asta

the cooking is smart, idiosyncratic, and skews sweet with carefully hidden acid balance. as often as not the kitchen brings your food to you. there are no uniforms and the playlist is dominated by ... well, you can hear for yourself.

generous and comfortable in its own skin, asta is worth a visit.

4-napkin snack

i took my bike over to the north end today to spend a lot of someone else's money on wine—which is the best way to do it. but before that, a slice and a panzarotto (potato variant) at umberto, and a plain cannolo, no icing sugar, from modern.



also, public interest announcement: the la clarine "sumu kaw" syrah and piedi grandi (nebbiolo, syrah, and mourvedre) are available at the wine bottega.

the sausage looked like meatballs, the meatballs like salami

at regina, the correct number of large pizzas to order for a 6-person group is 3, not 4. while some may ask the kitchen for extra oil on the mediterranean, it may be prudent to add it at the table instead.