Trattoria Pizzeria Dai Medici- Naples, IT

After my semester in Rome ended, I had 3 weeks until my flight home to the USA. The first one of these weeks I spent in Naples with my roommate and travel buddy, Gina. Naples tends to have a less than shining reputation for being crime ridden, dirty, and all around unsafe, but despite this it managed to be one of my favorite destinations in Italy. Why you ask? Well, for starters, it was incredibly beautiful, especially along the coastline, a somewhat unexpected treat for us.  It also proved to be a city filled with much more than just trash (though there was PLENTY of that). Naples had art, culture, history, one of the friendliest populations we came across, and most of all fantastic pizza.

Pizza in Naples is like no other. For starters you can get a full pie for one person for 3 euro, convenient for broke college students. It just so happened that the hostel Gina and I were staying at was located on the same street as some of the most famous pizza joints in town. I think it goes without saying that for 3 euro a pie I ate more than my fill of pizza.

While the famous spots, like De Matteo, had delicious product I do not count them as the best Pizza places in Naples for the fact that their pizza wasn’t good enough to make up for the lack of customer service. Granted, Italy is not known for great customer service, but a simple smile and acknowledgement of a customer’s presence is not too much to ask for no matter the location.  Most of the famous pizzerias could not seem to manage even this. There is a place that has not only excellent pizza, but also the friendliest staff. It is the Trattoria and Pizzeria Dai Medici.   

Also located in Naples’ historic center, this family owned pizzeria is refreshingly low key with only a small sign outside and a simply decorated interior. As Gina and I walked inside, we were immediately greeted by an older Italian woman who spoke little English, but did not let that stop her from making us feel incredibly welcome. Before we even sat down, she asked us if we were staying at Robby’s House B&B. Since we were, we were brought out a special treat (apparently Bobby sends Dai Medici a lot of business and this is their way of showing their appreciation). What we were brought was an appetizer of “algae del mar,” fried balls of dough with seaweed. These salty fried pillows were so simple and so delicious. They were also a uniquely Naples treat that we never saw them on another menu anywhere else in Italy.

Then it was time for the pizzas. Oh my. For starters, they were huge. They were easily the size of the Roman style pies served at Da Baffetto in Rome, only the crust of Dai Medici’s pizza was in the true Neapolitan style: thin in the center, yet thick and chewy around the edge.  

For toppings, I ordered the mixed vegetables while Gina got spicy sausage. Needless to say, we both thought our pizzas were scrumptious.   Hers came with red sauce while mine came with only cheese. The veggies on mine ended up being eggplant, artichokes, and chicory. While I was expecting they would be mixed together on the pizza, they were all separated. I liked it this way, probably because I have obsessive compulsive tendencies when it comes to arranging food on my plate and always give each food its own space, so this pizza was just my style.

While my pizza was excellent, I did wish a little that I had ordered a pizza with red sauce on it. After having already eaten red pizza for two nights before going to Dai Medici, I had wanted to switch things up a bit by ordering a white pizza, but after trying both I decided  that I like pizza better when there is red sauce. Despite this, the veggies on my pizza were so fresh and the portion was so big that I was definitely not unsatisfied when I was finished. Red sauce or no, the pizza at Trattoria and Pizzeria Dai Medici was the best I had in Naples.

Mesob- Rome, IT

I finally tried Ethiopian cuisine for the first time… in Rome. This may seem a bit odd- Ethiopian food in Italy? But after three straight weeks of nothing but pasta, bread, and pizza, I needed a change of pace. Making the trek to the outskirts of Rome to try the food at Mesob ended up being exactly what I needed.

Now, when I say it was a trek, I am really not exaggerating. It took my roommate and me three modes of transportation to get to the address I had found. After taking the metro, wasting some time looking for the tram stop, finally finding it, then taking the tram to what was an unknown part of the city to us, we still had to walk another ten minutes. Finally, we reached our destination. And what did we find? A parking lot entrance and a convenience store that had a sign saying they were closed until mid-February.

Initiate freak out.

