Rao's
- Thread starter fenderjazz
- Start date
Ah, but yours is no Italian family table.
[neither was mine, but I ate at enough of my Italian friend's houses, in my old neighborhood, as a kid to know better].
[neither was mine, but I ate at enough of my Italian friend's houses, in my old neighborhood, as a kid to know better].
Where do you think I get my nasty ginny temper. I didn't learn to eat broccoli robe, gobbagool and egg heros from no friends house. And you'll find a can or jar of ragu in my mothers pantry over her dead body.
Rao's is overrated. The food is pedestrian at best, the scene is so exclusive and precious that wasting time pining to eat there is ridiculous. I've been there twice and was completely unimpressed. Like a lot of NYC "institutions" (i.e. Elaine's, Nello's, Cirpriani's, Luger's) the reputation has long ago surpassed the quality and its not about the food anymore...
One of NYC's greatest appeals, IMHO, is the constant change and rediscovery - there's no such thing as a permanent "best" since best changes every time someone new decides to take on the city. I prefer pretty much any Batali place to Rao's... frankly, I prefer about 3 dozen great italian places to Rao's.
And the "mythology" of the brooklyn italians is just that - a myth. Mispronouncing "capicola", "gabagool" and calling ragu "gravy" just makes you sound like an uneducated douche with no respect for one of the most beautiful languages in the world, its culture, or its food. It sounds great in the "Sopranos", but don't forget - the italian mob was mostly made up of inbred, uneducated sociopaths - which the "tradition" a lot of brooklyn italians emulate. Those Italians are about as "real" as the titties at Scores.
-RPH
One of NYC's greatest appeals, IMHO, is the constant change and rediscovery - there's no such thing as a permanent "best" since best changes every time someone new decides to take on the city. I prefer pretty much any Batali place to Rao's... frankly, I prefer about 3 dozen great italian places to Rao's.
And the "mythology" of the brooklyn italians is just that - a myth. Mispronouncing "capicola", "gabagool" and calling ragu "gravy" just makes you sound like an uneducated douche with no respect for one of the most beautiful languages in the world, its culture, or its food. It sounds great in the "Sopranos", but don't forget - the italian mob was mostly made up of inbred, uneducated sociopaths - which the "tradition" a lot of brooklyn italians emulate. Those Italians are about as "real" as the titties at Scores.
-RPH
I do not think anybody in this thread or any other raved about Rao's quality of food. It was more about how hard it was to get a table that made it seem more glamorous to others. We discussed in this thread some of us are lucky to know someone that is able to get us in, as Ozzy stated he has a "friend" and I as well that gave us an invite or two there and that some UG memebers would give a cut a nut off to eat there. I ate there because I had a "friend" that got me a table when I needed it for business reasons(not pertaining to being a whore or a well known sports figure). I stated in previous post I did not think the food warranted the attention it receives but the ambiance and energy there is worth calling in a favor. (Maybe Ozzy should call one in from his friend and he can comment on the food).