"Don't eat the calamari -- they'll stick to your insides."
Really, Mom?
I lived in the Naples, Italy, area for two years. I've visited often since then. There are three things I always must eat when there, because there is nowhere else that compares:
1. fresh mozzarella di bufala (from water buffalo)
2. sfoglietella (a pastry with ricotta cheese)
3. pizza margarita (tomato, cheese, basil)
If I am near anywhere that purports to have authentic foodstuffs, I'm looking for those. Last Christmas, I drove from Chinatown to uptown Manhattan for some imported mozzarella di bufala (and it was worth it, even with the $75 parking ticket...).
I'd eaten at DeAngelo's before. It was the craziest first date ever. Gosh, the internet brings out the odd ones. "If you need to call an ambulance, tell them my medical records are on a thumb drive on my bracelet." WTF?!
So, anyway... Leo was absolutely thrilled beyond belief when I told him I knew where we could get fresh mozzarella. Not di bufala, but still pretty good. So off we went. Leo wanted to order nothing but mozzarella; instead we split the Caprese Towers appetizer. The mozzarella was great (Leo declared it two days old...). The tomatoes weren't quite ripe, but ok. It was a tasty treat.
Art and I decided to split a margarita pizza. It wasn't very good :-( Leo wasn't into his pasta dish, so I finished it off -- pasta alfredo with chicken. OMG, it was amazing! I must order that next time... and some more caprese towers :-)
Angela,
ReplyDeleteFinches Brasserie (expensive) has a line of pizzettas, the margharetta is quite good, though it might not be exactly what your fond memories of Italy are looking for. BTW I had Italian pizza in Italy and it was good, but I really only ate it at tourist places that basically just had a selection of pizzas and pasta on the menu, so you might not want to use my opinion where the question of "authenticity" is concerned.
I will give it a shot sometime. Thanks :-)
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