Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Another Most Excellent Field Trip

ABC Wednesday:

A is for Arthur Avenue
Little Italy in The Bronx
The very best place in the
 world to take a dearest friend
Especially if he happens to be Italian!
GB and Gus.  
Gus was GB's high school coach and amazing mentor many years ago. GB's dad died when he was only five, and tho his mom, Mimi, did a most excellent job, Gus did a wonderful job filling in as his coach and dad-like guider to GB during his high school and college years. Believe me, GB needed all the help he could get (Mimi told me so)! The lovely thing? The two of them are closer now than they were then. Visits are regular and planned events!  
We started the day having lunch at Enzo's. An excellent choice, among many other wonderful restaurants along and around Arthur Avenue. 

Dominick's, right next door to Enzo's, is the restaurant we ate at the first time we came to Arthur Avenue with Gus and his wife a few years ago. Found out today that Dominick is Enzo's dad! Obviously son learned well at dad's knee! The meals at both restaurants were wonderful. The difference? Dominick's is family style; everyone sits at several long tables together and the waiter tells you your choices. At Enzo's, you're handed a menu. I still remember the time we ate at Dominick's, Gus made the mistake of asking our surly waiter if the restaurant possibly had some dish (don't remember what it was). SurlyWaiter replied: "Did I say that when I told you the specials? No, I didn't! We don't have that!" All part of the ambience, and somehow it works!
After lunch we wandered into the Arthur Avenue Market. The first time I was there I fully expected to walk in to a warehouse of produce, meats and cheeses. Instead what greets you is an area filled with men (mostly) rolling premium cigars. Hmmm...a little bit of Cuba in Little Italy. As you can see, watching the cigars being made is magical (don't even begin to tell me how bad the cigars are for you, I KNOW! I'm speaking about the art of rolling one - and it is an art form). Wandering further down the aisle, there are displays of kitchen wares, meats, veggies, a myriad of foods and food related items, it's just unending. Definitely sensory overload!  

Just look at that Locatelli! Have you ever seen such an abundance of such a wonderful cheese? What it does to pasta dishes...ohhh can you imagine the goodness?





The hams and sausages - and procuitto, my beloved procuitto! Look at the abundance! Magnificent!

  
Go on over to my Flickr photos (or click on the slide show on the right) and you can see more pics of the Arthur Avenue Market, along with more of the wonderful specialty stores and restaurants that make up Arthur Avenue. It truly is a place not to be missed! The restaurants are wonderful, but the cheeses, breads, fish, cured meats, olive oils, vinegars....you simply can't find any better anywhere! OH! I forgot! There are pastry/sweet shops as well, but I never got photos! I think we were so stuffed from lunch it just never crossed my mind!  BUT, the sweet shops? The best and prettiest sweets with cappucino, espresso, regular coffee you've ever seen. Then there are the gelato shops...oh dear! Must go back and take more photos of this magical enclave! (Sorry I missed those!!)  I can recommend De Lillo's for your dessert and coffee stop after a meal as we had treats & sweets there another time. It's eye candy, and if you have a sweet tooth like my GB, you'll love it!

Do visit the new ABC Wednesday site - Mrs. Nesbitt (and her elves) have done a wonderful job setting up this new site.  And please click here to find my ABC Wed. Arthur Avenue post over there.

~~~

xoabb

14 comments:

  1. Oh I'm glad I came by to see the whole post. I love these kinds of neighborhoods!

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  2. I love Little Italy, especially during the holidays with all the decorations and the women walking around all dressed up.

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  3. Good golly, Miss Molly. Here it is waaay past my bedtime, and after reading this post, I'm ready to head to The Bronx for a bedtime snack! Sounds, and looks, wonderful!

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  4. wonderful array of edibles - a delight to see scenes of a very interesting place

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  5. If I visited Arthur Avenue I would be catching flies with my mouth...hanging open now at the photos! Oh lawdy! Thank you for such a wonderful tour!

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  6. Great shots Annie! Love the one of the boys...

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  7. I can't wait to take my children there. It has been years since I have been. Thanks for the pics of reminders.

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  8. Fun day-trip...thanks for letting us go along.

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  9. Wonderful ABC post. I was to busy this week to make it in time so will try for next week.. thanks for sharing your wonderful story.

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  10. Am I ever hungry now! Great post!

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  11. Looks wonderful, but I shouldn't have visited your site before eating.....now I'm starved! It's breakfast time here, so good thing you didn't show the pasteries! Gus sounds like a wonderful man.

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  12. Beautiful photo and story of GB and Gus!

    The food, etc. is nice - but dear friends and mentors - the best!

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  13. Oh Man I want to go there so bad.
    Great story and photos :)

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  14. Nicely done and documented! Making me hungry,too! ;(
    Cheers, Klaus

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Thank you for taking the time to leave a thought. It's appreciated! xoabb