Pasta Presto Grill

Pasta Presto Grill
93 MacDougal Street
New York, NY 10012
(212) 260-5679

THIS POST WAS supposed to be Dinner And A Movie, but Sharon and I found upon arriving at Film Forum that "Control," the Ian Curtis biopic, was sold out. We also learned that the sold-out 9:00 p.m. show was the film's last at Film Forum. Ah, what terrible timing, and, speaking of terrible, we had dinner at Pasta Presto Grill. This Greenwich Village joint displayed a prowess for exactly two things during our meal: absent service and oily food. The mushroom ravioli was pleasantly cooked, flavorful, but drowning in a far-too-oily walnut pesto. Worse, it cost twice what it should have.

MIKE EATS NEXT TIME: Not a chance.

Bello Giardino

Bello Giardino
71 W. 71st Street
New York, NY 10023
(212) 875-1512
bellogiardino.com

THE SIGN OUTSIDE claimed "Everyone is in the garden!" Admittedly, Mint and I were skeptical, but with nothing else along Columbus Avenue catching our collective eye we figured, well, why not check?

While "everyone" might not have been in the garden, we could see why everyone would want to be sitting beneath the impressive branches of Bello Giardino's hanging grape vines, munching on pasta as fresh as the bunches of grapes falling from the trellises overhead. Seriously--one cluster of green grapes crashed into the empty table next to us. Our server ran over, gathered them up and stopped to share, laughing, "Last night, there was a couple sitting here. I told them, in Italy, falling grapes are good luck."

The pasta, priced reasonably for the Upper West Side, is as fresh as the freefalling produce. My black linguine with mussels, salmon, leeks and tomatoes ($14) was unbelievably delicious, the soft green leeks and tomatoes managing to upstage even the seafood. And dessert, orange sorbet served inside the frozen rind of the fruit that bore it into this world, was the best of all possible choices for a summer evening outside. In the garden. With everyone.

MIKE EATS NEXT TIME: He most certainly will.

Williamsburg's Little Italy

La Piazzetta
442 Graham Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11211
(718) 349-1627
www.lapiazzettany.com

IF YOU'RE LUCKY enough to be out on Graham Avenue on the right weekend morning, you might catch a glimpse of the Virgin. She's hard to miss. She'll be the Virgin carried on the shoulders of churchgoers, her presence heralded by a makeshift marching band that makes up for in sound what it lacks in size and formality. It's a sight of such tight-knit community devotion I'd imagine even an atheist might smile to see it.

This is Williamsburg's Little Italy--meat markets, pasta shops, pizza joints, men's clubs, and old world charm--stretching maybe a dozen blocks up Graham Avenue, perhaps only three or four blocks wide, nestled between the BQE and Bushwick. There are more famous Italian sections of Brooklyn; there are certainly larger ones. I would still think La Piazzetta must possess one of the better Italian kitchens among them.

Both beautiful and casual

Emerging from this kitchen, Chef Francesco Cuozzo greets his tables and recites his specials on most nights, as he can, as he did this evening. Mint and I did not settle on one of these (though his antipasta plate assembled from a spread of offerings set up alongside the kitchen wall was tempting), selecting instead a few plates of pasta, calamari, and a bottle of wine (lots of selections in the low $20 range). Everything at La Piazzetta is reasonably priced, and, given the quality, an excellent value.

My stupid cameraphone takes terrible low-light pictures, so I have none to show you. But the whole wheat fettuccine with eggplant was terrifically hearty, needless to say perfectly cooked, and the tomato sauce was amazingly sweet and flavorful. Mint raved about the pancetta that flavored the red sauce over her rigatoni. For a relaxed, reasonably casual restaurant that serves up Italian fare of such remarkable quality, you really can't do better that La Piazzetta.

MIKE EATS NEXT TIME: One of the few Italian places he'll visit expecting to get a great plate of pasta.

Photos courtesy comevisitbrooklyn.com and La Piazzetta.

