Lilo, I grew up in the Bronx, and my aunt lived on Lorillard and 187th, which is where Dion and the Belmonts used to harmonize (and she used to throw water on them to make them shut up on Sunday nights). It's still a wonderful area to shop and dine. Mike's has some great stuff, but I prefer Teitel Brothers. They have excellent imported mortadella and prosciutto di parma - and the best prices, too. However, Mike's has this Argentinian cheese that is out of this world. And then there's Randazzo's for seafood, Egidio's for pastry and ices (or DeLillo's which is also a great bakery), Borgatti's for pasta, and Addeo's for bread. We also can't forget Vincent's for meat. Now I'm dying for a trip down there!

http://www.teitelbros.com/

http://borgattis.com/ravioli/index.php

Teitel Brothers, a Jewish family, with some of the best Italian imports you'll ever find. And they've only been there for about 100 years. So much for silly stereotypes.

We always shopped at Cosenza's, but I grew up with and went to school the Randazzo boys, from Our Lady of Mount Carmel through Mount Saint Michael. Frankie Randazzo is a prosecutor with the Bronx DA now. Yeah, that went over real big in the neighborhood .

I love Borgatti's. One of the brothers, Larry, drove funeral cars for many years. We worked together all the time. He was a sweet old man. When he passed away back in 2002, I drove the flower car. Best raviolis in the world. Seriously.

Vincents? Didn't Ernest Borginine work there .

DeLillo's vs. Egidio's? Sore point in my family, which is why we usually went to Gino's or Artuso's . But if I'm in the neighborhood, and I just want a cup of coffee and to bullshit with the old timers, I always go to Egidio's. It's like stepping into a time warp. I'll most certainly be there tomorrow morning.

Remember the song, Babe?

A-D-D-E-O, that spells Addeo, best bakery in town.

There really is no BAD bakery in that neighborhood. But I don't care what anyone says, Egidio's has the best sfogliatelle in the world. And the best Italian ice, too. DeLillo's makes those custard cups with the fruit on top that are to die for, though.

But for cheese (except for the Argentinian from Mike's), I go to Calandra's. He's got the great fresh ricotta and mozzarella, ricotta salatta, and what my mother endearingly calls, "The cheese with the pepper, but without the pepper"!

And God forbid I go to Teitel Brothers and don't get a case of pear nectar for the girls. They drank that for breakfast every morning in Italy. When we were in Sicily, my aunt bought the girls these cookie things called Gioccole (not even sure I'm spelling that correctly). They used to put them in a bowl with milk and eat them for breakfast. I've searched high and low for them here, but no such luck. I told the girls that if they don't have them in the Arthur Avenue Market, then they aren't in the US.

Joe's Deli on 187th, across from Artuso's, has GREAT mozzarella. Next time you're down there, try it.


I can't believe you phrased it like that, Babe. My mother used to say about vegetables, "If they don't have it at the market, it doesn't grow."

Oops. Didn't see this before. No. The answer is there is no current salt ban. There is a proposed salt ban.
Felix Ortiz's Proposal

The next time I do a special order I will check out both places.

A ridiculous proposal. Trans fats are poison and that barely got passed. NYC is the restaurant capital of the world. Try cooking without salt entirely and see how long that lasts.

I don't even live there and it pisses me off. What's gonna be next?

My daughter bought us a coffee pod brewer today. Finding the pods wasn't easy, but we got some at Stop N Shop. The coffee's really good.

Paprika!

Good stuff. From what I've been seeing on the cooking shows lately, it's becoming more popular these days.

You can't have Chicken Paprikash without it.

I was hoping for a good squirrel paprikash recipe at this point

Processed meats linked to heart disease posted 03:17 PM ET

BOSTON, May 18, 2010 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Processed meats -- bacon, hot dogs or processed deli meats -- are linked to more than a 40 percent higher risk of heart disease, U.S. researchers found.

Lead author Renata Micha, a research fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health, said the researchers found no higher risk of heart disease or diabetes among people who ate unprocessed red meat -- beef, pork, or lamb.

Micha and colleagues Dariush Mozaffarian, assistant professor in the department of epidemiology and Sarah Wallace, a junior research fellow in the department of epidemiology, reviewed some 1,600 studies. Twenty studies involving more than 1.2 million people from 10 countries and four continents were found relevant for the review.

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=113367686&source=Newsfeed

Oli, while I appreciate the source link, you really should quote the more relevant parts of your argument. Because if I only read what you quoted, I'd question it entirely.

You should've quoted this:



That said... I love processed meat too much and will never give it up, no matter what!

That might be good.

I broke down and got a squirrel feeder -- just one of those little cages that hold dried corn cobs. Maybe they'll keep all their attention on that rather than my plants.

I told you the Col. can take care of your squirrel problem for you.

But the squirrels are cute! lol Anyway, I read that if you "remove" the current ones, new ones will just move into the territory.

Yes the Redtail Family has been casting covetuous eyes on the Nutter Family's domains for quite some time. And if you thought the current squirrels were bad, the Redtail Crew makes them all look like a bunch of hamsters...

Best Supermarket Tomato Sauce

Classico has the best pesto sauce in the supermarket.

I can take a rational debate about the First Amendment, but as a proud Italian American, I draw the line at jarred tomato sauce. Now I have no choice but to challenge you to a duel.

En garde!

And so began the Pasta Sauce War of 2010

Chef Boyardee is a pimp. He never could have outfought Ragu. But I didn't know until this day that it was Prego all along.

I know there are a lot of people who buy jarred sauce. However, I just can't stand it. To me, it's like eating battery acid.

Well I am just a grocery-shopping heathen-- White bread me and as bleached of ethnicity as one may come...

Somebody... Anybody... EVERYBODY---

SCREEEEEEEAAM!!!

Wait-- That is a hip-hop chant.

What I MEANT to ask was:

"WHAT is a REAL Italian marinara sauce? Not a gravy or meat sauce... A GOOOD homemade meatless salsa marinara ? ? ?

Anybody?

YEEEAAHH Boy-Ar-Dee!!!

... He's still suffering over Clemenza's "heart attack"... Thinks he might have been the cause....

I just seen him drinking from a garden hose somewhere in Reno.

Buncha snobs we got here! Damn, wish I could eat gourmet/homemade every single night of the week!

Listen, I love the real deal as much as anyone (of course!). I don't always have 2+ hours nor all the ingredients to prepare real sauce on any given night. But in a pinch I find nothing wrong (nor offensive) about preparing pasta with (a decent) jarred sauce (doctored up a bit, of course). They don't ALL suck!

In fact... Ya know what one of my favorite snacks is? Chef Boyardee Mini Ravioli -- right out of the can! Yup, room temperature, right after the lid is snapped off, digging in with a tea spoon. Awesome!

(Shush, it's a lot better than Franco-American (Campbell's sucks!) )

Well I might know what you each mean.
I don't get folks that eat macaroni and cheese or stuffing out of a box..