This blog is a bit different as it highlights my trip to Youngstown over the weekend and three different spots...Haus and Whitehouse Market, Jimmie's Italian Store, and the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Festival in Youngstown.
Haus and Whitehouse Market are both in southern Mahoning County and promote farm fresh ingredients. Whitehouse is much bigger, but Haus is kmuch cheaper. We stopped at Haus Market first and I purchases a large zucchini for 50 cents, 3 homegrown garlic heads for 89 cents, 3 bags of popcorn kernals for only $2.25 per bag, apple cider quart and a glass of apple cider slushie. If I did not have my Fresh Fork items I would have also purchased the 6 hot peppers for $2. The prices were amazing and the items had literally just come off the farm. At Whitehouse it is a bit more commercial and you can purchase pies, doughnuts, chese, milk, and honey in addition to the produce. Whitehouse is a favorite in the fall when they have dozens of different varieties of apples and ciders available. The prices at Whitehouse are slightly higher, but still cheaper then anything in Cleveland.
My first stop every time I go to Youngstown is Jimmie's Italian Store. There is nothing in Cleveland that matches the quality or prices at Jimmie's. The bread is amazing and the tarelli with hot pepper or black pepper is a tasty crunchy treat. On my trips to the store I always purchase the hot peppers in oil that are made in house. I could literally eat only bread, hot peppers, and cheese for days. I also purchased a fabulous spinach roll for under $4 and the olive mix to bring to my family. It was stuffed with spinach and cheese inside of a delicious breading. They always run specials on peccorino romano cheese (only $4.99 for a pound) and Olive oil ($14.99 for a large bottle). I could buy everything from the bakery to the deli to the cheese and antipasto cases every time I go down. The meat is fresh and well cured. The cheeses are delicious. The bakery cannot even be described in this blog. They have everything from amazing Italian desserts to cookies to bread and cakes. Every trip to Youngstown should include a stop at this amazing store. Before you leave, you can even purchase a hot meal to eat.
My last food stop while in Y-town was the Our Lady Of Mount Carmel Festival. This is the church my father grew up in and my family belonged to my entire life (Along with St. Anthony). We arrived at the festival and my entire purpose in going to this festival was to eat. So we immediately went to the church hall to choose food from Fusillo Catering, the official caterer of the church. I started with a meatball sandwich ($4) and my friends had polenta with sausage sauce($3). Nothing purchases from the church was over $5 except for the Frazone(which could feed 2) which was $7. The meatballs tasted amazing and the polenta tasted just like my mom;s on New Year's Eve. We then decided to walk around the festival grounds and the disappointment began. I know that my own advice at festivals is to always stick with the church food...I did not heed my own advice and wasted money on sub par food. Some other friends had told me to try food from the Roberto's truck. They have done the festival route for years and just opened a restaurant in the growing downtown Youngstown. My comments on their food...NEVER AGAIN. I purchased a pepperoni roll. The mistakes began from the beginning...to heat it up they placed it in a microwave. Things were even worse when I received the soggy bread wrapped around a tiny amount of pepperoni. To add insult to injury the sauce was sour. I actually tried to pull the bread off and just eat the pepperoni...it was low quality and I ended up throwing away the roll. My friend purchased a sweet red pepper sandwich, it looked delicious. However, his comment was that is was bland and the bread overwhelmed the filling. Many of the other stands at the festival were not even Italian. So while the church food was AMAZING as always from Fusillo Catering, the food outside was not up to Italian food standard in Youngstown.
Trips to Youngstown always include amazing food and next time I might get my friends to take me to someplace new. Happy eating...this week will feature another great meal from Little Italy.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Italian Fetival Fun
My favorite festival of the year is happening RIGHT NOW!!!!! Our Lady of Mount Carmel West is the most authentic Italian Festival complete with an authentic Italian procession of Saints. The entire purpose of the festival is to honor the Blessed Mother and our Italian culture.
The members of the church lovingly make all of the food for the festival. Even Bruno's Restaurant- which serves excellent eggplant lasagna, is a member of the parish. There are two options...sit down dinner where the school children actually serve you your dinner at a table and traditional booths. The Villa serves a full meal for around $10 a person. You have a choice of cavatelli and meatballs, spaghetti and meatballs, chicken dinner and many other items all including a salad and bread and butter. The meals are huge and you will take at least half of it home with you. But it is nice to just sit down and have a good meal. Fridays they include fish dinners on the menu.
Outside the food is top notch! You can get a bowl of cavaelli and one meatball or a meatball sub for $5. There is also yummy sausage sandwiches, pizza, and Hispanic food. Looking for a snack...lupini are available. There are sweets available for everyone. Refreshing HHawaiian ice is available in a multitude of flavors for only $3 for a "small". For the Italian sweet tooth there are cannolis, lemon ice and the famous zeppole! The food is amazing and well priced. A family could easily get a full dinner for $20.
