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Posted
1 hour ago, Deleted account said:

 

Same, 11 weeks at Great Lakes was plenty for 2 lifetimes... :) 

Great lakes has a Pizza Hut for Italian lol.

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Posted
32 minutes ago, deaknh03 said:

Beat me to it

Large pasta maker in the town my parents grew up, Lowell Massachusetts. They had an old slogan, Wednesday is prince spaghetti day, and every guinea family around had prince spaghetti every Wednesday,  my family included. 

I thought it might be a special way to prepare the spaghetti. Never heard of Prince brand. Thanks 

32 minutes ago, deaknh03 said:

Beat me to it

Large pasta maker in the town my parents grew up, Lowell Massachusetts. They had an old slogan, Wednesday is prince spaghetti day, and every guinea family around had prince spaghetti every Wednesday,  my family included. 

I thought it might be a special way to prepare the spaghetti. Never heard of Prince brand. Thanks 

  • Global Moderator
Posted
1 hour ago, slonezp said:

Great lakes has a Pizza Hut for Italian lol.

Hey my wife worked there……. Hahaha, not that one tho 

  • Super User
Posted
2 hours ago, Skunkmaster-k said:

I thought it might be a special way to prepare the spaghetti. Never heard of Prince brand. Thanks 

I thought it might be a special way to prepare the spaghetti. Never heard of Prince brand. Thanks 

 

Prince and Ronzoni, big pasta names in the North East. 

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  • Super User
Posted
19 hours ago, Choporoz said:

Eating in Italy was entirely different experience than anything I've ever had here.   

I went to Italy in 2001 and I can agree that italian food in Italy is different.  It took me a while to go out to eat after I got back.  One thing i did have over there that I absolutely loved and haven't seen since i got back other than when I make it is pistachio pesto.  Swap out pine nuts for pistachios, unsalted if you can and you will love it.

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  • Super User
Posted

i love Italian food.  what i learned from my travels in Italy is that they never over sauce pasta.  the pasta is celebrated equally.  but there is so much IF that is not even pasta centric.  

 

so good.. all of it. 

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Posted
On 3/1/2023 at 2:21 PM, Deleted account said:

 

Was out for a 4 hour bike ride yesterday, and I ate 4 portions of penne with meat sauce and some left over beef noodle soup ( and 8 M&Ms) as soon as I got in the door. In a few weeks, I'll have trouble keeping weight, even shoving food down my face non stop. Viva cardio!

I'm in the same boat. Between hockey over the winter and everything I do during the summer, I struggle to keep weight on. It was a real problem in my 20's where I could really get underweight occasionally, but now in my 40's not so much. And as far as it being healthy or not, I always tell people, I'm here for a good time, not a long time.

 

 As far as my favorite Italian food, my wife and I vacationed in Rome a few years ago and couldn't find a bad meal in the entire city. But my favorite by far was this arancini bar we found. All they made were different kinds of arancini. My wife almost needed to find a hand cart to wheel me out of that place!

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  • Super User
Posted
3 hours ago, KSanford33 said:

I'm in the same boat. Between hockey over the winter and everything I do during the summer, I struggle to keep weight on. It was a real problem in my 20's where I could really get underweight occasionally, but now in my 40's not so much. And as far as it being healthy or not, I always tell people, I'm here for a good time, not a long time.

 

 As far as my favorite Italian food, my wife and I vacationed in Rome a few years ago and couldn't find a bad meal in the entire city. But my favorite by far was this arancini bar we found. All they made were different kinds of arancini. My wife almost needed to find a hand cart to wheel me out of that place!

 

I like Rome, wife is more fond of Florence and Tuscany. I think I want to hit the coast next. Some of the best meals I've had in Italy have been in Bari, Trieste, and Venice.

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Posted
13 minutes ago, Deleted account said:

 

I like Rome, wife is more fond of Florence and Tuscany. I think I want to hit the coast next. Some of the best meals I've had in Italy have been in Bari, Trieste, and Venice.

I've only been to Rome, but a buddy of mine has spent time in the Italian countryside and said the food in the smaller towns is even better than in the larger cities, if that's even possible.

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  • Super User
Posted

I had sicilian neighbors growing up. The Barbera’s . Combined with my mom’s North Carolina Scottish cooking, it’s no wonder I grew to a good size ! Mrs Agata had the best meatballs I’ve ever had…

When I got married, I discovered that my wife loved olive garden. I liked it, but part of it was having fun trying to pronounce the words on the menu.

I started getting the “ southern italian “ plate, because I figured if it was southern it had to be good.

