How is the Italian food in Austin? (kitchen, island)

[A-Tex]

Originally Posted by capcat

That's good news! Any idea when it will open?

Sometime in 2015. He got the space in June and has been working on it since. I just found an article about it with more information here: Little Deli & Pizzeria - Community Impact Newspaper

Those who've been craving an Italian hoagie should probably run over to the Little deli and try their Wedge Sandwich. We have east coast neighbors who swear by it. (I can't vouch for it myself because I'm vegan.)

[capcat]

Thanks for the information, A-Tex. Glad to hear it.

[Aquitaine]

I came here a few years ago from the East coast and Italian food was probably the #1 thing I was prepared to give up. We lived near the Brooklyn Pizza Factory in NYC (and Aliseo, great Marches-style Italian place) and I got engaged in Italy. I'm a snob on my Italian, though my actual credentials are pretty much the same as everybody else's on this subject: 'this is what I like! rawr'

I've been very pleased with Vespaio on the three or four occasions I spent the $$$ to go there. I also enjoyed Asti on a recent visit. I could not be less interested in whether any given place is a 'hole in the wall' so long as the people behind the food have done their homework.

I don't feel like Austin was a big step down in terms of quality of Italian food: just quantity. Vespaio wouldn't be able to charge what it charges were it in Philly, but the number of Italians in Texas is somewhere in the low thousands (at least according to an Italian I met a couple months ago). Then again, there are plenty of Italian Americans in Jersey and Philly who wouldn't know a real bruschetta (or be able to pronounce it) if it fell on them. This is the only cuisine and culture I've run into that has a word for 'people who are really proud of their heritage but don't actually know a damn thing about it.' I don't think Italian cuisine lends itself to genuine snobbery as much as others - it's so plentiful and all the Italians (in Italy) I've run into are delighted for you to try it. If you're opening a restaurant, now that's a different thing: you are guaranteed to be doing it wrong and using the wrong ingredients (or your Grandmother wasn't from the Marches, so why do you even bother?). But as a consumer, I've never found the barrier to entry to be very high.

One place I haven't seen mentioned in this thread is Cafe Teo - excellent gelato and espresso!

[sxrckr]

No great Italian food or culture here.
When I lived in Houston there was a little.

Still, Texas just isn't the place for it.

[AguaDulce]

I have to disagree with those that think Mandola's is any better than--Macaroni Grill, for example. It feels like a restaurant you might stumble into while wandering around Disneyland. And the food is just okay. I would not dream of recommending it to a New Yorker.

[RoadWarrior12]

Originally Posted by AguaDulce

I have to disagree with those that think Mandola's is any better than--Macaroni Grill, for example. It feels like a restaurant you might stumble into while wandering around Disneyland. And the food is just okay. I would not dream of recommending it to a New Yorker.

I agree. I wouldn't dream of recommending **** to a New Yorker.

[gpurcell]

Originally Posted by Aquitaine

One place I haven't seen mentioned in this thread is Cafe Teo - excellent gelato and espresso!

This is true. Gelato every bit as good as what you'll find in Italy.

[carlitasway]

I've only been here since October. I've only tried Mandola's a couple of times. Each time my food was bland and I was pretty disappointed. After the second time I said never again. As for any other place, I couldn't tell you.

[ToddATX]

The best gelato I've found in town - and I personally feel it's as good as almost anything I get in Chicago or the northeast (or at least by far the best I've had outside of there) - is not found in a restaurant or a store. It's New World Gelato and Sorbet. They have a booth at some of the farmer's markets in town. I notably find them at the market which sets up at Lakeline mall on the weekends. Their lemon sorbet is heavenly, and some of the gelato's are extremely good too.

[petro]

Personally, I like La Traviata, but that's already been discussed here. There is another Italian spot closer to the Caiptaol building on Congress called Quattro Gatti. It's run by an Italian family and is quite good.

In general though, I'd say traditional Italian cuisine is not en vogue in Austin.