Arthur Avenue

There is a famous street that intersects with 187th Street in NYC known endearingly as the "Little Italy of the Bronx" called Arthur Avenue. My friends and I stumbled upon this goldmine one day on our way back from the NY Botanical Gardens (I stumbled upon this cold cold place once upon a time too).

The street is a wealth of rich old world Italian culture with food (obviously) being the center of all the hustle.. We arrived in the mid-morning and wandered down the street. Our noses led us into Madonia Brothers bakery where a gaggle of Italian grandmothers were dressed in Sunday's finest grabbing their loaf of bread and coffee. Clearly, the Toasted Almond biscotti had my name on it!

We eventually came across Tino's Delicatessen, a specialty store that carries homemade sauces, cold cuts and pastas, imported straight from the motherland. What better place to taste some fresh proscuitto and bring home some baslamic vinegar??

At this point, our stomachs were getting the best of us, but word to the wise: Italian lunch time is typically 1:00pm and there's no warning if a restaurant is closed for a private party! Luckily, there were plenty of friendly people (straight from the set of the Sopranos) in the streets directing us of where we could get the best pasta, pizza and family-style meals!We walked the streets several times over (saying hello to every Italian man on the street: Dominick's, Luigi's, Enzo's, Giovanni's, Michelangelo's, Roberto's) before finding a restaurant that was open.  Mario's restaurant , an establishment since 1919, lends veracity to its claim "Where Celebrities Dine" with a  picture of James Gandolfini hanging on the wall. They have all of the Italian staples like Spaghetti Bolognese, Chicken and Veal Parm, Osco Busco, endless ravioli options... and with the restaurant's owner in the corner reading his Sunday newspaper, who could ask for a more Italian kindo f day?? Bon appetit!