Friday 5ive- The Five Best Food Items I Had in Italy

The Friday 5ive is a weekly post about five things that caught my attention. This week's post is about the five best foods I had on our trip to Italy.


1) On our first night in our first stop of Naples, we had dinner at the Sea Front Pasta Bar. We sat at a u-shaped bar surrounding the chefs making our meal. We had a three course pasta tasting menu, complete with wine pairings. Our first wine was a bright prosecco that made us very happy. The first pasta they made for us was my favorite of the three, a linguine with a very light lemon/olive oil sauce. It was perfection.

2) On day two in Naples, our guide Vincenzo took us to what he promised was the best gelato we'll have in Italy and I'll be darned, he was right.  If you go to Naples, you must stop in at Il Gelato Mennella. It's a tiny shop, but they have lots of interesting flavors, and I can highly recommend the pistachio. It was fabulous.

3) While researching restaurants at our second stop in Sorrento, La Locanda del Gusto had great reviews on TripAdvisor. A small restaurant, with just two dozen seats, the owner and only chef, Chef Carmen, ran a well-respected cooking school for years in Sorrento before opening up her own restaurant last year. We were all very happy with our entrees, including a Misto Salad, Lasagna, and my favorite, homemade gnocci that was light as a pillow in a silky tomato sauce. We went back for a second evening it was so good. Their house wine was fantastic too.

Gnocci

4) We moved on to the small town of Montalcino in Tuscany. Our traveling companions had been to the town many times, and took us to an authentic little old restaurant, Osteria di Porta al Cassero. It was filled with townspeople as opposed to tourists, and we were made to feel very much at home. We started with a lovely Brunello wine, and I ordered the Cinghiale, a specialty of the house. It's a wild boar stew over polenta. I'd never had wild boar and it wasn't gamey at all, rather it melted in your mouth. I made a good choice!

Cinghiale over polenta

5) Last year when we went to Florence, we ate at a terrific restaurant, Antico Ristora di Cambi. No one there really spoke English, and our poor waitress acted out the entire menu that was in Italian. They must have gotten a lot of English-speakers from their great TripAdvisor reviews because this year when we returned, we had the same darling waitress, but she spoke more English and the menu was in Italian and English. We sat near the prep area and watched the owner prepare the charcuterie platters, including cutting the proscuitto right off the leg. We ordered the specialty, Bistecca di Florentina. When my husband tried to order it medium, our waitress shook her head and said "No". They just sear the beef on each side briefly, and then it's brought to your table. They gave us a smaller piece and it was the best beef we have ever had. They serve it on a platter with a side of salt, just the way I like it.

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food.

Sorbillo Pizzeria

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food.

While preparing for our trip to Italy, I read in Matt Goulding's Pasta Pane Vino about Sorbillo Pizzeria in Naples. Goulding spent time with Gino Sorbillo where they make 1500 pizzas every day.
During further research, I found that there is a Sorbillo Pizzeria right here in New York City, so we made a pilgrimage to the Bowery to check it out before we try it in Naples.

The bar area of Sorbillo

The restaurant is small, like most New York City restaurants. My husband was a liitle bit hesitant, he didn't feel like pizza for dinner. When we got there, he and my son started with a Peroni beer, and then we asked the waitress for a red wine suggestion. They have an extensive wine list, and we chose a Brunello from Montalcino which was very smooth. We can't wait for our wine tour there!

We ordered a Proscuitto di Parma e Mozzarella di Bufala appetizer, which was big enough for all four of us to share to go with our drinks. I regret not also ordering the ricotta stuffed zucchini flowers- next time I will.

Three of us ordered pizzas- the classic Margherita con Bufala, Funghi (mushroom) and Bologna (Parma ham, Parmegiano Reggiano, Mozzarella, tomatoes, basil and olive oil) and they were all delicious. Thin crust, hand-formed, and even though when they brought them you thought, I can't eat it all, yeah, well I did. (OK, I did share a piece, so technically I only ate 3/4 of a pie.) I like that on the menu it list the region of Italy where that particular pizza flavor originated.

