Little Italy – We Promise We’ll be Back

By Kirk House
Story curtsey of The Syracuse Chamber and Visitor’s Bureau Magazine. Available online at http://www.visitsyracuse.org/media/VisitSyracuseMagazine.pdf

“Here, try some of this,” says Fred, shaving from the wheel and offering me a slice on the blade of his long knife. “Romano. Like they grate and put on spaghetti. Good, huh? Just slightly aged. Or try some of this.”

Another slice. “Provolone.” “I’ve got Spanish olives here.” Down goes the knife, out comes a plastic spoon. “Try one. I mix the marinades myself. Here, Greek olives. Now Italian, try this one. Good, huh?”

Good, yeah. Great, yeah. We hadn’t felt so at home since we left Rhode Island, lo these many years ago. Visiting Little Italy in Syracuse is like being on Atwells Avenue in Providence.

The Thanos Imported Grocery on North Salina Street isn’t very big, but it’s crammed full with sunny welcomes and Mediterranean delights. Big wheels of cheese and trays of olives, of course. Imported brands of spaghetti. Rigatoni. Wagon wheels. All kinds of
pasta. Sausage. Couscous. Squid. Baccala. Even that spicy Italian salami that back home we call soupi or zoupi — something I’ve NEVER found outside Rhode Island. Joyce bought some home-made Italian cookies, and loved every one of them. We got a tin of anchovies for our son Erik. I stocked up on soupi. And we promised Fred (and we promised ourselves) that we’d be back.

One thing about Little Italy you can stand on the corner, and see plenty of places to eat. We spent a quiet Friday evening in La Cuisine on North Salina Street. Had we known three hours in advance, we could have ordered a special Moroccan couscous andalousia… Joyce finds this deeply intriguing, but it will have to wait for another visit.

So we weren’t looking for anything out of the ordinary, despite all the choices on the menu… spaghetti and meatballs for Joyce, spaghetti and sausage for me, both with marinara sauce. I happen to like my spaghetti the very finest diameter I can get, so that’s what I asked for, and that’s what I got… a wide heaping heavy heated plate of capellini.

The sauce was hearty and thick, not at all runny, with a good spicy bite. Sausage is tricky, and far too often it’s sadly disappointing. Not at La Cuisine. The texture was great, there were no “surprises” and no problem with casing, the spices were nicely zesty without being overpowering. Joyce found the meatballs very good — just enough spice, not too much bread. As far as she could tell, she said, just about everything seemed to be made on site.

Bottom line…we’re both very familiar with good Italian cooking, and we both loved our meals! In fact we both loved them again on Saturday night, because one helping would have readily served the two of us, and we each took our second half along in a box when we left.

As we checked out we visited a little with Mike Ghabarou, the owner and chef — he’s got a couple of other places around town also. Mike, it turns out, was born in Tunisia when it was under French administration, then moved to metropolitan France as a boy, working in Washington, DC and in Philadelphia before coming to Syracuse.

“This is a great community,” he says. “A great place for families.”

A great place for eating, too. Had we known when we ordered that Mike was from Tunisia, we would have asked for his couscous. But we know now. We promised we’d be back to try it.

A few places in the Little Italy neighborhood include
• Antonio’s Restaurant, 700 North Salina, (315)425-1946, www.communitysite.com/Antonios/
• Asti Cafe & Trattoria, 411 North Salina, (315)478-1039, www.asticaffe.com
• Aunt Josie’s Restaurant, 1110 North Salina, (315)471-9082, www.auntjosies.com
• Biscotti Café and Gelateria, 741 North Salina, (315)478-0583, ww.biscotticafe.com
• Caffe D’ Italia, 423 North Salina, (315)471-1005
• Columbus Bakery, 502 Pearl Street, (315)422-2913
• Francesca’s Cucina, 545 North Salina, (315)425-1556, www.francescas-cucina.com
• Frankie’s Piccolo Bistro, 656 North Salina, (315)479-8797, www.frankiespiccolobistro.com
• La Cuisine, 435 North Salina, (315)435-3860, www.lacuisineinc.com
• Thanos Imported Grocery, 330 North Salina, (315)422-4085