Does your town have a "Little Italy" section? How is it?

[maveric]

We have a 5 block area here in San Diego, on India Street, where Italian fisherman settled over 100 years ago. It it authentic. Great reataurants, markets and shops.
Now I grew up in Lawrence MA, where at that time, 1/2 of the city was Italian. There were open air markets, bakeries (ahh canolis) and decent reataurants. It was the real deal. Italian opera blaring from storefronts, markets with cheese hanging from the ceilings....
How about your town? Rate it please.

[momophile]

1. none in Denver

at least none that I know of. I'm missing my favorite Italian market in Chicago...

[Shell Beau]

2. Um, don't I wish!!

I love Italian food. We do have authentic Italian restaurants around here, but my town fairly small compared to San Diego!!

[Beware the Beast Man]

3. Cleveland has one. I've been through the area several times,

but haven't actually shopped or dined there. I would like to, though.

[WCGreen]

15. Cleveland's is one of the best... A last holdover of the ethnic

neighborhood...

The COunty Chair is Italian and I use to spend a lot of time with him... We would get up to the hill about five six times a year for meetings and late suppers...

The feast of the Assumption is a great event to attend...

[GOPisEvil]

4. There's a good Italian restaurant there in SD.

Can't recall the name, but it's on Voltaire St. Really good, family-owned.

[maveric]

9. The Venetian.

Its been there for years and the food is great there.

[GOPisEvil]

18. That's the place!

:9

[oneighty]

5. Yup

We had a 'Little Italy'. Our little Italy was on the other side of the tracks on Pennsylvania Ave. Named for the Pennsylvania RR tracks.

Still it is there but English is spoken and the homes are new, update and for this area-expensive. We do not call it 'Little Italy' anymore.



180

[Beer Snob-50]

6. springfield, mass had a great one

it is now being taken over by other immigrants (puerto ricans, russians, vietnamese)

[maveric]

10. As did my hometown of Lawrence.

[maveric]

13. Ever been to "The North End"? In Boston?

Every summer they hold the Feast of the Saints by Hanover Street. Food stands everywhere. Italian sausage, cheese steaks, Quohogs on half shell, fried calimari, stuffed shells....
Damn, I ate so much last time I went there!

[Beer Snob-50]

19. never been to the north end of boston

but have heard all about it. springfield has a yearly feast of our lady of mount carmel. same idea. the best fried dough in the world.

[maveric]

22. I LOVE fried dough! You cant get tha here in SoCal.

Have you ever had "Crispellis"? Fried dough balls stuffed with either fish, cheese or spinach.
Greasy as hell but tastes GREAT!

[Beer Snob-50]

30. never had it

but it sounds awesome!

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

36. North End of Boston is HEAVEN.

[Danmel]

7. Yes but my favorite restaurant there lost it's lease

and moved to Staten Island! May as well be Oklahoma. I will miss Paolucci's. I had many a fine meal there on Mulberry Street.

[KitchenWitch]

8. No "designated" section

Several fairly decent Italian restaurants dispersed about the region...My favorite being Cosetta's in DT St Paul. (Cosetta's also doubles as a pricy Italian grocery.) It is a counter service place with pastas, salads, entrees, and slices of pizza.

[Saphire]

11. nothing in San Antonio, either..

[AllegroRondo]

12. St Louis has a big one

its called "the Hill" (it used to be called Dego Hill, but that name went out in the 90's)

Amazing restaurants. Great little bakeries and delis, where they still make Italian sausage by hand. My wife and I go down there about once a month just to buy sausage and baked goods. Hundreds of tiny shotgun houses that are for the most part well cared for, and some beautiful little churches.

[deadparrot]

21. LOVE The Hill.

Was at Rigazzi's just a couple of days ago. One of the many things I miss about St. Louis. :hi:

[maveric]

24. Isnt that Yogi Berra's old neighborhood?

I can recall reading something about that.

[Danmel]

29. Yes it is

I believe that he and Joe Gargiola grew up across the street from each other in "The Hill" section of St Louis.