Margherita Pizza- a classic

My husband had the Gnocci Alla Sorrentina, potato gnocci with fresh mozzarella in a tomato sauce, and he had the Polpette Napolitana, two huge beef meatballs in a tomato ragu. He pronounced both dishes the best he had and then stated that we would be returning here frequently.

Meatballs

When the dessert menu came, my daughter-in-law and I both pounced on the fried dough with Nutella drizzled on top. Thank goodness we only ordered one for the table because it was huge and it was fabulous. (Yes, we pretty much finished that off too.)

Nutella-topped fried pizza dough

We really enjoyed our meal there, the waitress was very friendly and helpful, and we met a lovely couple at the table next to us. If you find yourself in the Bowery section of New York, I highly recommend a stop at Sorbillo- I'd suggest making a reservation too, as it did get pretty busy there.

Weekend Cooking- A Foodie Trip to Boston and Portland

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food.

Our family took a trip to Boston and Portland, Maine for the 4th of July. We had so much fun and ate at some great restaurants. (We could have done without the 5 1/2 trip home that took 8 hours.)

On the first night in Boston, our son and his girlfriend took us to srv, an Italian restaurant in the South end of Boston. Their specialty is cichetti, which is the Italian version of tapas. We shared stuffed peppers and meatballs, and as my entree I had Tajarin, a creamy yet light pasta dish with black truffles, asparagus, and parmigiano-reggiano. The decor was beautiful, with the lighting fixtures capturing our attention.

The light bulbs are covered with upside down glass pitchers, bottles and dishes

After dinner, we wandered through Little Italy, stopping at a wonderful 24 hour bakery, Bova's Bakery. Even late at night there was a line and we ended up with an assortment of tasty treats. At least we walked home, burning off some of the upcoming caloric intake.

Too much to choose from

The boutique hotel we stayed at, Boston Yacht Haven Inn & Marina, has only ten rooms on the harbor. All the rooms are on one floor, and in the morning they serve a hot breakfast. Just outside the rooms in the hall we found a huge sideboard with pastries, cereal, and hot dishes like french toast (served in individual casserole dishes) and ham and cheese bake which we ate out on our balcony overlooking the harbor. What a lovely treat! It's a great place to stay, we highly recommend it.

Top- breakfast buffett, Bottom- french toast and ham & cheese bake

On July 4th, we wandered around the waterfront in Boston, stopping for lunch at Trillium, a brewery and restaurant. I chose a tasty burrata dish, served with figs, apple slices, grilled cornbread, crispy proscuitto and drizzled with honey. I made a good choice.

Burrata with apple, fig and crispy proscuitto

There was an outdoor beer garden with food and beverage trucks nearby, so we stopped and I had a frozé- a frozen rosé wine drink that was really an adult slushy- nothing wrong with that.

Next up was a trip to Wegmans (yay!), where we bought burgers and hot dogs to grill. It's very exciting for us because living in NYC we miss barbequeing so much. Our son's condo complex has three grills that people share, and they were working overtime that day, but we got there early and scored a grill and a table. Pasta salad and corn on the cob rounded out our All-American celebration.

The next day we headed to Portland, with a stop for lunch in Kennebunk at Pilot House, right on the water, where we finally got our lobster roll. It was worth the wait, and our waitress was so kind, giving us tips on what to see in Portland.

Restaurants in Portland are tough to get into for lunch and dinner during the summer- a lot of them don't take reservations, so be prepared to wait. We had appetizers and drinks at Street and Co.  Our choices of crab and cucumber salad and eggplant dip with capers and pita were so good, we ordered double. The restaurant is in an old brick building, and the ambience is pretty cool.

