Friday, August 28, 2020
RIP Anthony....is there Spaghetti in Heaven?
Anthony the kid in the Prince Spaghetti commercial is dead at 61. Just a couple of years younger than me so we are almost exact contemporaries. I lived that life in Brooklyn.
The clothes and the food and the decor in the commercial are what I grew up with in the 1960's. My Mom had the same haircut as his Mom. I used to be outside with my friends playing all day and at dinner time the Moms would open the window and shout at us to come home. It was never all the Moms. Just the one closest to where we were hanging out The rest of us got the message and hurried home. If we didn't want a smack.
Back in those days everyone bought the same stuff. Not Prince or Barilla or some other brand. Everyone bought Ronzoni macaroni and Red Pack tomatoes and Polly O mozzarella and ricotta. It was a given. They were always on sale at G&G on Henry Street and my Grandmother would send me out to buy it. A simple supper was often just spaghetti and sauce with nothing much on it other than grated cheese. Sometimes as a special treat she might cook up some veal spiedini in the sauce. But usually it was just a basic puree. Of course that wasn't the Sunday sauce with the meatballs and sausage and the pork skin. That was what made Sunday Special.
You can't buy Ronzoni anymore. It is way too starchy. The macaroni just falls apart. Some big company bought it from the family that ran it and ruined everything. Red Pack is still around but I use Pomi tomatoes exclusively that are imported from Italy in cartons not cans. Much less salt and much better tasting. Still only use Polly O since they are the best by far and are what we are used too.
Kids don't play out in the street anymore either. It's was all play dates or video games on the phone. Nobody plays stick ball or stoop ball or skelly.
Anthony wouldn't recognize the North End. Just like I don't recognize South Brooklyn.
I hope they have spaghetti in Heaven.
I know Hell has Indian food.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
There were some good Italian restaurants in the North End. I used to travel to Boston on business and sometimes my coworkers and I would go to some Eyetie place or other. Food was good. Even the guy from Southie admitted it wasn't bad.
Do you say sauce or gravy? I watched Maryann Esposito (PBS Ciao Italia) cooking with a Big Broad from Brooklin. Maryann kept saying sauce and I thought the big bruiser was gonna throttle her.
Sixty, My brother was a chef @ Mamma Maria's in the north end. An upscale small place. Lot of famous people. He would go out and ask diners how everything was. His favorite by far was Raul Julia. Raul came from a restaurant family in Puerto Rico. He came back to the kitchen praising the food profusely, bought bottles of wine for everyone[it was close to closing] and sang opera and show tunes. A Real nice man. Some other celebs not so nice.
The place we went to was small, family owned, and while we were on expense account, I don't think it was too upscale. Not bad, mind you, but we didn't break the budget.
Post a Comment