[trof]

14. Sure. We got an Olive Garden.

;-)

[maveric]

16. If I brought my Italian relatives to OG, I'd be sleeping with Luca Brazzi.

What a joke Olive Garden is.

[trof]

17. I knew I'd get a rise out of someone.

:-)

[ikojo]

20. It's not called Little Italy in St Louis...

It's The Hill

http://www.explorestlouis.com/neighborhoods/hill.asp?PageType=4


The Hill is already famous for great food, but this year the close-knit Italian neighborhood will have the spotlight of Hollywood trained on its cozy streets. The Hill serves as the backdrop for a new film called The Game of Their Lives by David Anspaugh (director of Rudy and Hoosiers). The movie, which will be released in 2005, tells the story of the 1950 U.S. World Cup soccer team that defeated England in one of the most stunning upsets in sports history. Many of the team’s players grew up on The Hill.

[malachibk]

23. Here is NYC, it's alright

Chinatown has really encroached. We still have Mulberry Street...

[Joe Chi Minh]

25. I used to love listening to an old Jewish neighbour, who

was brought up in the East End of London in the twenties, I think, and used to tell me about the London of his youth, and the various gangs and their territories. The only territory that has stuck in my mind was Clerkenwell, the domain of the Italian boys.

I remember he once told me he was sitting in this horse-drawn cart next to his older brother, who was the driver. Anyway, they were cut up by a bus, or a charabanc as they probably called it then. When they reached a junction and drew up next to the bus, his brother handed him the reins, jumped down from the cart, opened the door of the bus in question, dragged the driver down and duffed him up.

How often have we said or heard someone else say, "I wish I was as quick as X! Many a time I've thought, after someone has been rude to me, I could have said this or that. But always long after, when it was too late". I suppose the motto of Mr Bermann's brother would have been, "Deeds, not words". I should have always taken a tape-recorder with me. Much of that London folklore of the twenties is now probably lost for good.

I once read a great book on a similar theme - though the era would have been more like the forties and fifties - by a bloke called Ralph L Finn, also Jewish I believe. Very fascinating, entertaining and funny.

[RebelOne]

26. Not here in Georgia that I know of, but there is a Chinese section

and a Russian section in the Atlanta area.

[mtowngman]

27. Pretty much all of South Philly

but particularly the section called The Italian Market which runs roughly along 9th st. from Wharton to Federal. There are literally hundreds of family owned businesses and a three story mural of former mayor Frank Rizzo at the end of a row of brick row houses. great neighborhood.

[NYdemocrat089]

28. No

But we do have several nice Italian resturants (the real kind).

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

31. If Little Italy in NYC has real Italian food, then I am Swiss

[ProfessorGAC]

32. Yes, Two Times

Many folks know about the Little Italy in Chicago, over where Taylor meets Western. That area's was heavily italian almost 100 years ago, and still is.

When i grew up in an exurb about 40 miles from Chicago, there was a super italian section of town. My grandparents lived there, and my dad grew up there, until he moved to Chicago to work in a dairy. (He went to the seminary in Chicago too! Obviously, he didn't finish.)

As time went on, it became very Hispanic. So, the stores went from having signs in two languages to having signs in two languages! The second language went from italian to spanish, but i guess that isn't all that different. There used to be some really good small restaurants around there that served different locale's cuisines. Now, there are some really good small restaurants that serve various Latin American dishes.

So, yeah the one in Chicago, which is still there, and the one in my home town which isn't italian anymore, but still very ethnic.
The Professor

[AngryAmish]

34. Harlem between Grand and Belmont

west side of the street is Elmwood Park and east side is Chicago, Many good restuarants, small shops and the greatest grocery store of them all - Caputo's Fresh market.

[ProfessorGAC]

35. There Used To Be One Right On Tayor

We used to park at a relative's house which is right by where 18th crosses Western and walk. It felt like sitting in a restaurant in the Godfather. Superb food. Really authentic Italo-american atmosphere. The second generation owners died some time ago and the place isn't open any more.
The Professor

[Chemical Bill]

33. Rhode Island is 60% Italian. Good food everywhere. n/t

[seemunkee]

37. DC doesn't but Balitmore does

Nice restaurants but not a lot else is there.