After about five minutes of walking up and down the street convinced the restaurant was somewhere near that we has simply missed, we realized that that was exactly the case. For when we wandered further into the parking lot next to the convenience store, we found a quaint red-orange building tucked away with windows through which we saw whicker tables scattered throughout a dining room. We had found Mesob.

We got there pretty much the second the restaurant opened (turns out it was a good thing our commute took so long) so we had our pick of tables to sit at. I immediately fell in love with our surroundings. The room was small and cozy with off-white walls accented by warm reds and purples in the curtains and paintings that hung on the walls. Gina and I were hungry from our journey and decided to order an appetizer to share, followed by our main meals, a meat dish for her and a vegetarian one for me.

Now, here’s the thing, I am not going to be able to give you much detail about the dishes we ate because I do not actually know what they all were. Most of them were pureed concoctions whose ingredients were unidentifiable (and since the menus were in Italian, my grasp of what we were eating was limited). I can, however, tell you how they tasted. (*Spoiler alert* they were all good).

Our appetizer was a simple salad with falafel and a phyllo dough pouch filled with a yogurt-like sauce with pesto for dipping. The falafel was good, although, falafels are never a favorite dish of mine (I usually find them to be too dry for my liking). I preferred the yogurt filled dough. The pesto had a punch of chili spice to it which went perfectly with the cool yogurt sauce.

When the main dishes came out, I knew it was going to be a “shemomedjamo” type of meal. My plate had six different portions of food, two of which were complete mysteries to me. One was an orange puree of some kind with unexpected spiciness. The other was a yellow concoction that was not quite as pureed as the first and had my favorite flavor out of all six dishes. Of the other things on my plate, one had eggplant, another had mushrooms, the third was carrots and cabbage, and the last contained a leafy green similar to chicory or chard (sorry, but that's about all the detail I can give).

My favorite item was definitely the injera bread that all the mixtures were laid on top of and that we used to scoop up the food. It was spongy and delicious. And best of all, I got to eat with my hands! Somehow I think doing that makes the food taste better.

Once Gina and I had reached the point of not being able to fit a single morsel more of food into our stomachs, we embarked on our long and confusing journey home (it took a couple attempts to find the correct buses and then a bit of walking on unknown streets to get back, but we found our way eventually). I don't believe it is a trek I will be making again until after the weather warms up, but one I will, nonetheless, be making again. How can I not after becoming that full on good food for only 15 Euro?

Nonna Betta- Jewish Ghetto, Rome, IT

In my pre-departure to Rome food research, I kept reading about an area of the city known as the Jewish Ghetto. It is an area just across the Tiber River from Trastevere very near where the first ever fish market of Rome was (the ruins of the marketplace still remain). The streets of the ghetto are lined with restaurants, trattorias and bakeries offering authentic kosher Roman food. This food used to be limited to fried goods, most famously artichokes and cod. However, the area has grown and changed over the decades, and along with it, the food. Now the area has a reputation for culinary feats that go beyond its fried classics. At the restaurant, Nonna Betta, I tried a bit of it all.

My friend, Jordyn, and I were greeted outside the door of the restaurant by a sweet older Italian man who led us inside and has us seated immediately. We were brought to the back room of the long narrow restaurant and were seated at a small table from which we could peak into the kitchen. Immediately, we were brought menus along with a basket of what looked like wonderful bread (I cannot say for certain, though, since we managed to resist eating it to avoid the additional charge). I was a huge fan of this menu since it featured all kosher food and only offered fish and vegetable dishes- a pescitarian’s heaven! We ended up ordering a full meal: an antipasto plate, two first courses, and two second courses. We decided to share everything so we could taste as much as possible.

The antipasto dish we ordered provided a sample of all of the antipasti offered on the menu. These were the traditional fried dishes that the Jewish Ghetto is known for. On our plate were a fried cod filet, a fried zucchini blossom, a pumpkin arancine (fried rice ball), fried mozzarella, and most importantly a fried artichoke. It was all excellent. Even through the fried breading, I could still taste the freshness of the ingredients and the distinct flavors that they all had. My favorite was the fried artichoke, a first for me. The outer leaves were crispy and could almost have been made into artichoke chips. The heart was tender and rich, but not heavy as fried food often is.

