A Double Delight Night Out

While reviewing an outstanding authentic Italian restaurant, I'd like to introduce you to my children!



My son Michael and daughter-in-law Hollis, who live in California, are vacationing with us for two weeks.  Jonathan, my younger son, is leaving for college in North Dakota in ten days.

Because we are a very small family and spread all over the country (thank God for Skype), we value the time when we can be together.  One of our favorite things to do is go out to eat; there is nothing better than chatting, laughing, and enjoying each other's company over a good meal.  On Sunday we celebrated Mike's 25th birthday by going to Maggiano's Little Italy Restaurant.

When I was growing up my best friend was Monica Massanova.  Her Mom was a wonderful cook who made the best Italian food (my favorite was her Spaghetti and Crabs).  I learned to love the holidays at her house with the Feast of the Seven Fishes and the various types of pasta.  I still have never had lasagna as good as Monica's Mom made (the best I can do is throw a Stouffer's frozen lasagna in the oven; and half the time it's still cold in the middle)!  Because of my love for Italian food, my husband and children have been to many Italian restaurants and each have their favorite.  When we were deciding where to go for Mike's birthday I knew, with the entire family together and needing someplace homey and comfortable, it had to be Italian. 

Maggiano's is comfortable!  It has old world charm and red-checkered table cloths.  It is definitly a family place; the tables are larger so there's plenty of elbow room.  They serve in the old ceramic dishes with designs painted on the sides.  It's like being at your Grandmother's house.  Maggiano's serves two ways - you can order family style or individual entrees.  When I go to Maggiano's with my girlfriends we order family style; it's a great way to be able to try the many different appetizers and entrees.  But when I go with my family, everybody wants their own dish (and you get stabbed with a fork if you reach for a taste)!

We are a family of people who like to try new and exciting dishes; except for my husband Mike Sr.  He likes his food very plain with no sauces, no toppings, and won't eat anything he can't pronounce.  He has become so regular with his eating habits that if you name the restaurant, I can tell you exactly what he's going to order!  So, at Maggiano's he ordered...spaghetti and meatballs!  I know, I know of all the great Italian dishes Maggiano's has to offer, that's his choice?  Well, the rest of us do better.  Mike had the gnocchi's.  He loved the rich vodka cream sauce that covered the little pillows of potatoes.  Hollis had the lobster carbonara; there were big chunks of lobster, along with peas, asparagus, and a thick carbonara sauce over spaghetti.  And being Italian, Hollis twirls her spaghetti on a spoon (unlike the rest of us who are Irish and cut our pasta down to fork sized pieces).  Jon is the meat-eater of the group and went with the steak with garlic mashed potatoes.  And being a good cook (God knows where he gets that from), he fried the leftover mashed potatoes today for lunch.  For me, I chose the crab and shrimp cannelloni in a white cream sauce.  Ooooh, was that delicious!  There was so much crab stuffed in that cannelloni shell.  There were three cannellonni's on the plate, but I could only eat one.  I had one for lunch today and Brad, my coworker, snatched the other one right off my plate!

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Maggiano's Little Italy

12th & Filbert Streets
Philadelphia, PA  19103
215-567-2020
www.maggianos.com