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How I miss Italian ala Rome, NY!

By Jess
When one grows up in a town where even the pizza joints have a house version of "greens" (that's a fresh, bitter green, like escarole or swiss chard, sauteed with the likes of cherry peppers, garlic, breadcrumbs, and/or Proscuitto/bacon); where "chicken riggies" is on every menu (that's a tomato-based meat sauce with cherry peppers and diced chicken over rigatoni); where eggplant parmesan is baked into a casserole, like lasagna, and served at every wedding, graduation, and funeral, one comes to believe that these dishes are universally prepared.

When dining out, Paul and I normally observe a household rule of thumb: Don't go out for Italian. I refuse to pay someone $10 apiece for $1 worth of macaroni and $1.89 worth of tomato sauce that I can make better than they can.

Despite this, I was seduced by a radio advertisement for Johnny Carinos' Country Italian restaurant. They're running a $19.99 dinner for two special, where you can choose two entrees from a list of selections, get unlimited soup or salad and bread (with amazing herbed oil and sauteed garlic for dipping), and share one of their oversized desserts. It's quite a deal. (The unlimited soup/salad/bread deal is standard there, anyway.) One of the entrees highlighted in the ad was eggplant parm. We're not in Rome anymore, but I couldn't pass up the chance to see if maybe this crazy "country Italian" restaurant would give me a heaping helping of my hometown. Alas, they serve their eggplant chicken parm style: fillet o'eggplant drenched in melted cheese. I opted, instead, for their Angel Hair and Artichoke dish -- very good -- had two salads, took half the pasta home, and split Tiramisu with Paul.

We're going to have to eliminate a bunch of leftovers so I can whip up a batch of my own eggplanty, bready goodness. What I wouldn't give for an eggplant parm sandwich right now.

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Jess said…
Well, I'll be.

Squirrels nest, like birds.
11:01 PM
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