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| - Girasole...after 5 years living in San Francisco, we are moving back. Back to where we got engaged. Back to where we had our first date. Back to our weekly date night location as a married, harried, and growing couple.
Sure, there are tons of hip new restaurants popping up where you can get squid egg foam over crostada and herb gastrique or whatever the cool phrase is in Brooklyn...but this place remains a constant source of amazingly prepared food, in a unique setting. Is it loud sometimes? Sure. So were the restaurants we visited in basements and stone walled spaces in Florence. Is it cramped? Sure, sometimes it is, but it's a small location and the kitchen rains consistently spectacular because they are cooking for a small number. It's not the olive Garden / Lidia's / Bravo where you have an acre between your guest. I'll take perfectly prepared, home made Italian where I have to bump elbows with my neighbor any day over canned gravy and a ton of space. (Last time I was at a smaller table, the group of four next to me included two members of the Penguins...so the proximity was actually kind of fun.)
Jimmy, Patti, Vito and their family have been bringing delicious, authentic food for 20+ years in an area that is becoming increasingly inauthentic and commercialized. Thank you all for being a Shadyside tradition! And see you tomorrow for the risotto. :)
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