in Jeff. A lot of people here flock to a bunch of places with overpriced and not so good food. I don't think it is always a matter of not affording it, because most will spend wayyyyy too much elsewhere, i think it is the unknown. Also, some people just don't, or cannot, appreciate good food.

For example, i am a member of a recipe site. I was looking up a new homemade pancakes recipe. As i was reading the reviews, many people rated recipes very low because they didn't taste like [INSERT BOXED BRAND NAME HERE]. Most people are just used to something and dont want to leave that comfort zone.

I'm gonna need to see a menu for this place although I guess from the name there will be a lot of sea food.

Geez! Osteria just means pub or bar. It's not "oysteria" (a word I just made up). The definition of "enotecca" is wine bar.
Here's something that might help you order at Olive Garden next time you go;

http://dictionary.reverso.net/italian-english/

[Robin Garr]

Geez! Osteria just means pub or bar. It's not "oysteria" (a word I just made up).

Just to add a little linguistic pedantry to the mix, "osteria" comes from the same roots as "hostelry," which comes down from Italian through French to English as "hostelry" or eventually, "hotel." In Italy it implies a (usually rural) eatery usually associated with a hotel. It's maybe just a little bit off-kilter here because an osteria would be more likely to have a few bottles of cheap local wine, not a wine bar; but assuming it implies rustic Italian fare in a cozy setting, it works for me. To put the hierarchy of Italian eats in perspective, an osteria is the most casual and presumably the least fancy and expensive. A trattoria is next up the ladder, and a ristorante tops the list with white tablecloths and dressy servers.

The definition of "enotecca" is wine bar.

An enoteca (one c) in Italy is a little more than just a wine bar. It's usually run by the local wine consortium for each wine-producing area, and it's almost like a museum showing off all the wines of the region it's in, invariably with a tasting bar (but generally not a restaurant).

Cozza, by the way, is an Italian word for "mussel," but it's also a family name. Is Al's last name Cozza? I notice he refers to a dish by "Grandma Cozza" on the menu.

So, it's Cozza's rustic Italian eatery and wine bar. Nice goal. If the food and mood and service live up to the name, I'll be delighted. If the name is just a hokey amalgam of Italian words that don't really describe the eatery or its bill of fare, I may still like it, but I'll probably make a little fun of it.

[Robin Garr]

robin, for not being italian, well done in translating.

Hey, I've got a tiny bit of Italian (Tagliaferro) somewhere on my Heinz 57 (but mostly Anglo-Saxon) family tree, but it's way back.

The main thing, though, is that I've been lucky enough to travel in Italy fairly regularly for pleasure and on wine-writing business, and I've picked up enough Italian (and French) to make me dangerous. I can't really engage in deep philosophical conversations, but I can struggle through an interview with an Italian wine maker or chef because I've got that vocabulary. And after a couple of glasses of vino, my grammar improves tremendously!

I've also put enough real Italian food down the hatch to be able to recognize the real thing when I see it, and that's a good thing, but it also makes me a tough critic of eateries that profess to be "authentic."

Is Al's last name Cozza? I notice he refers to a dish by "Grandma Cozza" on the menu.


Al's last name is Papsodero

[Robin Garr]

Is Al's last name Cozza? I notice he refers to a dish by "Grandma Cozza" on the menu.

Al's last name is Papsodero

Maybe his MOTHER's maiden name is Cozza? That would explain it. Or else he just pulled the name out of the telephone book because it sounded good?

The "cozza" = "mussel" thing may be why MikeG asked about seafood, by the way. Tim was a little quick to jump on him for that. Tsk, Tim.

Back to what Dan wrote, I wish them all the best but the stats are against them. I have lived in Jeff all my life and remember quite well the traffic chaos that ensued when the Sonic on 10th St. opened, police had cones out for two days directing people in. And I do miss Strattos and the original Rockys.

The translation I had of the name was Mussle Inn and Wine Bar. Thus my assertion that seafood would feature prominently on the menu.

You know when I first read the name, before hearing what Cozza means in Italian, it sounds like cozy and that makes me think that it is some place I would be comfortable. That's my 2 cents for all it's worth.

By the way has anybody actually eaten there yet? I would love to see a menu also.

Somebody should tell Al he needs to come on over and give us more info.