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Pane e Vino's Dead, Long Live Mama Nina's!
Jul. 3rd, 2007 12:16 pmSome time ago, in The World, She is Over, I ranted about how one of the better Italian eateries in the area was sold, mutated, and then castrated to become the Westgate Diner. A diner. In a Tuscan villa. While it is still an abomination - and one that, thankfully, seems to be drawing less of a crowd - there is hope in the world.
Three weeks ago, Nino, the man behind Pane e Vino, opened up the Mama Nina Focacceria on Main Street in Bethlehem. Sidewalk cafe type stuff, but still, with a similar menu. The little one inch square garlic knots (bread bits, really; but in olive oil and piled high with lots of roasted garlic) are gone. This is not a bad thing. They are replaced with longer - maybe four inches long - bread, doused with olive oil and topped with a significant quantity of roasted garlic.
Yes, all is now right with the world.
Well, except for politics, religion, and most other things humans are involved with.
I had lunch there - antipasto salad, very reasonably priced for the portion size. Big square plate, probably one foot square. All the veggies were fresh, the meats some of the best I have tasted. They have good suppliers. The whole thing was put together nicely, although any art that was made while assembling it was lost as I worked my way through it. Of particular draw to me were the peppers, artichoke, sun dried tomatoes, mozzarella, and sharp cheese. Not too much of any of these ingredients, but just the right amount to balance with the rest.
The salad was available with grilled or fried chicken, and I really can't imagine it done that way - worked great as it was.
Only downside to the food itself was the presence of half a hard boiled egg - that went to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
thefrogger, who enjoyed it as an appetizer of sorts to his chicken marsala.
The other downside of the whole meal was, with only three or four bites left and a scheme hatched to get more garlic bread (it was pretty sneaky and complex: next time the waiter arrived, I was going to ask for more) another party of three or four sat down at the booth behind me. Ladies, please, when you expect to dine - and actually enjoy and taste food, or are going to be around others who might happen to be attempting such - do not apply perfume with a crop duster. Better yet, just look at the bottle. There, now the person sitting at the next table over will not have to taste your perfume as if it were salad dressing, except far less tasty. If they had come in earlier, it would have ruined the meal.
Three weeks ago, Nino, the man behind Pane e Vino, opened up the Mama Nina Focacceria on Main Street in Bethlehem. Sidewalk cafe type stuff, but still, with a similar menu. The little one inch square garlic knots (bread bits, really; but in olive oil and piled high with lots of roasted garlic) are gone. This is not a bad thing. They are replaced with longer - maybe four inches long - bread, doused with olive oil and topped with a significant quantity of roasted garlic.
Yes, all is now right with the world.
Well, except for politics, religion, and most other things humans are involved with.
I had lunch there - antipasto salad, very reasonably priced for the portion size. Big square plate, probably one foot square. All the veggies were fresh, the meats some of the best I have tasted. They have good suppliers. The whole thing was put together nicely, although any art that was made while assembling it was lost as I worked my way through it. Of particular draw to me were the peppers, artichoke, sun dried tomatoes, mozzarella, and sharp cheese. Not too much of any of these ingredients, but just the right amount to balance with the rest.
The salad was available with grilled or fried chicken, and I really can't imagine it done that way - worked great as it was.
Only downside to the food itself was the presence of half a hard boiled egg - that went to
thefrogger, who enjoyed it as an appetizer of sorts to his chicken marsala.The other downside of the whole meal was, with only three or four bites left and a scheme hatched to get more garlic bread (it was pretty sneaky and complex: next time the waiter arrived, I was going to ask for more) another party of three or four sat down at the booth behind me. Ladies, please, when you expect to dine - and actually enjoy and taste food, or are going to be around others who might happen to be attempting such - do not apply perfume with a crop duster. Better yet, just look at the bottle. There, now the person sitting at the next table over will not have to taste your perfume as if it were salad dressing, except far less tasty. If they had come in earlier, it would have ruined the meal.