We moved on their sister restaurant Scales for dinner, where I had a lobster that was very fresh. The restaurant is huge, and you can pick out your lobster if you like, they have them in a big floor tank up front. The decor is modern, light and airy, with lots of floor-to-ceiling windows and a huge bar area.

Speaking of bars, we found an Irish pub, RiRa- The Irish Pub and enjoyed a drink or two and a chat with the friendly Irish bartender. A band was coming in to play just as we were heading to dinner.

On day two, my husband headed out to bring back donuts from Holy Donuts, where the secret ingredient is mashed potatoes in the batter. I know what you're thinking, but trust me, it works.

Holy Donuts

We had a fabulous dinner at Fore Street, a farm-to-table restaurant where the menu changes daily, depending on what the chef can find fresh that day. The kitchen is very open, and we got a table right in front, where we could see a sous chef preparing the salads. We were mesmerized for the entire meal. I had the roasted half-chicken, one of their specialties, but the highlight for me was dessert- a pistachio ice cream bar, drizzled with a caramel sauce. it was the perfect ending to the meal and our trip to Portland.

Pistachio bar

We could see everything going on in the kitchen

The salad ingredients are kept in a glass walk-in cooler

Weekend Cooking- My First Trip to Momofuku Noodle Bar

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food.

Every year, a group of my friends come to NYC to go to the San Gennaro Festival in Little Italy, where we eat, drink and laugh, all to excess.

This year, two of my friends and I spent an afternoon wandering around, stopping to visit Eataly, ABC Home store, Union Square Greenmarket, and one of us wanted to go to Momofuku Noodle Bar.

So we found ourselves in the East Village and we stopped into Momofuku Noodle Bar, after initially walking right by the restaurant and ending up at Fuku, David Chang's fried chicken sandwich restaurant which is just two doors away.

A gentleman sitting next to us at a U-shaped bar overheard our conversation deciding what to order, and he wholeheartedly recommended the Momofuku Ramen Bowl, so we all tried that and ordered pork buns to go with it.

He was right- the Ramen Bowl was delicious! And while only one of us braved using chopsticks, we all raved about the Ramen Bowl, which included a piece of crispy pork belly, pork shoulder, and a poached egg, along with the noodles and a perfectly seasoned broth.

Momofuku Ramen Bowl

The pork buns were tasty too, with cucumber, scallions and pork in a tangy hoisin sauce that paired so well with the Ramen Bowl we ordered a second helping.

Momofuku Pork Buns

I love Momofuku Milk Bar's famous Compost Cookie, and now that I've been to Momofuku Noodle Bar, I want to try Fuku and their fried chicken sandwich.

Momofuku's website can be found here.

Weekend Cooking- Boca in Sarasota

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food.

As I type this post, we are watching the local Sarasota news station listening for information on Hurricane Irma. We spent a lovely five days last weekend at our vacation home in that area, and at that time it looked like Irma was going to hit the East Coast, but now it appears that our area on the West Coast is going to take the direct hit. I hope that we have not spent our last time there, it is such a beautiful, peaceful place.

We visited a new restaurant in downtown Sarasota with friends, Boca. I loved the interior design of the restaurant, it has a very hip, industrial, yet warm vibe. Each table had a small herb plant in middle of the table; ours was a fragrant basil plant.

The view of the bar from our table above

Basil Plant

The menu was interesting as well. My husband and I chose to share the Zucchini Fries with a Green Goddess Dip. It was served in a cute little paper bag on a wooden platter.

Zucchini Fries

A couple sitting at a table next to us had the Grilled Hangar Steak Platter and Sweet Potato Gnocci that looked so appetizing that we said "We'll have what they're having". The steak platter came with roasted potatoes and vegetables, and my husband enjoyed it.

Grilled Steak Platter

My gnocci was wonderful. It had chunks of butternut squash and sliced mushrooms in a parmesan cream sauce. I would definitely order that again.

We shared a tasty fruit cobbler for dessert that was served in a small skillet, and even between the two of us we couldn't finish it.

