You guys.
My mom is the pickiest eater I’ve ever met, and I found another restaurant that she liked. This is a post-Christmas miracle. She came in for dinner last night, and I’d wanted to try Casa Nonna since it’s in my ‘hood and Ali really liked it. The first time I asked her to check out the menu, she declared too many ingredients she didn’t know, so I have no idea how I actually talked her into it.
It’s part of the BLT group of restaurants (but without BLT in its name, tricky), and it has a cute, cozy your-Italian-grandma’s house feel. The tufted leather banquettes actually remind me a lot of the tufted leather bar thingy my grandma used to have in her basement, so I declare it accurate in the your-Italian-grandma department. See also: wood paneling.
Thing #1 that reminded me of Quartino in Chicago: the wine was served in quartinos (which means quarter liter in Italian. I looked it up at the table, since I was curious. Thank god for iPhones.)
Thing #2 that reminded me of Quartino in Chicago: I ordered a quartino of soave for me and my mom. (Just kidding, Dad, mom did not actually have any.) I remembered ordering it at Quartino and it being a crowd-pleaser.
(The awkward ponytail and pose are brought to you by my dirty hair and hating how I look head-on when my hair is up.)
See? No.
As a runner and daughter of an Italian lady, I consider myself a connoisseur of carbs, and I recommend going to Casa Nonna just for this, the focaccia with some sort of very delicious cheese and seasonings.
Since I’m working my way through a big thing of pasta I made earlier in the week and planned on eating a bagel this morning, I decided to skip the pasta last night and go for two appetizers. My mom ended up sharing some of her pasta with me, too, which was wonderful. AND SHE LIKED IT!!! Double wonderful. For appetizer numero uno, I went with the braised meatballs with tomato sauce. There was also some cheese, and it, too, was wonderful. The meatballs had a bit of a kick, and they were very good, though, of course, not as good as my mom’s. But almost.
For numero due, I had the fried risotto balls. (So, yes, I only had balls for dinner.) These actually weren’t very flavorful, but anything that involves risotto and breading can never be that bad in my book.
To finish off the ball theme, we had some sorbet for dessert. My mom loved every single thing that was placed in front of us last night, which made me incredibly happy.
We didn’t try it, but they do a $35 four-course prix fixe dinner which rotates (monthly? every so often?) and features food from different parts of Italy. I think last night was Calabria.
What are your favorite spherically-shaped foods?