The fried artichoke was not the last first Nonna Betta served me. For my first course, I ordered gnocchi, but not your typical potato based kind. Instead, they were made with semolina flour. When the dish was placed down in front of me, I was expecting to see small puff balls of starch but instead was presented with 3 large, flattened pillows sitting in a small Dutch oven with the parmesan and ricotta cheese sauce still bubbling around them. The texture was not as smooth as traditional gnocchi is. The semolina made these gnocchi much grainier, almost polenta like. The flavor was delicate. Despite being covered in cheese, the gnocchi were not overpowered by it.

Jordyn’s first course was a spaghetti dish with artichoke and salmon roe. The fish flavor came through surprisingly strong, but not in a bad way. We both enjoyed being able to taste the roe as opposed to it being overwhelmed by the pasta.

When the second course dishes arrived, they were both still bubbling furiously in the dishes they were cooked in. I ordered the zucchini dish, which was essentially a zucchini au gratin, while Jordyn got the cod alla Nonna Betta. We both agreed that the cod dish was our favorite of the two. While the zucchini was plenty cheesy and plenty good, the cod was cooked in a sauce that was uniquely wonderful in its flavor. Despite our best efforts, we could not figure out what was in it. There was a hint of nuttiness accompanied by a subtle sweetness that paired with the cod in the most pleasant way.

For dessert, we decided to put our bets on the waiter and order his recommendations. We got two slices of ricotta cheesecake: one with a blackberry compote topping and the second with a chocolate topping. Both were served warm. Now, I am a sucker for cheesecake. It is my biggest weakness when it comes to desserts. And ricotta cheesecake was, yet again, another first for me. I ended up enjoying them immensely, especially the chocolate one, although I’ve decided I prefer other kinds of cheesecakes over the ricotta variety (The Cheesecake Guy in upstate New York still makes my favorite).

At the end of the night, Jordyn and I walked home with full stomachs and a discount card to use the next time we eat a Nonna Betta. While the meal ended up being a bit of a splurge for me (just under 45 Euro for each of us), the wait staff and food both made the experience well worth it. I would like to return and explore more of the menu (especially since there are no dietary limits to what I can order); I will just have to resist ordering so much.

Nonna Betta

Via del Portico d’Ottavia, 16 – Roma

Tel. 06 68 80 62 63

http://www.nonnabetta.it/en

New World Home Cooking- Saugerties, NY

There is nothing I like to see more in a restaurant than the use of local, sustainable, and fresh ingredients. Ric Orlando seems to agree since that is what the chef uses in his restaurant, New World Home Cooking. Located on Rt. 212 in Saugerties, the global bistro is known and loved for its variety of dynamic flavors to match its colorful atmosphere. Several styles of cuisine are combined to produce exciting dishes.

I had been to New World before, but not in several years. In fact, the last time I was there I was still in my “only eat white foods” phase; my diet consisted of mashed potatoes, pasta, rice, and lots of ice cream (usually cookie dough). This made Ric Orlando’s colorful menu an unappealing one to say the least. After having outgrown that phase (thankfully), I was eager to return to New World to experience it again. What was more was the fact that during my time away Ric Orlando had gone on the Food Network show, Chopped, and won! Dining here again was a must.

As my parents and I walked into the restaurant, we saw the warm orange walls of the dining rooms filled with table tops that are works of art themselves all situated under a deep blue ceiling. Each room is decorated with artwork and souvenirs from around the world, reiterating New World’s global theme and creating a lively atmosphere.

Our table was on a banquet in the corner of the dining area closest to the kitchen. From my seat I had the added pleasure of being able to peak through the windows and see the chefs in action. We immediately placed an order for the blackened green beans, a dish that New World has become known for and one that my dad especially enjoys. We then continued to look over the menu, which I was pleased to find had several vegetarian and vegan options. I ended up ordering the blue corn crusted seitan with tomatillo salsa, brown rice, black beans and seasonal vegetables. My dad ordered the fried calamari and a Vietnamese salad and my mom got the vegan penne a la vodka with red onions, roasted squash and cashew butter.