The Italian Re-Birth of a Dairy Queen

Alessandro's
6540 Lake Road West
Geneva-On-The-Lake, OH
(440) 964-5766

AS FAMILY LEGEND goes, my grandfather first came up (and kept coming) to Geneva-On-The-Lake when the little Lake Erie town was in its resort-town heyday. That was during the 1930s and 1940s. In the 1950s he bought the now-century-old lakeside house he still owns and the family, to this day, still frequents. He bought the house the same year my mother, the middle of seven children, was born, and with this small army waiting in the wings he decided to make another purchase: a Dairy Queen franchise.

The kids all had college tuition to earn and, besides, they needed something to keep them busy in the summer. So, this was the trade off--make ice cream now, go to college later. The stories from those Dairy Queen days are nearly endless in my family. Business was brisk through the 60s, died off with the town's waning, aging popularity during the 70s, and by the 80s the former hot spot was mostly abandoned save for a few buckets of marshmallow topping.

The 'old Dairy Queen' was re-imagined as an Italian restaurant in the mid-90s by my uncle, but the food never won over any of the locals. It was sold to another Italian man in 2001, Alessandro , a native Italian, who promised to try the same Italian trick. The town said it would never stick. They weren't expecting the food to be so damn good.

How good is the food at Alessandro's? Really, really good.

For the first time in 40 years the parking lot off Lake Road is packed just as it used to be, with lines of waiting customers spilling out the doors. The town may be run down a bit more than it used to be, like the old Dairy Queen's exterior, but the new life inside owes a debt to the fantastic food coming out of the kitchen (that folks in this town will line up to pay $12-plus for a plate of pasta should tell you just how good it is).

Alessandro's, in truth, is part of an slow but sudden revival in this once-thriving resort haven, by many accounts Ohio's very first. While fun, games, and dancing have all been parts of its heritage (my grandfather boasts of getting Cab Calloway's autograph after a 1930s dance), fine food has never been a fine point in any of the stories I've been told. Doughnut shops, ice cream parlors, a few pizza establishments--these are the vendors of Geneva-On-The-Lake's past. Alessandro's is one for its future.

My linguine with zucchini and seafood was infinitely better than a similar dish I ate at New York landmark Patsy's just earlier this week; that pasta, zucchini, shrimp, and crab can all be cooked in one dish and not one wind up overcooked is remarkable to me. My mother's mushroom ravioli were light and rich, with tiny cherry tomatoes brightening up the dish, and my grandfather's meat lasanga, by all reports, wonderful. The antipasti platter of mushroom and tomato bruschetta (garlicky without overpowering) with tomato, mozzarella and basil on fresh focaccia was simple yet exciting.

It's a far cry from the days of toppings fights and "Rose and Tony's pepperonis" pizza, but it's new life in a place with seriously great heritage, Dilly Bars and all.

MIKE EATS NEXT TIME: Most certainly.

Made with Love and 0 Trans-Fats

Orololgio
162 Avenue A
New York, NY 10009
212-228-6900

"Ray's Candy Store"
Avenue A, b/t St. Mark's & 7th St.
New York, Ny 10009

THE BEST SURPRISE of any night is Belgian fries. It's not something you plan; it's something that just happens. Like flipping through the pages of an old book and finding a long lost $20 bill, or the casual suggestion from a friend, "hey, let's do karaoke!" Belgian fries sneak up behind you on the hiking trail of life and rush out with a great big, happy bear hug you never saw coming. Only, this particular bear hug comes with 20 different flavors of sauce.

We'll get the deep-fried highlight reel soon enough, but we can't let even Belgian fries overshadow a trip, first, to the exceptional Orologio.

Not as grainy in real life

I try to stay away from "good" Italian food in NYC mostly because it's a fine line one walks in attempting to get such a thing. No one really wants four-star pasta. The beauty about good pasta is that it's homemade, it's comfort food, filling, simple, and perfectly unpretentious. Why would anyone pay $25 for a bowl of spaghetti? Why should one need to? Steaks and fish aside, Italian food is the great good-food equalizer--not everyone can do it, but anyone can in theory. You just need to find a place that really gets it right.

