Trattoria shines after an extreme makeover

When Sandy and Michael Gildenberg of Highland Park, take their seven year old twins out to dinner each Friday night they always end up at Aposto, a small Italian bistro at 76 Raritan Avenue.

“My kids love the pizza and won’t eat it any place else,” Sandy said. “”My husband and I like the fresh food, the friendliness, and the full menu. the kids will even eat salad here.”

Aposto opened its doors in April of 2005 and according to Irene Tsangarakis, who owns it with her brother, Constantine Acostolikas and sister, Christine Acostolikas, it started as a pizzeria with just a few other menu choices.

“People got very interested in our food and so we now have a full menu including appetizers, entrees and we’re going to start to add Greek and more grilled dishes,” Tsangarakis said. “We have gone from a pizzeria to a casual Italian family restaurant.”

The restaurant has remodeled so that the bistro-like menu could grow into its surroundings. No longer looking and feeling like a pizzeria, seating has expanded, soft red lamps and small intimate tables give the premises a new life.

“People are telling us it’s a chic little corner of Highland Park,” Tsangarakis said. “They say it reminds them of cafes that can only be found in New York.”

Aposto also holds private parties, caters out, and invites patrons to bring a bottle of wine with them. During the warmer months, dinner can be enjoyed on a brick terrace, with twinkling lights and a container garden.

The menu, which still features such exotic pizzas as the Margherita, Vodka, Bianca Neve (broccoli or spinach), Louisiana (buffalo spice sauce with chicken tenders), which the Gildenberg children love, also has many other Italian favorites.

The new dining room at Aposto Restaurant shows off Mediterranean specialties by owner/chef Irene Tsangarakis. (Dan Dobalo)

Along with lasagna, stuffed shells, and eggplant parmigiana, you can also find Gamberoni al Porto (large shrimp sautéed in Porto wine), tortellini al pesto (basil pesto, sun dried tomatoes and fresh mozzarella in a cream sauce), and penne Mediterranean (sausage, peppers, shitake mushrooms, and onion sautéed with white wine in a red sauce), lobster ravioli and many other old favorites and new inviting dishes from the three sibling owners.

“My family has been involved in restaurants in North Jersey, but the minute we bought this building 14 years ago it has been our dream to open a restaurant here,” Tsangarakis said. “The support has been great in town, at this time in my life I’ve never made more friends and I feel that here in Highland Park people really do care.”

In addition to being a combination of their two names, Aposto, the word has more meaning.

“If you translate Aposto from Italian, it means ‘perfect’, Tsangarakis said.