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| - Hey, ba da bing, ba da boom, I'm at the Cake Boss's joint. You gotta problem with that? Cause if you do, he knows a guy who knows a guy!
That said, and it needed to be, I rarely eat southern Italian in restaurants because growing up in NY, I had the good fortune to eat the real master chefs cuisine, my grandmother, father, aunts and friends parents. Anyway my point is, I'm seriously biased.
My goal was to eat something tasty and not heavily laden with sugar, flour, carbs as I'm in the middle of a book about that stuff which is gross, scary and fascinating all at the same time. But, I digress.
I went for lunch and ordered grandma's meatballs and a side of Tuscan Kale with roasted tomatoes. While I get that we didn't use real San Marzano tomatoes here, it did come close to replicating an authentic flavor. I should point out that meatballs to Italians is a very serious and personal matter. My extended family can argue endlessly on the what constitutes the perfect meatball, whether there should be inclusions such as pignola nuts, raisens and tons of other stuff you can't possibly imagine.
The Tuscan Kale wasn't on the menu, but Star, my server, not wanting to disappoint, checked with the kitchen and they said they could do it. I was very happy. That's service! Problem was, it came out very tough, chewy and barely edible. So I appreciate the extra effort, not the result, and the results are what matters. Once you commit to me, I'm expecting your A game stuff.
Appropriate classic Italian Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Louis Prima and other legends sang in the background. I'll go back ang give them another try for dinner.
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