Orologio gets its right and the prices are quite reasonable ($9-15), for dishes as simple as house-made pasta al pomodoro to spaghetti tossed with seafood. My black and white tagliolini came in its own rich, spicy tomato sauce and was perfectly cooked, thick and soft, as was my friend's penne with chicken and artichokes. The only time we thought to complain our server offered before we could even ask, "our house bread is still baking and will be finished soon." Ah, well, perfect then.

This is the second or this time I've visited Orologio, and I've yet to find something to not like about it. It's convenient, delicious, and affordable. Am I missing something?

After some drinking and nostalgia with randomly-met old friends at an odd bar (appropriately enough) named Revival, Mint and I were headed back to Brooklyn when the question was asked:

"Can we get Belgian fries?!"

Um, yes! Yes, we can! And so we wandered back over to Avenue A, hung a right, and kept walking until the brick red letters of "BELGIAN FRIES" were legible on the storefront awning before us. There's no official establishment name printed anywhere outside to speak of, but the consensus is that the store is called Ray's, affectionately known as Ray's Candy Store to East Village locals. Of course, we know it as, the "Can we get Belgian fries?" place.

Now, you know that any establishment with no name selling Belgian fries and egg creams across the street from Thompkins Square Park simply must be an establishment boasting an fine-to-outstanding reputation. You would be correct--at 1:00 a.m there was a line out the door consisting of one rather drunk couple and two guys attempting to by fries in exchange for a $10 Metrocard. You can probably guess who left with fries.

Mint kindly asked for a small ("don't be fooled they're HUGE!") order of fries and opted for ranch dressing, ketchup, and a splash of vinegar, all unceremoniously pumped onto our fries by none other than Ray himself. It was an honor, a pleasure, and a privilege. I then asked for a chocolate milkshake, which was promptly made from milk (kept cold on ice in a red plastic bucket) and mixed with what I can only imagine was chocolate frozen yogurt.

Ray's Belgian fries are just as world-famous as his pizza


Ray is also the leading cause of heart disease and obesity among Mint and I

We paid (with proper legal tender) and headed out into the night with our hot eats and cool treats in search of a cab to take us home. We found one. It had a touch-screen television screen in the backseat. With GPS and Zagat reviews. I swear we weren't that drunk--we're not making this up. I have both pictures and leftover Belgian fries in my fridge to prove it.

MIKE EATS NEXT TIME: And you should too.

Spring Break, Part X: Back in Brooklyn

La Traviata
139 Montegue Street
(b/t Clinton & Henry)
Brooklyn, NY 11201
(718) 858-5592

THE BEST PART of waking up in a Comfort Inn is making your own Belgian waffles in the lobby. I think. Anyway, I got a kick out of it--I've never had the pleasure. It was certainly a plus to be able to drag them back to the hotel room with a couple cups of coffee and sit on the balcony looking out over the ocean. Not a bad send-off.

The flight back was unremarkable, same for the taxi (yet apparently I've decided to remark on them... curious), and I spent most of the afternoon unpacking all the goodies I happily lugged back: a new flask (from my mother), a huge Eduardo Chillida art book, and lots of glasses (also from my mother) that remarkably survived the flights crew's best efforts to destroy them in my luggage. Those, and several other things.

Unpacked, I headed down to Brooklyn Heights to meet Mint for dinner. The snow and ice was an unpleasant reminder of reality after a few days at my brother's place in sunny North Carolina, and so was slipping on the stairs outside Mint's store and nearly destroying my arm. Welcome home.

We went, as we always seem to do, to La Traviata. It's absolutely nothing special, and I certainly wouldn't recommend you make a trip out to Brooklyn Heights just to hit it up, but if you're in the neighborhood it's not a bad option. Reasonably priced, well-prepared Italian food with service that tends to be, well, not. I guess the plus to this is that you won't be rushed.

I've had lots of stuff over a few visits and found that the pastas tossed with seafood tend to be the best bet for your money, only slightly-more expensive than their pasta-only options and twice as good. The salmon and peas in vodka sauce and the linguine with shrimp, calamari, and mussels with plum tomato sauce are two of my favorites.

