Meet the Chef: Tom Riviera of The Riviera

Tom Riviera, owner of in Pleasantville, first entered the restaurant industry in his early teens.

He grew up in The Bronx where he attended Herbert H. Lehman High School and played the drums for a teenage band. At 14, he began working at Tom's Villa Bianca as a busboy.

Chef Anna Randazzo, the daughter of the restaurant's owner, would let Riviera help out in the kitchen, where she taught him how to make sauces and eventually how to cook. She was a self-taught cook and proved to be a good mentor. A seamstress in New York City's Garment Center, her father hired her to cook when she was 20 after he acquired a run-down neighborhood bar named Tom's and turned it into a restaurant. She renamed it as Tom's Villa Bianca.

Eight years later, Riviera joined the Regency Hotel in Manhattan as a chef tournant (relief cook), filling in for cooks who were absent or on vacation.

"It was like going to school," said Riviera, "because a great deal of training was involved. For example, although I had been making sauces since I was 14, this was where I learned to make hollandaise sauce."

Part of his duties involved catering.

"I learned about food decoration and even how to carve ice," he added.

The catering experience proved helpful. He rejoined Anna Randazzo in 1972 to open Marina Del Rey, a large catering and banquet hall in Throgs Neck, that can accommodate up to 500 people in a ballroom and has a 1200-guest capacity for major holidays or occasions such as New Year's Eve. After staying at Marina Del Rey for 12 years, he cooked for three years at Lake Isle Country Club Caterers in Eastchester.

He was a resident of Yonkers in 1989 when friends alerted him to the availability of a restaurant location in Pleasantville on Tomkins Avenue that had been occupied by the Rusty Mariner. It was on a quiet street several blocks from downtown, but otherwise it met his needs and he would look no further.

After a few months of renovation, Riviera Restaurant opened—that was 22 years ago.

The restaurant serves classical Italian dishes and many of the dishes on its original menu are still offered today. These include fettuccine carbonara ($13), fettuccine Alfredo ($13), salmon stuffed with spinach and gorgonzola ($19) and zuppa de pesce for two hungry people with mussels, clams, shrimp, lobster and calamari, served with linguini ($46 for two).

New to the menu

More recently introduced offerings include (note: some of these dishes may not appear on the main menu, but are always available):

• Braised beef short ribs cooked with red wine, beef stock, onions, carrots, celery and tomato ($18) 
• Pan-seared swordfish Livonese with capers, black olives, lemon and butter sauce ($23)
• Beef braciole with gnocchi and stuffed with bread crumbs, garlic, basil, parsley and seasonings ($17)
• Shrimp scampi, stuffed breast of veal or pork chop.

One of the most popular appetizers, Riviera said, is beet salad with feta cheese ($8). 

Desserts include home-baked carrot cake, homemade chocolate cake, Italian cheesecake, sorbet and cream puff; each of these treats is priced at $5. Cannoli costs $3.

The children's menu offers mozzarella sticks (four for $3.50), a small salad ($3), chicken parmigiana ($7.50), meatballs and pasta ($6), penne vodka ($6.50) and ravioli ($5).

Riviera Restaurant is open on Tuesday through Sunday from 5 to 10 p.m. It is closed on Monday. The restaurant is located at 113 Thompkins Ave., Pleasantville, NY. 914-769-9884. Free parking is available on the street.