Mamma Mia!

Here we go again!  And no I'm not referencing that classic gem of a song by Abba, but rather the final family style dinner I had at Mama Sbarro's on Long Island for this travel season.  Just thinking about it brings a tear to my eye for a variety of reasons.  It was great food, even better service, I laughed uncontrollably several times during the meal for no reason, and because this was the birthplace of Jeeves Got Iced aka ALC Long Island.

This time around it was Ant, Jenn, Sam, and myself and we again went with the family style option of each person ordering a meal and us all sharing.  I would have pictures of the appetizers, but one thing led to another and when the food (mozzarella and corazza and fried calamari) was put in front of us, my mind went elsewhere.  As for our main course, it was more or less a Murderer's Row rather than a normal order.

Jenn led off with Penne a la Vodka which was a fantastic choice.  No words needed to describe it because it was just a solid dish.  Next up was Ant with a familiar favorite (I actually just order Chicken Marsala for lunch - it's 2:50 so it's a late lunch...) but with a twist.  Instead of going chicken because of what I ordered, he went Veal Marsala.  The only thing that comes to mind when thinking back on this meal is the word tender.  The veal literally melted in your mouth.  We'll throw my meal up next which was the always reliable, battle tested Chicken Parm.  What's awesome about Mama Sbarro's Chicken Parm was that I got a massive plate with two huge chicken cutlets covered in cheese and sauce.  A bonus was it came with a side of pasta and instead of going with a normal order or ziti or spaghetti, I threw a curveball and asked for my favorite pasta which is gnocchi.  Our waitress say it coming a mile away and told me it would be extra, but then came back and said no charge for the substitute... too bad that can't happen all the time, but it was well worth it!  And batting cleanup was Sam with a clam over pasta dish.  Do I remember the name of it?  Nope, but I do know when you bat cleanup you need to be ready to knock it out of the park and that's just what this dish did.  Mix in a glass of red wine and it was just a great way to close out Long Island travel.

EXTRA INNINGS!!!  I'm actually gonna take a moment here to apologize for all the awful baseball references.  I'm kind of stuck in my hotel for today and tomorrow and I've seen Sportscenter like 7 times and they keep showing the same highlights of the Giants winning the World Series last night.  Nothing I can do but watch that so yea....

Anyways, we go to the pen and hopefully close out this blog with a bang!  Ant ordered an espresso truffle that came with ice cream, I stuck to ordering classic Italian food and went with a canoli (not as good as Avventura's in Waterbury, but I'm biased), and Jenn and Sam split a little pastry/cake/thingy.  I feel like I always forget what other people order when I go out and eat with them and try and blog about it later, but I do remember trying a few bites and it was quite tasty.  In fact, all of those desserts were non-fat just like the frozen yogurt I had today.  Obviously that's a lie, but another round of strawberry for me and my friends!