1. Thanks a million to Gretchen D. whose foodie tips never go wrong, including...
2. Le Gallo Rosso. My dad, an out-of-towner, and I went tonight and enjoyed what my sweet mama would call a "Mary Poppins" dinner -- practically perfect in every way. It far exceeded my expectations. We had two entrees (Chicken with Sundried Tomatoes and Artichokes -- subtle, and Spaghetti with Fresh Mozzarella-Stuffed Meatballs -- comically enormous) and came home completely stuffed and totally satisfied, with two boxes of leftovers. We sat on the terrace (Ha! In the alley, but a very nice alley at that), got friendly, attentive service and practically gorged ourselves on (couldn't stop eating!!) simple Italian food prepared with attention to detail and plated with care. In my humble, very non-expert opinion, this place is something special. The thing that kept running through my mind was, "Someone in this place actually cares about this dadgum food" -- as opposed to the masses of "Italian" joints where an underpaid line cook throws a bunch of overcooked, over-sauced ingredients around, and adds way too much garlic. Not here. I can't wait to go back and try something else.
I'll probably just go back to lurking now, but I had to say what a fantastic experience we had there this evening.
Does anybody else hear that? It's the leftovers in my fridge, calling my name.
Haha...