It was. 

The veal parm was great. Then they quit having it. And that’s when I pretty much quit going there…

Ive ate at a few other local Italian restaurants. Most were good, but overwhelmingly expensive.

One of the local ones “ Gubbios”, used to be great when it was owned by Italians. The last time I went the chicken parm was like chewing on a piece of rubber. 

I heard chinese people had bought it and were running it…?

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  • Global Moderator
Posted

You’d be amazed of the amount of Italian restaurants that are owned and operated by other nationalities. 
 

Most everyone likes Italian food and they know it. They think if they have an Italian sounding name, have pictures of Venice or Rome on the walls and menu that’s all they need. 
To us the best way to tell is the sauce, cheese, olive oil and garlic used in certain dishes. 
 

Most restaurants use canned sauce from a food wholesaler.

The # 1 in that industry for years was Roma Food Products before they were bought out. 
Actual homemade sauce usually has small chunks of a tomato and oil that floats to the top as opposed to the commercially processed bulk canned sauce you get at your table if your restaurant uses it. 

 

Another way to tell is the consistency of the cheese. The water content of the Mozzarella, Parmesan and others is your  first clue. 
 

National franchises do not have someone’s grandmother cooking in the back or use a recipe handed down for generations as some like to advertise. 
If they do they are the outlier.

They’re like a lot of places that have to do what they can to lower costs and aid in the speed and ease of cooking and presentation to compete. 

Point is they are not all the same. 
 

 

 


 

 

 

22 hours ago, KSanford33 said:

I've only been to Rome, but a buddy of mine has spent time in the Italian countryside and said the food in the smaller towns is even better than in the larger cities, if that's even possible.


It is…

 

 

 

On 3/2/2023 at 6:59 PM, Deleted account said:

 

Prince and Ronzoni, big pasta names in the North East. 


They are huge in the Mid West also 

 


 

 

 

Mike

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  • Global Moderator
Posted
5 minutes ago, Deleted account said:

Olive Garden is Italian in the same way Red Lobster is seafood, technically yes, but.....


The fast food of thier industry 

 

 

 

 

Mike

Posted

when i was a kid, there were many italian immigrants in my neighborhood.  the catholic school i went to assigned me to buddy up with the kids my age and help them learn english and meet friends, etc.  this was such a blessing to me, straight from Jesus. 

my mom was not a great cook. she used to tell me "you don't eat enough to keep a bird alive". if she ever knew how the italian moms in our neighborhood kept me fed.  the food they made!  it's one of the  things from those days that i miss soo much.  that and one of my buddy's sister who was a true beauty, inside and out.  i never dated her because i'm not italian, and her father would never  allow it.  i knew even at 13 that she would make a perfect wife. ?

 

On 3/1/2023 at 8:32 PM, slonezp said:

If you're bringing up professionals then I'm bringing up this one

https://www.giadadelaurentiis.com/

 

ex#2 had one of her cook books, and the recipes in it were fantastic.  i still cook some of them.  thanks for posting that link, there are a ton of good recipes there for me to try out. i love cooking, and even more, i love eating. hahaha

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  • Super User
Posted

Love my chicken parm! 
 

Dad’s Sicilian Italian and Mom is Irish. She makes Italian food better than my full blood Italian aunts and grandmother. 
 

 

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  • Super User
Posted

I'm here to say that if you think olive garden is Italian food, there's some good BBQ food at burger King. Trash. 

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Posted
58 minutes ago, deaknh03 said:

I'm here to say that if you think olive garden is Italian food, there's some good BBQ food at burger King. Trash. 

We ate in Tuscany.  The chef came out to check on us.  He spoke little English but we managed to convey to him that his food was badass.  Our friend jokingly said, “it’s good , but it’s no Olive Garden”.  Chef totally understood and first feigned anger, then he busted out in a jovial guffaw.  It was pretty awesome. 
 

It was my first time tasting Panna Cotta.  Blew me away.  Milk jello!

Posted

i used to vacation in montreal alot.  there was  a place there where a violinist would come out and serenade your table like in the movies. i remarked to the waiter that the alfredo sauce was the best i ever had.  the chef came out and said thank you, and sat down with us and talked for a few minutes.  he told me that it made him happy, i understood the difference in his sauce. i can't remember the name of the place anymore, it was many years ago, but i went back to that place every year and tried a new dish. 

Posted

I used to go to a lot of computer schools outside Boston. One of the highlights was a dinner trip to Lowell Ma to the Prince Grotto, started by the owner of Prince Macroni. Sadly gone now.

 

Prince Grotto

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