Springdale's Ladles has strong Italian base, scoops up tasty treats from Poland, Ireland, U.S.

BACKGROUND

Kathy Kaminski says she is 100 percent Italian, and that heritage is evident at her Ladles restaurant.

There's plenty of pasta, Mancini's Bakery bread and Italian meats and cheeses on the menu at Kaminski's Springdale eatery.

But you'll also find unexpected hints of Poland, Ireland and the good old U.S.A. on the menu, as well.

“We try to be innovative,” Kaminski says. “In this business, you have to be constantly evolving.”

Kaminski says she hopes an upcoming culinary-training trip to Italy will help to enhance her efforts to keep the food at Ladles as natural as possible.

Even though it might benefit her health, Kaminski says her Italian pasta- and bread-loving genes won't let her jump on the gluten-free bandwagon. But she's looking for ideas on how to use ingredients in a less-processed form.

“There ingredients are 100 percent unrefined,” Kaminski says. “I'm not giving that stuff up.”

ATMOSPHERE

We enjoyed Ladles' shabby-chic decor — it has a comfortable, rustic, farmhouse kitchen vibe that's been a hallmark of Kaminski's Ladles brand, which also has had locations in Arnold and New Kensington over the past 15 years.

Church-pew-style benches surround several of the dozen tables. Vintage cupboards, wooden barrels and other antiques decorate the dining room and bar.

Wooden doors propped along the walls are used to showcase ladles and a wooden ladder hangs from the ceiling displaying pretty ornaments.

A chalkboard charmingly displays the half-dozen soups served on any given day, and another board details the available craft beers.

MENU

At a restaurant named Ladles, we had to sample a few soups ($4 for a cup, $5 bowl or $7 bread bowl).

One of the soups offered during our visit was a hearty Italian Meatball — a tomato base with small noodles, meatballs, zucchini, celery and onions.

For a dollar extra, we tried the crab bisque that's offered every day. The pureed soup offered a lovely seafood flavor and had a pretty sherry color pebbled with bits of red pepper.

Two other starters we tried were big crowd-pleasers.

The Raviogie ($7) demonstrated the similarities that can be found in cuisines from different ethnicities. A pierogi-style dough was stuffed with ground meat, cheese and spinach and served with a choice of marinara sauce or butter and onions. We chose the Italian style and regret nothing.

We expected the ubiquitous spinach-artichoke blend from the artichoke & asiago dip ($8) and were pleasantly surprised. While there was no spinach, the tangy, creamy cheese dip was pleasingly served in a crusty bread bowl with more bread chunks on the side.

From the new “Grilled Cheese Board” section of Ladles' menu, we chose the Caprese ($9). The triple-decker sandwich was stuffed with fresh mozzarella, tomato and basil leaves plus pesto mayonnaise. The hefty sandwich was delicious, though we wished the generous chunks of cheese would have been more melted.

We veered away from Italy with the other two sandwiches we sampled. We couldn't pass up the Grilled Reuben ($9). Grilled rye bread arrived filled with corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and Thousand Island dressing. Ladles offers a homemade potato pancake or french fries as a side to its sandwiches; the light pancake made a perfect accompaniment.

The Grilled Chicken Santa Fe ($9) featured a juicy grilled chicken breast topped with sauteed portabella mushrooms, shredded asiago cheese, sliced tomatoes and greens. The sandwich was served on a crusty baguette smeared with pesto mayonnaise.

From the entree menu, the Chicken Parmesan ($17) was a well-executed take on the Italian classic. Two breaded chicken breasts were topped with marinara sauce and plenty of melted mozzarella cheese. They were served with a generous side of spaghetti and a chunky marinara sauce.

The waitstaff sang the praises of Kathy's Crab Cakes ($25), and we found them worth the hype. Two hockey puck-size cakes were heavy on the lump crab and light on filler. They were served with a tangy Sriracha remoulade and a serving of cheddar mashed potatoes.

We went a bit overboard with desserts. The Carrot Cake ($5) was a spicy, not-too-sweet offering, while the Canoli ($3.49) was a much sweeter option with its chocolate chip-studded cream filling and drizzle of chocolate sauce.

But our favorites were the Cherry Crumble ($4), with a flaky crust topped with cherry pie filling and a light, crumbly streusel topping; and the HoHo Cake ($5), a rich, chocolate two-layer cake filled with white icing, coated with a chocolate topping similar to its namesake lunch cake and served with plenty of whipped cream.

Liz Hayes is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 724-226-4680 or lhayes@tribweb.com.