It's nothing you'll run home raving about, but if you order a few glasses of wine and sit back to watch the waitresses struggling to keep up with their tables, you'll have a fine time indeed.

MIKE EATS NEXT TIME: He's in Brooklyn Heights.

Spring Break, Part IV: Italian, Again?

Winslow's Cafe,
at The Butler Institute of American Art
524 Wick Avenue
Youngstown, OH 44502
(330) 746-8600

Alberini's
1201 Youngstown-Warren Road
Niles, OH 44446
(330) 652-5895
www.alberinis.com

I UNDERSTAND YOUNGSTOWN might not be at the top of everyone's travel list. I know that Warren and Niles certainly aren't, unless you've got family there, in which case, why have we not met, or, are we related?

That said, chances are you've passed though Pittsburgh or Cleveland or will sometime in your future. If you do, and you've got a car, and you've got a day to spare, perhaps you'll make the trip. At least that's your justification for reading this.

Winslow's Cafe at The Butler Institute of American Art is nowhere near as pretentious as it sounds, I promise. You do not need a monocle, a cane, and a fur coat to enter, though, that would be hilarious. Winslow's, simply, is a food counter of sorts that serves the museum, albeit deliciously. It's quick, it's cheap, and it has an awesome black bean burger with soft chipolte cheese that goes well with their sweet, spicy corn relish.

The museum itself is pretty great too. My mom, who teaches Physical Therapy at YSU, and I always wind up passing through both Winslow's and the museum each trip I make home, probably because both are so thoroughly enjoyable. The Butler, for a small museum, has a sprawling collection of American art worth seeing.

For dinner, Alberini's actually sits in nearby Niles, about halfway between Youngstown and Warren on the appropriately named Youngstown-Warren Road. To say that Alberini's is the best Italian restaurant in the area is an understatement. To then note that the area is full of first and second generation Italian immigrants makes the prior statement a high compliment.

For me, I will admit, the family connection is strong--my grandfather sold Richard Alberini the land to build his restaurant decades ago. Since then, it has thrived; the two good friends remained so for many years. Richard passed away recently, though, and our dinner was my grandfather's first visit to the restaurant without his friend roaming its dining rooms.

To sum it up, the menu at Alberini's is Italian food at its most perfect. Everything you should expect--the sauces, the recipes, and gnocchi handmade and cooked like should be. In fact, it may be the only place I've ever eaten Italian food in this country that tastes like it does in Italy. High compliment, certainly. Of course, I'm entirely biased. But, if you make the drive and don't agree... well, the ghost of Richard will ruin your meatballs for eternity. I promise.

MIKE EATS NEXT TIME: I always seem to, yes.

Spring Break, Part III: Pizza in the Heart of It All

University Pizzeria & Italian Eatery
133 Lincoln Avenue
Youngstown, OH 44503
(330) 743-9244
www.universitypizzeria.com

FINDING GOOD PIZZA in Ohio is nearly impossible. Everywhere you go is seemingly overrun with chain after chain serving up cheep, terrible pies. And most small Italian joints don't even bother making the attempt or they just pass off the same, sad imitation that's become standard. There are few exceptions to this rule.

Which doesn't mean that you can't find incredible Italian food in Ohio or the occasional bastion off great pizza hope, you just have to look really, really hard. It's a a bit easier here, up in the northeast corner of the state, where many Italian immigrants settled at the turn of the last century, and where their families are still to be found.

I have to admit, still, I didn't even believe my own brother when he started working at University Pizza (or U-Pie to locals) a few years back, claiming they made a great pie. But they do. It might not quite live up to expectations in New York or Chicago, but sitting right on the edge of Youngstown State University's campus it's far and away the most solid option you've got in Youngstown.

Everything is fresh and creative. We had the spinach and tomato pie with garlic, Romano cheese and olive oil, and Brooklyn Brewery lagers from the bar (Brooklyn beers at any bar outside of NY state is always a good sign). But I should also recommend the Spinchoni pizza too--garlicky, spicy hot and everything you want in life. When you're looking for pizza in Youngstown.

MIKE EATS NEXT TIME: Of course.