It’s been a long hot summer here in Nova Anglia. Still, we have not had the drought experienced by our countrymen and women in the South. Moi, I have been enjoying it. We could go into a ten-snowstorm winter as payback 2011-2012. Count your blessings.
Family members met at Rabias on Salem Street in the North End last Sunday. It is one of my sisters’ favorite restaurants. One thing I like about it is, you can be as obnoxious as you want and they can’t throw you out through the glass window. In the sultry summer days, the front is taken out.
Of course, I am of an age that such behavior has ceased.
Really, one does not go to Rabias to act up. It is the cucina that is the draw. I much enjoyed the Ravioli d’Aragosta. It’s has a lobster filling and a champagne rose sauce and caviar. Chef Boyardee, eat your heart out.
I did get to taste my sister’s Gnocchi Con Pesto and it was superb. My son got Powered Up Pasta from the specials menu and it is not well named. It would better be called a big seafood platter with a great sauce and adequate pasta.
My wife got the Carbonara. It was tasty, but the pasta was underdone.
Everybody enjoyed the deserts.
One cavil, the servers hovered a bit too much. It has been explained to me as a trick of the trade. The day was a bit slow and the staff did not want to be sent home.
Rabias is lovely and though the service was a bit overdone, it did not materially hurt the experience. A warm day in the North End in a restaurant open to the street is enjoyable in most circumstances.
Then out into the street. Sunday in the North End in summer means a feast. The camaraderie and theater of the feast might be the main reason folks of Italian descent never give over to secular humanism. Reason is nice, but to get together with paisans and have a life is bella.
Of course, the people who spawned Aquinas know something of ratio.
We enjoyed the bands and the statue of Saint Agrippina di Mineo. Then again, we were tourists. I know people from Brimfield who vacation during the big weekends. So I wonder if some residents have feast fatigue? Then again, there may be competitive juices flowing. After all, there will be another feast in a week and maybe the Saint So and So Society might want to husband its support for their team.
Just so you know, Saint Agrippina was a virgin martyr beheaded for her steadfast faith during the reign of Emperor Valerian. As poetic justice, Valerian was captured by the Persians and his head used as a mounting block by the Shah.
Too much of a good thing in hot weather means dehydration. We stopped into the Cheese Shop because of the proffered Italian ices. The cool relief of the concoction was pleasant, but regretted right away. There were samples of soppressata on the counter. Had I not had the ice, there might have been an embarrassment if I could not resist over sampling and it would have been necessary to take home a few pounds. Maybe that would not have been a problem?
No comments:
Post a Comment