Fruit Cobbler in a skillet

Before dinner we visited the new Westin Hotel rooftop bar, which has a gorgeous view of Sarasota Bay. I sure hope everyone makes it through Irma safely and that we get back there soon.

Boca's website is here.

Weekend Cooking- Visiting CineBistro in Sarasota

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food.

On our last trip to Florida, we ran into Tropical Storm Emily so we decided to get out of the rain and go to a movie. We both wanted to see Dunkirk since I reviewed the book (here), and we headed over to the CineBistro in Westfield Siesta Key.

When I was in high school and college, I worked at a mall cinema, and it was the best job a young person could have, but that was many years ago. The CineBistro we visited was a stunning sight to behold, and nothing like where I used to work.

After you buy your ticket (or in our case get our Fandango ticket scanned), you enter a huge full bar area, with plenty of seating for those who are having dinner. You don't even have to go to the movies to hang out at the bar.

The bar area

To the left of the bar is a small private dining room that you can rent to have a birthday party. It really seemed like more of an adult place to have a birthday party, rather than for kids.

Party Room

You then walk down a long hall, and you'll see a cart in front of the theater where the next movie starts. On the cart are bottles of wine from Francis Ford Coppola's vineyard (where else?), and samples of the Chef's Menu for the day. Today's menu featured Mojito Chicken Flatbread, Grouper and Guava Empanadas.

The Food Cart

You can order food to be delivered to your seat up to thirty minutes before showtime. Each seat is a huge recliner, with a food tray that swivels in and out for access. We didn't get there in time to order food, so we got popcorn from the concession stand. The popcorn is served in a white ceramic bowl, and the sodas are served in actual glasses. How very grown-up!

Mmm...popcorn

Ad we ate our popcorn and watched the coming attractions with our feet up, we decided that this is the only way to see a movie. We will do all of our movie-going at the CineBistro, even if we have to fly to Florida to do it.

By the way, Dunkirk is an amazing movie. I'm not big on war movies, but this is really the British counterpart to America's Saving Private Ryan. Writer/Director Christopher Nolan is sure to get an Oscar nomination for this incredible cinematic achievement, and my favorite actor, Mark Rylance, is wonderful in this movie as well. I highly recommend you see Dunkirk at your local cinema. And if you have a CineBistro near you, give it a try. Their website is here.

Weekend Cooking- Charlie Palmer at the Knick

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food.

People frequently ask me for suggestions on where to eat dinner near Times Square when they are visiting NYC, usually to see a Broadway show. I didn't really have a great suggestion for a smaller, more intimate place until now. (If you have a big group, Tony's DiNapoli is wonderful.)

About a month ago, we went with friends to see Hamilton on Broadway, and it was just as great with the new cast as it was with the original cast. Before the show, we went to Charlie Palmer's at the Knickerbocker Hotel, located at 6 Times Square, off of 42nd Street. It's so good, I have returned twice within a month, once with a great group of blogger friends after the Book Expo, and once on a ladies' night with my sons' girlfriends before we saw Anastasia (which was fantastic- go see it!).

The entrance is inside the Knickerbocker Hotel, up on the 4th floor. When you get off the elevator, it's hard to believe you are still in the middle of bustling Times Square. The room is hushed and dark, with lots of low lighting and couches in muted colors opposite the bar.

They have a wonderful pre-theater pre-fixe menu from 5:30-6:30, and even though we were running a little late, they managed to get us out in time for the show. They have a terrific wine and cocktail list, and my choice of the Landmark Chardonnay from California was a winner.

Their pre-fixe menu is three courses, with three choices for each for $45 a person. In the appetizer section, you can choose from a Market Salad, with pumpkin seeds, radish and a light lemon dressing, a Grilled Mushroom, Goat Cheese and Onion Flatbread or a Blue Crab Tomato Bisque.

The grilled flatbread was the star here, and it was big enough to share, so two people could order the salad and flatbread and share, as our waiter suggested.

