The restaurant that I am thankful for is no longer in business. I remember, vividly when Maria Zimmerman told me that it had closed. I always imagined it being there bringing a homey atmosphere and great food to many. Maria would kick me if she were here when I say that I can't remember which part of town it was in. Was it Southdown??
The
restaurant
that I'm talking about is Nina's. It was a cozy family owned/operated
restaurant that had awesome Italian food. I swear that we went there
about once a week when I was growing up. The owners were always there,
seating people, serving and chatting. Dad (Robert Canosa)
would always get Chicken Cacciatore. He loved using his knife and
fork and digging into it and finding the yummy meat amongst the bones.
Mom would always get Veal Piccata. She still usually gets Veal Piccata
when it's available and I'm sure she remembers Nina's as being one of
her favorites. I would always order Stuffed Shells. There has never
been another restaurant that serves stuffed shells that are as good as
the ones I remember Nina's being! I think that the salad was pretty
basic; iceberg lettuce and a cucumber slice or two, BUT, Dad would
actually eat it because they had an excellent (to him, anyway) blue
cheese dressing. He still will only eat salad if it has blue cheese
dressing on it and I can always tell by his face that he's only doing it
for the dressing and that he is only tolerating some lettuce being
attached to it, lol! I liked the Thousand Island dressing back
then--calories be damned!
And then there was dessert!!! 90% of the time we had Cannolis. Once again, I've never found a cannoli that could rival Nina's, or is it all in my memories that I've put these foods on a pedestal??
Now here is something that I'm loathe to admit. We're talking about the 70s here. I graduated high school in 1981 so I was a teenager in the 70s. I'm not sure exactly when it started but I felt that it wasn't cool to be seen with my parents in public. I know things have changed since then and parents and their kids have very different relationships these days. But anyway, back to my story. Mom and Dad would go out to Nina's but I decided that no matter how much I liked it, I didn't want to go with them. It probably also had something to do with talking on the phone with friends--no cell phones back then! So, Mom and Dad would go without me and what would they do??? They'd bring me my favorite meal back home as take out. Okay, okay, I can see you all throwing things at me, but that's the way it was. I've told you all before that I like myself a whole lot better now that I'm a grown up and have kids. I was not the most responsible, empathetic teenager.
So, here's to Nina's that used to be 'somewhere' in Huntington, NY back in the good old days.
And then there was dessert!!! 90% of the time we had Cannolis. Once again, I've never found a cannoli that could rival Nina's, or is it all in my memories that I've put these foods on a pedestal??
Now here is something that I'm loathe to admit. We're talking about the 70s here. I graduated high school in 1981 so I was a teenager in the 70s. I'm not sure exactly when it started but I felt that it wasn't cool to be seen with my parents in public. I know things have changed since then and parents and their kids have very different relationships these days. But anyway, back to my story. Mom and Dad would go out to Nina's but I decided that no matter how much I liked it, I didn't want to go with them. It probably also had something to do with talking on the phone with friends--no cell phones back then! So, Mom and Dad would go without me and what would they do??? They'd bring me my favorite meal back home as take out. Okay, okay, I can see you all throwing things at me, but that's the way it was. I've told you all before that I like myself a whole lot better now that I'm a grown up and have kids. I was not the most responsible, empathetic teenager.
So, here's to Nina's that used to be 'somewhere' in Huntington, NY back in the good old days.
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