Old-World Sicilian cuisine meets contemporary gastropub vibes at Spettro, Poughkeepsie’s new dining hotspot in the city’s Arlington district. Co-owners—and best friends—Giovanni Ilardi and Michael Purcell developed a dining concept centered around Italian fare that’s elevated yet rooted: Sicilian family recipes made with Manhattan-quality ingredients—upscale food served with an upstate vibe. And after more than a year of planning, including 18 months of construction, the new spot opened last December.
“We offer authentic, elevated Italian pub fare, with a great mix of New York State beers and Italian wines,” Purcell says. “Giovanni’s family is from Sicily, so we highlight a lot of Sicilian street food and traditional recipes, often with a small twist. For example, one pasta dish is a pistachio pesto over bucatini and pesto is traditionally olive oil based, but we used butter to give more of a silky texture, and it’s a very popular dish.”
“If not the best-seller, it’s one of the top,” adds Ilardi, who was formerly a general manager at Poughkeepsie establishments Zeus Brewing Co. and Schatzi’s (Purcell was in digital marketing). “There’s nothing wrong with a classic red-sauce joint, but when building out the menu, we wanted more authentic Italian, as opposed to Italian-American.”
Spettro offers varying menus for lunch and dinner Tuesday through Saturday, with brunch on Sundays. Lunch options center around sandwiches, salads, and Neapolitan-style pizza; dinner options expand to include steaks, pastas, scallops, and other entrées.
The crowd-pleasing Degausser pizza ($22) with nduja (a spicy, spreadable Italian sausage), bacon, honey, arugula, mozzarella, on a sesame seed crust is a popular pick, as is Suppli, a fried spaghetti prepared in the same way Roman chef Gabriele Bonci prepares it, with homemade tomato cream ($14). Sandwiches come on a variety of breads including panuozzo, a homemade pizza dough puffed up as a sandwich pocket, like the mortadella sandwich with mortadella, stracciatella, fig jam, pistachio crumble, and frisée ($17).
Sunday brunch features traditional favorites with an Italian twist, like the Spettro benedict , poached eggs made with crispy speck instead of ham and a side of fingerlings ($18), or the mascarpone panettone French toast with grilled apples and drizzled honey ($16).
“We had menu ideas in mind before we hired our chefs, who then provided their ideas, and we worked together to put the best meals on our menu,” Purcell says. Spettro’s executive chef Eric Walter, a CIA grad, previously worked kitchens at local high-end hotels Wildflower Farms and Restaurant Kinsley.
At the bar, you’ll find 12 New York State-heavy taps, with some European options like Peroni, and a wine list featuring reds, whites, and sparkling options by the glass ($9-$13), all from Italy. “We tasted 100 to 150 options prior to opening; we wanted guests to be able to come in and try something new.” Beverage manager Amelia Bucher designed their specialty cocktail menu in the same vein, with the goal of introducing more guests to Amaro and Italian aperitifs. For instance, The Dawn features tequila, lime, Aperol, jalapeno, basil, and prosecco ($14). Sowing Season is made of Italian gin, Cocchi Vermouth di Torino, Cynar, maraschino, and Hellfire bitters ($14).
And don’t miss dessert, which includes traditional Sicilian treats, like brioche con gelato ($10), cannoli with sheep’s milk ricotta and shells imported from Italy ($10), or Biscoff cheesecake baked fresh by Ilardi’s wife, Dawn ($11). “It’s a real family business,” he says.
Even the name of the gastro pub has a family connection. “I have a young son, and around the time we were trying to think of names for the restaurant, he was learning how to talk,” Ilardi explains. “It was around Halloween and this little ghost came on TV, so ‘ghost’ ended up being his first word. Spettro is ‘ghost’ in Italian.” A cute line drawing of a ghost serves as the restaurant’s logo.
The gastro pub is located in a newly constructed multi-use building where a former single-family home once sat. “It’s one of the fortunate but also difficult tasks to design a brand-new build,” Ilardi says. “But we designed a 70-seat, rustic-industrial interior with an open kitchen.” Wood accents warm up the black-and-white color scheme, with exposed ventilation and hex tiles throughout. “Even though it has that industrial look, it’s at the same time very warm and welcoming with lots of natural light,” he continues. “People like to stay here awhile, even if they just come in for one drink.”
“We’re big on hospitality,” Purcell says. “We’re both on the floor at all times, and it’s important that a guest feels happy from when they walk in to when they leave.”
Spettro is open for lunch and dinner starting at 11am Tuesday through Saturday, for brunch only on Sundays, and closed Monday.