Grilled Flatbread

For the main course, you can choose from a vegetarian Pecorino Risotto, with mushrooms, a Chicken Breast with a mushroom and scallion cream sauce, served with a roasted potato that was more like a baked croquette (and totally tasty), or their Kobe Burger, with a maple glazed bacon and comte cheese.

I've had the chicken all three times and each time it has been phenomenal. The portion is not too big either, which I really liked. The sauce was perfectly seasoned, and the potatoes seemed almost like a scalloped potato.

I chose the Almond Cake for dessert, which was served with a scoop of raspberry sorbet and strawberries. The presentation was lovely and the little cake with its sides was a terrific ending. The other choices are sorbet or ice cream, or fresh strawberries marinated in mint served with a lime sorbet.

Almond Cake dessert

If you are looking for a great dinner, with a quieter atmosphere where you can have a conversation without shouting, try Charlie Palmer at the Knick, I highly recommend it. 

One funny observation: each of the three times I have been there, I have been seated at the same table and had the same waiter, Matt, who is very good. It's starting to feel a little like Groundhog Day, which is now playing on Broadway.

Have you found any good restaurants in your town lately? Tell us about it in comments.

Charlie Palmer's at the Knick's website is here.

Weekend Cooking- A Trip to Amelia Island

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food.

Last week my husband had a conference in Amelia Island in Florida, so I went along and his brother and sister-in-law met us there for a fun little weekend.

One of my coworkers at the Book Cellar, the used bookstore where I volunteer in NYC, has a brother who owns two restaurants in Amelia Island, so we stopped in for lunch.

It was the coldest day in a long time in Amelia Island (57 degrees- I know, I know, my Central New York hometowners are laughing at that right now) when we visited Cafe Karibo for lunch.

We walked into the cheery and inviting bar area, which has three shiny vats of small craft beers on tap for the beer drinkers in the crowd.

KariBrew- clever name!

Just outside the bar area is a beautiful outdoor patio with a huge stone fireplace which was all fired up on the cold day we visited. It is so lovely!

The inviting patio area

I had the Pig & Apple sandwich, which was delicious, as was everything we ordered. I really liked their inventive pub grub menu, there were so many things I would have ordered.

The next day we visited Cafe Karibo's sister restaurant, Timoti's Seafood Shak, similar to ones we visited in Cape Cod. We placed our order for fish inside, and headed outside to soak in the warm sunshine at one of the picnic tables.

My husband and I ordered the fried fish and sweet potato chips, and the others ordered blackened and grilled grouper. All of our meals were fabulous, some of the best fish we have had. The blackened grouper looked like a work of art.

Grilled, fried and blackened grouper

It was Super Bowl Sunday when we were there, and we headed over to the Falcon's Nest sports bar located at the Omni Resort where we were staying on Amelia Island. The gang decided to start with a HUGE platter of nachos, topped with smoked brisket, chicken and guacamole. We weren't sure we could eat it all, but that was an unnecessary worry. We demolished it!

Nachos!

For dinner on Monday we visited Le Clos, a lovely French restaurant in the downtown area. My husband and I each had the escargot appetizer, which was fabulous. I ordered the shrimp dish, which was served in a white wine reduction of shallots, garlic, fennel, sundried tomatoes, herbs and chevre over pasta. It was so light and tasty.

Shrimp dinner

My sister-in-law had her favorite, scallops, served with a citrus beurre blanc sauce over spinach and pasta.

Scallops

The ambiance was very intimate and it feels like you are in someone's beautiful home as you dine. If you are looking for something a little more upscale, this is the place.

We enjoyed all of our dining experiences in Amelia Island, I can recommend each of the restaurants we visited. In a future post, I'll share some photos of the other fun places we saw in Amelia Island, including a wonderful bookstore.

 Cafe Karibo's website is here.
Timoti's webiste is here.
Le Clos' website is here.