As the mercury dropped a few days ago, and with near-freezing temps due today, it seemed like a good week for soup. And seeing as we hadn’t done Italian since last May, we somewhat randomly landed on pasta fagioli, a peasant dish that, translated, means “pasta and beans.”
The original Italian pronunciation is pasta fah-JOH-lee, but Italian-Americans folk-etymoligized it into pasta fah-ZOOL, joining mani-GOT, bru-ZHOOT, and, my favorite, gaba-GOOL, among others. (I recommend saying these words with thumb and middle finger touching and hand moving lightly back and forth.)
We hit two Italian restaurants — Bella’s Italian Cafe, a fixture in South Tampa whose 40th anniversary is this year (congrats!); and, on St. Pete Beach, Carino’s Northern Italian Cuisine, which has been around for decades but re-opened under new management last fall.
BELLA’S ITALIAN CAFE
At 6:45 on Tuesday, we scored what appeared to be the last parking spot in a sizable lot, which caused concerns about a wait time. We were relieved to be seated straight away, and opted for a small two-top in the lightly populated bar area. Bella’s was buzzing, at least for a Tuesday night…