Along with our green beans appetizer, our server also brought us a complimentary low-fat bean spread with toasted bread to start off with. This spread was absolutely amazing! It had so many levels of flavor and was unlike any spread I had eaten before.

The beans were fantastic in a very different way. Drenched in spices, they delivered a punch of flavor as soon as I put one in my mouth. And it wasn’t just flavor- it was heat. I was thankful to have the bread to calm the intensity in my mouth. And yet, I wouldn’t have reduced the spice at all. It gave the dish impact.

When my seitan dish came out, I was surprised to see how big the portion was! Despite my best efforts, I could not eat more than half. I wanted to, though. The earthy yet almost sweet flavor of the corn crusting paired well with the acidic tomatillo salsa. My only wish was that there was a little more salsa.

My parents both enjoyed their meals as well. My mom was pleased with how much the vodka a la penne tasted like the traditional dish even though this one was vegan.

My dad, who has a weakness for calamari and has tried it many places, ranked New World’s as being about a 8 out of 10 on his scale- an admirable score (so far Jack’s Firehouse in Philadelphia, PA is the only place who’s calamari has gotten a 10). The coconut sauce served with the dish added a sweet note that was different from most other fried calamari. He enjoyed his salad as well, although he thought it could have had more peanuts on it.

While the desserts all sounded fantastic (especially the pomegranate crème brulee), we were too full to order any. The check came to about $26 per person, a good price for the amount of food we received, and I would gladly pay it again.

New World Home Cooking is a truly special addition to the restaurant scene in Saugerties. Ric Orlando takes risks on his menu that make it stand out from others. He has created an establishment that provides a well rounded and unique experience to its patrons.

New World Home Cooking

1411 Rt. 212

Saugerties, NY 12477

(845) 246-0900

http://newworldhomecooking.com

Love Bites Café – Saugerties, NY

Since Shemomedjamo is about getting to know a place and its culture through its food, I thought it would be good to start off by introducing you to the food of my home town of Saugerties, New York. First off, meet Love Bites Café.

Love Bites Café is a small establishment located on Partition Street, which together with Main Street makes up the heart of the Village of Saugerties. Due to its small size and irregular hours, it is not as well known as other restaurants in town; but, it has charm and good food which have made it a favorite of mine.

Living in Philadelphia has made me a fan of brunch. Unfortunately, Saugerties is not as into that particular meal as Philadelphia. Love Bites is the exception. The menu has a large variety of breakfast and lunch dishes that are made with mostly local, often organic ingredients. Some of the options include avocado toast, zucchini fritter eggs Benedict, tofu scramble, crab cake sandwiches, and an array of salads. There are plenty of dishes for omnivores, vegetarians, and vegans alike with nothing costing more than $15.

Previously, I have enjoyed Love Bite’s sandwiches, but on my most recent visit I opted for the Spicy Breakfast Salad. Although I was intending on having a light lunch, I could not help but also order a side of the edamame hummus. The only other place I had seen edamame hummus was at Fare Restaurant, where I worked in Philadelphia. I thought it was delicious and was curious if Love Bite’s hummus was just as good.

I was not disappointed. The hummus came with sliced brioche to spread it on and, while different from the other edamame hummus I had tried, was still satisfying. While not as creamy as traditional hummus, the flavor of the edamame came through with just the right amount of acidity.

My salad was even better: baby spinach leaves tossed with spicy scrambled eggs, goat cheese, and avocado. With so many of my favorite ingredients in one salad, it is no wonder I fell in love.

The cozy and welcoming feel of Love Bites Café’s red interior walls covered with colorful artwork in addition to the well thought out and executed food offerings are what make it not only a successful café, but a perfect fit for Saugerties. Both are simple and small, but damn good.

Love Bites Café

85 Partition St
Saugerties, NY 12477

(845) 246-1795