Boy, do I love penne alla vodka (with grilled chicken, natch). Macaroni and cheese for grownups. It's one of my favorite comfort foods and, like chicken tikka masala, I've yet to master it at home. Every time I try I end up with the most disgusting looking sauce you've ever seen in your life--and I'm a pretty good cook. Just check out how fat Wesley is for proof positive.
Last weekend I really, really wanted penne alla vodka for dinner, so I picked up the phone and promptly had a brain fart. Do we like Marabella or Mediterraneo? One is for pizza, and the other is for pasta, but I can't for the life of me remember which is which.
Marabella, I bet that's the one. I call, they know my address, I place my order, I wait thirty minutes for the sound of a moped and the doorbell 30 seconds later. I pay, I tip, I rush upstairs, absolutely famished. I open up the take out tin.
My penne alla vodka with grilled chicken looks like pasta primavera with chicken bits. It looks nothing at all like the penne a la vodka I've been thinking about for the last 30 minutes.
Thinking that maybe they sent me the wrong order, I call up Marabella and ask. They put the owner on the phone.
"It's just that it doesn't look like penne alla vodka. It's all--white."
"That's what our penne alla vodka looks like."
"Okay..."
"Did you taste it?"
"No, because I thought maybe it was wrong."
"You should taste it. My son ate two bowls of it today."
"Um, okay."
"You don't like it, you call me back."
"Okay, thanks."
I tasted it, and you know what? It was pretty good. Different, not tomato-ey like I like, but good. I decided to call them back:
"I'm the lady who called earlier about the penne alla vodka? I ate it and it was really good and I'm sorry for doubting your penne alla vodka."
A pause, then--
"Okay, thanks!"
Click.
Last night I ordered the penne alla vodka that I really wanted from Mediterraneo. The sauce is nice and pink, cheesy but not overly so. On top is a chicken breast, pounded, grilled, and sliced--very tender, and perfect for soaking up the extra sauce. I may have been wrong about Marabella, but I was more than right about Mediterraneo.
Winner: Mediterraneo, aw yeah.
Mediterraneo:
46-21 Queens Boulevard
718-433-1100
Marabella
4107 Greenpoint Ave
(718) 786-4635
Monday, April 02, 2007
Penne alla Vodka Smackdown: Marabella vs. Mediterraneo
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6 comments:
We're big fans of the Mediterraneo calzones too!
thanks for the tip. we love donato's on 39th ave and 51st. i think donato's serves the best pizza slice in the area.
The calzones are definitely good--Wesley usually gets one.
We just got a Donato's menu the other day, so next time we want pizza we will have to order from there to see if you're right--
Marabella? Eeesh. It's good in the way that most NY pizzarias are good. The service is horribly lacking. One plus: they're around the corner, and they have real scooped Italian Ice, which is an awesome to treat in the summertime.
You do yourself a grave injustice if you don't try La Bella Pizzaria on Greenpoint and 47th. The Penne alla Vodka is huge, delicious, and cheap (though I have made a mental note to give Mediterraneo a try).
I will definitely check out La Bella Pizzeria.
I didn't know Marabella did real Italian Ice--that just went on the list for summer.
let me tell you about real italian ice. back in the 1970s and into the mid 80s this neighborhood's heart and soul was Rosario's Pizzeria on Skillman between 50th and 51st Streets. It was a central meeting place where teens, families, and old timers gathered to hang out and enjoy great pizza. they had a jukebox where youngsters fell in love for the first time and tried to learn how to act cool. there were a lot of denim jackets with led zep portraits on the back. and the lemon ice was to die for. the place has since fallen on hard times and somehow hangs on to this day. it's a shadow of its former self. they open and close irregularly. i haven't eaten there in a while and i wouldn't recommend it, but i'll always have the memories.
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