What Micky Eats...: Compané

Run by the Cristofori family, Compané is a brick oven bistro that provides wood fired pizzas and Italian cuisine in a comfortable, home-like ambiance that refreshes the Italian scene in Fairport, NY. I was in upstate NY visiting family for the weekend and we had plans to go to Compané for dinner. Though we had reservations for our group of seven, it was very crowded when we arrived and had to wait almost 40 minutes to be seated.
This was not the staff's fault, rather the other large party who was finishing up upon our arrival took FOREVER to settle up their bill and exit. Nonetheless, we were all starving, hot, thirsty, and just wanted to sit down. Finally, we were seated in the back dining area but the room had absolutely no air flow and it was very hot inside. I was sweating through my little sundress. There were two loafs of bread on the table, cutely presented in brown paper bags, but they were cold and borderline stale. We ordered drinks, listened to the night's specials, and then looked over the menu.

We ordered a few starters for the table to include chicken wings, grilled calamari (which would have been better without the panko breading), and the vono'd clams with sausage. The clams were super tiny, but had nice flavor from the wine and Gorgonzola cheese. This dish is very popular and also available in full entrée size. A few also ordered a Caesar salad to start with, which looked fine. For my main entrée, I decided upon the classic Italian dish of eggplant parmigiano. I was just in the mood for a hearty meal and really wanted something with pasta. I really enjoyed the breaded eggplant but found the tomato sauce to be overly sweet, which kind of spoiled the dish for me. Keith copied me and ordered veal parmigiano, while my cousin Phil picked the other veal dish cooked more lightly with olive oil and served with vegetables instead of pasta. My Aunt Linda chose one of the specials that sounded good to me, seafood ravioli with half lobster and half shrimp in a lovely pink vodka sauce. My Aunt Debbie and Uncle Marty each ordered the fresh fish special of cod stuffed with lobster casino, served with an odd but tasty spinach pico de gallo and side of snap peas. They both cleaned their plates.

It was funny how silent the table got as we each attacked our meals. The serving sizes were pretty generous; I had plenty left over for my cousins to take home and eat the next day. Even though we were pretty full, we ordered a couple desserts to share - cannoli and the restaurant's specialty called pizza frites. The pieces of pizza dough were undercooked and soggy, but others enjoyed the chocolate, cinnamon, and sugar combination on them. Overall, service was decent despite the long wait for our table and the food was fresh and tasty. The price was above average since the portions are so large. The ambience was a bit loud and very warm, so I'd recommend it for lunch or an early easy dinner but would not go here for a special occasion nor for a romantic evening out.

Total Rating: 3.525
Food: 3.5, Price: 4, Service: 3.5, Ambience: 2.5, Accessibility: 4

What I ate:

Vino'd Clams with Spicy Sausage

steamed in their broth of, Gorgonzola cheese, tomatoes, and onions,

accompanied by pomme frites