In the joint known as Mr. T's, the weekend pizza and pasta are topped with passion: that of live opera.
By BILL VARIAN
Published February 27, 2004
[Times photo: Chris Zuppa]
Davis Portalatin sings while accompanied by Jose Mariscal on piano and Paul Spagnuolo on acoustic guitar at Mr. T's Ristorante Italiano recently. "I do classical for the most part," said Portalatin, who has sung at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center and with the Washington Opera.
DOWNTOWN - A bad dining experience in Ybor City left Jerry and Sue Archambault hungry and grasping to salvage an evening with visitors from Massachusetts.
Their meandering car ride took them by a nondescript storefront on Kennedy Boulevard with a sign out front promising Italian food and live opera every Friday and Saturday night. It was a Friday, so they figured what the heck.
They ate some pizza and washed it down with wine. Then pianist Jose Mariscal sealed the deal: "I'm going to play something special for my friends from Massachusetts," he said, before starting into Old Cape Cod to their grateful applause.
Dessert came in the form of a serenade from tenor Davis Portalatin, who saw them off with the love song Aldila. "We can't leave now," said Jerry Archambault, 64, a retiree from Largo. "This is a classic."
The unexpected recovery of their evening last month came at an unlikely restaurant with an unlikely name. Mr. T's Ristorante Italiano has been luring people for more than two decades with a mixture of pizza and pasta and live opera on weekends.
"What a find," Archambault said. "People should be lined up."
There were no lines that night; Mr. T's often is busiest at lunch, serving business people and students from nearby University of Tampa, many of whom come for the New York-style pizza.
Nevertheless, its signature is the Friday and Saturday night opera special, which draws a cadre of regulars, people who heard about it from a friend and others who just stumble upon it.
Only the marquee tells what takes place inside the restaurant near the corner of Kennedy and N Boulevard.
The Met this is not. But the opera is live indeed.
Little light radiates from the interior. A faded wooden red overhang bearing the name along the top of the one-story building proclaims the place in sotto voce.
Combined with the vacant lot next door and sparse landscaping, Mr. T's looks abandoned, save for the neon "OPEN" and Peroni beer signs in the window.
Inside, the decor hardly conjures images of grand drama played out between kings and queens. There are plastic checkered table cloths, drop ceilings and a couple of maps of Italy and photos. Signs warn, "Children of Responsible Parents Welcome."
"It's a hole in the wall," said Steve Ross, 38, a Hillsborough County sheriff's deputy, who visited with his wife, another couple and their young children on a recent weekend. "I never would have thought of coming here if our neighbors hadn't talked about it."
"I liked it. It was kind of homey," said his wife, Sharon, 35, a teacher.
"And if you go with people you don't want to talk to, it's great," she added, casting a mirthful look at their companions, John and Angela Carter.
"I was just disappointed that the singer didn't have a big gold chain," said John Carter, 35, a physician, referring to the other Mr. T, the wrestler turned actor of 1980s sitcom and Rocky III fame.
* * *
Red gelatin covers the fluorescent lights in the corner of the room where the musicians perform.
Mariscal, 66, the pianist, has been playing since he was a young child growing up in Key West and Cuba. His interests are eclectic. He typically starts the evening off with Clair De Lun by Claude Debussy.
"It's a soft piece and its very soothing. It's one that touches your spirit," he says. "It sets the tone for the evening."
His play list spreads well beyond opera. Mariscal can bounce from Send in the Clowns to Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.
Portalatin, 41, the tenor, sits at a corner table, sipping his own signature blend of tea, rich with lemon and honey to keep his vocal chords warm and ready. He drapes a scarf around his neck until it is time for him to sing.
By day, he works for the private security firm that assists the U.S. Marshal's office with security at the U.S. Federal Court downtown. On Fridays and Saturdays, he is at Mr. T's, singing bits of opera and other classical music in Spanish, Italian and English.
His favorites include E Luceran le Stelle, sung by the character Cavaradossi as he contemplates his impending execution in Puccini's opera Tosca. From there, he can jump to Volare.
Portalatin said he was as surprised as anyone to learn of opera night at Mr. T's. He saw the marquee when he first visited nearly four years ago, when opera was on Fridays only. A friend had recommended the restaurant.
Portalatin had performed opera at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center and with the Washington Opera. He asked if Mr. T's needed another singer.
He auditioned by singing a duet of O Solo Mio with the soprano who performed Friday nights. He soon got a call to work Saturday nights. When the soprano left, he added Fridays.
As he and Mariscal perform, diners carry on conversations while the servers carry pizza pies. The musicians don't mind the distractions. They like the proximity to the audience.
"It's like they bleed with you," Portalatin said. "In fact, I feel more pressure singing here sometimes than at the big theater."
* * *
Mr. T's founder Benedetto "Tino" Ricciardi said he grew up in Italy listening to opera and classical music. Modern music doesn't begin to capture the passion, the story lines, the beautiful melodies.
"This is the real music," he said.
After immigrating to the United States, Ricciardi ran a series of restaurants and restaurant-related businesses around New York and later Miami before moving to Tampa, he said.
The original Mr. T's opened on Davis Islands around 1980 in a place called Mr. Z's. Ricciardi didn't have the money for a new sign. So he scratched through the Z to make a T, as in Tino.
This was around the time that the wrestler/actor with the mohawk and gold chains was starting to become famous. The jokes streamed in, and so did the customers.
In 1983, Ricciardi's mother arrived from Italy for her 77th birthday. He decided to hire a band and fete her at the restaurant. She loved it, and so did everyone else. Mr. T made live music a weekly feature.
Paul Spagnuolo, 70, one of the musicians who played for Ricciardi's mother, still plays at the restaurant, joining the singer and pianist on acoustic guitar.
"On Davis Islands, you couldn't get into the place," Spagnuolo said. "People would line up outside."
Just like customer Jerry Archambault said it should be.
These days the crowds are more modest, just like the building. Ricciardi, who moved Mr. T's to Kennedy in 1998, says he makes a living.
He acknowledges that the restaurant isn't fancy but stands behind the food, all of which is made from his own recipes. Prices run from $7.30 for spaghetti and meat sauce to $13.25 for shrimp parmigiana. A large Tino's Special pizza, with sausage, pepperoni, onions, mushrooms and green peppers, goes for $15.50.
He also takes pride in the diversity of his customers, from politicians and famous football players to parents on a night out with their children.
"Opera is for everybody," Ricciardi said. "It should be accessible for everybody."
