It’s not difficult to find Italian food in Sioux Falls. More specifically, it’s not difficult to find pretty good Italian food in Sioux Falls. In a city with Spezia, Tomacelli’s Pizza, Carino’s Italian Restaurant and even Olive Garden, there is definitely no lack of pastas, pizzas and tongue-twisting entrée names.
Uno Zoni’s doesn’t care. While their Italian counterparts may very well saturate the market, they want to make you feel welcome in a more casual atmosphere, mixing American favorites with Italian delights.
he restaurant, owned by Sioux Falls-based Italian Eatery, Inc., opened its doors about six months ago as a catering-based restaurant hoping to move a little closer to the businesses it regularly served. The establishment’s name sounds suspiciously like Uno Tomato Catering on Minnesota Avenue, which is owned by the same company, and with reason, folks. It’s a hybrid between a restaurant and catering business. Uno Zoni has a similar menu to Uno Tomato, but Uno Tomato solely does catering.
Situated in the Old Harvester building in downtown Sioux Falls, the restaurant is a quiet, inviting establishment that serves pasta, salads, loaded potatoes and their specialty—calzones. You may not find some of the more specific Italian foods offered at the restaurants I listed earlier, but you will find many options that are well worth your time.
While the mixture of Italian and American could seem misplaced and confusing, Uno Zoni seems to pull it off quite well. This is helped by the fact that the food is actually good.
I sampled that Italian-American flavor on a midweek dinner date with my friend Heather. The restaurant was pretty quiet, with a dozen or so customers rotating through while we chatted and enjoyed our food. I had the BBQ chicken spud (about $7), a baked potato smothered in BBQ chicken and melted cheddar cheese and served with sour cream and butter. Heather, the vegetarian, ordered a Cheesy Zoni, a calzone stuffed with mozzarella, cheddar, provolone and ricotta cheese.
My potato was awesome. After ordering at the front counter, it took less than 10 minutes to arrive at my table. It was a warm, gooey, BBQ-y mess. I topped it with the sour cream, which added a great cooling mechanism to the molten-hot cheese. The potato was a great base, adding a good flavor without overpowering the delicious chicken and cheese. The entire thing ate like a meal.
While the loaded potato wasn’t difficult to make, it certainly wasn’t something you could get at any regular Italian joint, or most restaurants for that matter. The rarity of this choice made it that much more enjoyable.
Heather also liked her Cheesy Zoni, which had a crispy but soft crust and plenty of melted cheese to go around. Uno Zoni’s specializes in calzones and they make up over 60 percent of their retail food sales. You can order them in nineteen different combinations, including a Buffalo Chicken Zoni, or a Philly Steak Zoni.
It’s also the idea of the calzone that Uno Zoni plans on enhancing. According to supervisor Tad Hamze, the restaurant plans on cutting down the menu and concentrating more on calzones and pizza pies, even adding an array of meat pies. Meat pies, for those unfamiliar, are similar to calzones, only with a crustier French bread-like crust, stuffed with toppings of your choice. Since calzones are so popular at the restaurant, Hamze feels the meat pies would be a hot item, drawing a crowd that may not visit the restaurant otherwise.
The idea, overall, is to make America’s favorites—cheeseburgers, tacos and pizzas—in meat pie form.
While Uno Zoni’s currently manages to create a restaurant that both breeds familiarity while maintaining individuality, I’m excited to see where their new direction of calzones and meat pies takes them.
Stop in now, though, while they have their larger menu. If the rest of the potatoes are as delicious as the BBQ chicken, it’s worth your time. Even if it’s not your standard Italian fare.
Stars (of 5)
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Price: 4
Service: 4
Overall: 4
Banner Photo: Uno Zoni opened in the Old Harvester building six months ago. (Roxy Hammond/The Post)
Top Photo: The American-Italian restaurant offers an array of gourmet baked potatoes on its menu. Pictured here is the BBQ chicken spud. (Roxy Hammond/The Post)
Middle Photo: Calzones, like this cheese zoni, are Uno Zoni’s specialty. (Roxy Hammond/The Post)
Bottom Photo: Uno Zoni offers a mixed American and Italian menu with pastas, salads, calzones and baked potatoes. (Roxy Hammond/The Post)
