Pleasant Memories at the Neighborhood Trattoria
There is a wonderful Italian restaurant in our neighbourhood. The food is superb. We used to go there often. It has a wonderful ambiance. It is welcoming and friendly. If we went on week nights, when it was not crowded, they would escort us to our favourite table by the window. We always ordered the same thing. Peter would order the Chicken Marsala, and I would order the Linguine Con Vongole with extra broth and chopped parsley and a small house salad that we would both nibble on. Afterwards, Peter would have a caffe latte, and I would have an espresso, which came with two miniature biscotti. Sometimes we shared a dessert. Music, soothing music relaxed us as we casually dined.
One day we were in the city and were feeling peckish. We had just passed an Italian restaurant. We stopped and peered at the framed menu attached to the glass front. It claimed to be rated three stars, not four. Not bad, we thought. We entered and were seated. Thinking to myself that if our local restaurant’s food was so good, this one, being in the city, should be so much better. I ordered my usual. I was so disappointed! I might as well have dined at a cafeteria! At our restaurant, the clams were fat and juicy, served in the shell and liberally sprinkled with finely chopped parsley. The broth was delicious. Not here. The clams were from a can. They were dry and unappetizing. I picked at it. Peter played with his food as well. When Peter did not like his food, he pushed it from one side of the plate to the other. That is what he did on that occasion. We left that eatery disappointed and kind of hungry. We had spent so much more than we did at our local eatery, and it was a total disappointment!
It was then that we realized what a treasure our neighborhood restaurant was. Who needed to travel far when we had this trattoria near where we lived? When Peter passed away, I found occasions to take people there to dine, for I am not comfortable dining alone in public. Since the pandemic, I have not eaten out. Hopefully, we will be able to soon. That would be one of the first restaurants I would frequent.