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Central Newsmagazine is Central St. Louis County's
exclusive direct-mailed community newspaper. |
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Dining Spotlight |
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At Marciano’s, There Is No Menu RequiredBy Betsy Zatkulak
 When it comes to dining out, people tend to be creatures of habit. Great food, friendly service, the right atmosphere and familiar faces will draw them back to a restaurant time and time again.
Perhaps no one in the St. Louis restaurant business better understands this aspect of human nature than John Marciano, who this year celebrates 25 years of creating habit-forming Italian fare for families, business travelers, and local news and sports celebrities at Marciano’s St. Louis. “People come in, we’ll seat them and they’ll say, ‘We don’t need to see a menu, we already know what we’re going to have,’” Marciano said. “When you have a reputation for very good food and people build their night around a certain dish that you serve in your restaurant and they’re coming in just for that item, that really says a lot, and that’s where we put our emphasis. We want everyone to have an outstanding experience when they come here.” Marciano’s is located in the main court of Westport Plaza where gleaming office towers overlook an international array of fine restaurants, two hotels and dynamic night spots. “Really, there is nowhere in St. Louis that has something like this where you can go, park your car, have dinner, walk over to the comedy club or playhouse, then enjoy a late-night coffee or drink,” Marciano said. When those mid-spring evenings and balmy temperatures settle in, guests can sit next to the fountain at Marciano’s and enjoy a leisurely dinner and bottle of wine. Indoors, the Tuscan-style decor is an open invitation for guests to get cozy and stir the senses with a mix of Italian and Mediterranean specialty foods and fine wine. There even is a private dining room that seats 50 guests. Marciano’s lunch and dinner menus are eclectic Italian marked with many classic dishes, including veal parmigiano, lasagna, ravioli, fettuccini and house-made meatballs. House specialties include the Tenderloin Spedini, charbroiled and stuffed with prosciutto and provolone cheese and topped with lemon-butter mushroom sauce, and the Osso Bucco and Capellini Delicati, thin pasta noodles with sun-dried tomatoes, imported porcini mushrooms and unfiltered olive oil. Soups and lunch and dinner specials influenced by the seasons are offered daily. Marciano said salads are a definite favorite. For Marciano, the joy of owning and operating a successful restaurant comes from making hundreds and hundreds of friends and soaking in the delight on the faces of his customers as his dishes are brought to the table. “If we weren’t on the right track doing the right thing, we would have never been able to accomplish 25 years in this location and expand into other areas,” Marciano said. “In a town where there are a lot of dining opportunities, you really have to be better than the other guy to keep that edge.”
Marciano’s St. Louis 333 Westport Plaza (314) 878-8180
Hours: 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday Noon to 11 p.m. Saturday 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday
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