I live in a small town in Santa Barbara County and we have a handful of restaurants – all but one of which serves Italian food. Why is that? Is it because people love pasta and pizza more than anything else? Because kids will always eat spaghetti and meatballs? Because Americans are off fussy French food and dismissive of Chinese takeout?
When I got to Connecticut on my vacation, I found the same situation. Ninety percent of the restaurants in my area are Italian, which means we end up trying them all but feeling as if we went to the same place.
Tonight we went with friends to a lively spot in New Milford called Tivoli.
It was your basic “red sauce Italian,” which means that everything was smothered in tomatoes, olives, capers and onions. Michael’s osso bucco? The same sauce as my grilled salmon. My friend Harriet’s mussels? Same sauce. Her husband Henry’s beef? Yup, same sauce.
I’d like to say the service made up for the one-note food, but a waitress dropped a tray of ice water behind us and we were lucky not to get soaked.
Such a shame. The location is great and the patio is perfect on a balmy summer evening. But I won’t rush back.
Reason number 1 – they breed like bunnies.:-) so there are a lot of them.
2. Rhythm method doesn’t work.
3. The pope tells them that birth control is a sin.
Just my first thoughts since I am Italian American those were the first to come to mind.
(I had my IA card revoked for having a career and not having children)
Sounds like a bad restaurant to be sure. Bet you were jonesing for your Capellini Aioli.
HAHA, Peg. You explained the situation perfectly. Actually, I’m jonesing for the place I went to on Wednesday night, Lucia. Now that was a restaurant. I could go there every night.
Ahhhh…don’t get me started on Italian ristorantes! Too late — you did. I’ll try to keep my comments brief.
First, an update to last nite. Sadly, Dear Old Mum was just too tuckered out after dining at our fine FRENCH restaurant (Bistro Provence — a luvly li’l place on Rt. 1/Fed Hwy in Boca) to stay up & out for the movie, despite my many efforts. Wish she had half the energy of YOUR mom!! But she’s really slowing down…hope I get to see “The Help” when we go on vacation in 2 weeks…
Back to Italian restaurants & such. Being intimately familiar with the local Greek community, I learned a surprising alleged fact from them — they claim that most Italian restaurants (at least in the Baltimore-DC area) are owned & operated by Greeks!! Well, maybe it’s true where you are, and maybe it ain’t, but let’s just say that it adds another multiplier to the total quantity. And think about this…Greek cuisine is hardly as well-known or popular as Italian…and the Greeks are VERY much into two things: the foods & restaurant biznezzes, and “krimata” (KREE-ma-ta), i.e. MONEY. If you wanna buy it, they’ll sell it. Cheeburger, cheeburger — no Goke, Betsi (a little more Greek inflection for ya)…
Oh yeah, one more thing. Whenever we’d visit my wife’s old college buddies in Avon, they’d take us to (or take us by) a legendary Italian restaurant called Frankie’s Fire House. Why the name, you ask? Weell… their owners allegedly WERE Italian, but somehow they’d have an unfortunate fire there every few years that would totally consume the place…and then, thanx to generous insurance benefits, they’d rebuild an even bigger & more spectacular ristorante. And then…would you believe…another fire? Such bad luck!! The last time we went by, they had Roman statues outside, and the place was starting to resemble Caesar’s Palace…but it’s probably burned down again since then…!!
Sorry you weren’t able to get your mom out to see the movie, Dave. So you think Greeks own the Italian restaurants? I thought they were heavily into diners!
Game, Set and Match to Margaret and her reply. The American (read: ignorant) stereotype of Italian cuisine is one of everything drowning in red glop, and pizza overloaded with meat and cheese, and red glop. I expect that such a place has to pander to that misconception to some degree in order to stay afloat. Did the menu not offer dishes prepared in other modes? Was the Lucia place more diverse and authentic?
Lucia was in a whole different category, NYL. It was not “red sauce Italian” at all. Can’t wait to go back there.