Una Bella Notte at Ciao Mambo

 The timing was perfect.

“Where are we going to eat with Doug and Shellie tonight? Their choice, right?”

“Ciao Mambo.”

“Italian food. Benissimo!”

To be honest, Lori and I ate at Ciao Mambo a couple of months earlier and it didn’t knock our socks off. But hey, it’s Italian food so just order something else and it’ll be just fine, right?

He said: Our server started us off with bread, which is always a good thing. Now, when it comes to bread, authentic Italian bread has a thicker, chewier crust than what you find in America. Ciao Mambo’s bread wasn’t exactly authentic but it was decently close. And hey, it was topped with a generous helping of parmesan cheese (which makes just about everything better). I ate my share, asked for more and again ate my share (and then some).

As for a main course, I decided to go with pizze al forno because well, can you never go wrong with oven-baked pizza. Plus, I felt like eating an entire pizza. More specifically, I ordered Abby's Favorite. It’s a pretty generic but well-executed dish featuring fresh mozzarella, pepperoni and roasted garlic marinara. The crust was thin, crisp and delicious. Cooked to perfection, the edges bubbled up with the bulk of cheese in the center of the pizza. My only issue, or should I say my only personal problem, was it tasted so good and I lacked patience to let it cool a little so I kinda burned the top of my mouth. But even that didn’t stop or slow me.

For dessert, we ordered a couple of cannoli. According to the menu, they’re a “cinnamon pasty filled with impastata ricotta cream.” According to my stomach, they’re “Mm, mm, good!” And pretty comparable to the real thing in Italy – a creamy, smooth, sweet, tasty filling wrapped by a delicate yet crispy shell. Each of them was gone in no time!

She said: I hope to do enough taste testing of authentic Italian food in the near future to give an educated review. But for now (and maybe for later too) I’ve just got the messages that are being sent from the taste nerves to the brain. There is something to be said about ordering the “right” menu item. This time I did it.  Even though I like pasta, grilled chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, and roasted garlic cream sauce, Ravenna wasn’t the right choice for my previous visit. Even though the menu says Ravenna never disappoints, my taste buds weren’t in love. On this evening I paired up with Isabella–pine nuts, fresh basil, spicy Italian sausage, penne pasta, fresh ricotta and a buttery white wine sauce–and it was a match made in heaven. It was love at first bite. I did eat one piece of bread dredged generously with olive oil and garlic and cheesy sprinkles and I did have a couple bites of cannoli because who am I to resist something so pleasing to the eye. But for the taste buds, Isabella was the star of the evening.

By the way: Okay, why the “perfect timing” mentioned above? Because after more than two and a half years of talking about, and after almost a lifetime of thinking about it, we finally pulled the trigger. We actually did it. Lori and I bought round trip tickets to Italy only a few days earlier.

So, here’s the deal. Way back in 1982-83, I served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I filled out the paperwork and let church headquarters that I was ready and willing to go. A few weeks later, my “call” arrived in the mail. It stated I would serve in the Italy Catania Mission, which covered the boot of Italy and all of beautiful Sicily. As you can imagine, it was a life-shaping experience going to the other side of the world, learning and speaking a new language, and meeting lots of wonderful people.

One of which is Ron Smith. Ron and I became missionary companions in Catania. He was fresh in Italy from the U.S. and I’d been there about nine months of so. We hit it off immediately and became great friends. 

After we returned home, we were college roommates and he asked me to be best man at his wedding.

Fast forward about 37 years later and we happened to be exchanging messages on Facebook when Ron informed me COVID-19 forced him and April to cancel a trip to Italy, but they hoped to reschedule it the following year. My response: “Very cool. Sounds like a blast. Let me know if you need a sidekick. #kiddingnotkidding”

“You guys should come too!” Ron immediately piped in. I talked to Lori and she was all in, too. After a bit of back and forth, here we are two and a half years later when (a number of weeks back) an online airline transaction forwarded us the message below.

So, as I was saying before, Italy was a life-shaping experience that taught me so many things about myself and a new culture including the food. Oh man, the FOOD! Can’t wait to hit some of the old hangouts in Italy, assuming they’re still there, and chow down on panzerotti, focaccia, pasta, gelato, brioche, aranciata, cannoli, arancini, granita al limone, and on and on and on!

NON POSSO ASPETTARE! (I can’t wait)