If you are looking for a night out and something other than food...there is beer, wine and homemade cello's. The limoncello is absolutely amazing and shots abound with the working crew come Sunday night. Each night you can dance to the Italian music and many people sign along. The Grocery Stand gets hot on Sunday nights giving away whole provolone's, salamis, gallons of wine, and gallons of olive oil. At midnight on Sunday is the drawing for $5000 grand prize. We also offer casino gambling without having to go downtown for the night.
The best part of this festival aside from the food is the Procession of Saints on Sunday. Mass begins at 11:30 and the Procession starts after Mass. The procession easily takes an hour oing up and down the streets in the Italian part of the West Side. The people walking in the procession pray, sing and watch a fireworks presentation at the end of the procession. The neighborhood families clean the streets and lay down flowers for the Blessed Mother. As the Blessed Mother reaches each cross street, firecrackers go off in her honor to let all know she is present. After the Procession members return to church for Benediction.
Stop by on Sunday and see me at the Zeppole Booth! The fried dough with powdered sugar is a yearly treat!
The members of the church lovingly make all of the food for the festival. Even Bruno's Restaurant- which serves excellent eggplant lasagna, is a member of the parish. There are two options...sit down dinner where the school children actually serve you your dinner at a table and traditional booths. The Villa serves a full meal for around $10 a person. You have a choice of cavatelli and meatballs, spaghetti and meatballs, chicken dinner and many other items all including a salad and bread and butter. The meals are huge and you will take at least half of it home with you. But it is nice to just sit down and have a good meal. Fridays they include fish dinners on the menu.
Outside the food is top notch! You can get a bowl of cavaelli and one meatball or a meatball sub for $5. There is also yummy sausage sandwiches, pizza, and Hispanic food. Looking for a snack...lupini are available. There are sweets available for everyone. Refreshing HHawaiian ice is available in a multitude of flavors for only $3 for a "small". For the Italian sweet tooth there are cannolis, lemon ice and the famous zeppole! The food is amazing and well priced. A family could easily get a full dinner for $20.
If you are looking for a night out and something other than food...there is beer, wine and homemade cello's. The limoncello is absolutely amazing and shots abound with the working crew come Sunday night. Each night you can dance to the Italian music and many people sign along. The Grocery Stand gets hot on Sunday nights giving away whole provolone's, salamis, gallons of wine, and gallons of olive oil. At midnight on Sunday is the drawing for $5000 grand prize. We also offer casino gambling without having to go downtown for the night.
The best part of this festival aside from the food is the Procession of Saints on Sunday. Mass begins at 11:30 and the Procession starts after Mass. The procession easily takes an hour oing up and down the streets in the Italian part of the West Side. The people walking in the procession pray, sing and watch a fireworks presentation at the end of the procession. The neighborhood families clean the streets and lay down flowers for the Blessed Mother. As the Blessed Mother reaches each cross street, firecrackers go off in her honor to let all know she is present. After the Procession members return to church for Benediction.
Stop by on Sunday and see me at the Zeppole Booth! The fried dough with powdered sugar is a yearly treat!
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Irish Taco Tuesday
The day before a holiday and everyone should go out for a few drinks and some dinner...I mean who wants to cook anyway? Tuesday I went to PJ McIntyre's to meet a friend for a drink and some dinner. This Irish Bar has a typical taco Tuesday line up definitely worthy to be mentioned in the blog. The food is cheap and good, as are the drinks.
We started with $2 margaritas that were tasty and strong. There was a choice between regular and mango, I went with regular. They also offer soft or hard tacos. The beef are $1.50, chicken are $2.50, and fish are 2 for $6. I chose one beef and one chicken soft tacos. They were nothing special, but they were fresh and well made. The tacos were filled with tomatoes, lettuce, cheese and a side of salsa. The beef and chicken were well flavored and just melted into the tortilla. I also ordered a side of black and tan onion rings. These were normal price on the menu $3 and enough to share with a friend. While the tacos were pedestrian, the onion rings were phenomenal. They were crispy and not greasy with a ton on flavor. A definite choice for the future. Sometimes onion rings can be soggy with too much batter but these had a perfect balance of onion to batter.
At the end of the night....dinner and 2 margarita's later my entire bill with tax and tip was under $14. PJ's is a great bar at night for music as well. They have quality specials every day of the week including steaks on Saturday. Ordering from the specials and off menu definitely is a great option for those looking for a yummy frugal meal.
Enjoy the Fourth everyone!
We started with $2 margaritas that were tasty and strong. There was a choice between regular and mango, I went with regular. They also offer soft or hard tacos. The beef are $1.50, chicken are $2.50, and fish are 2 for $6. I chose one beef and one chicken soft tacos. They were nothing special, but they were fresh and well made. The tacos were filled with tomatoes, lettuce, cheese and a side of salsa. The beef and chicken were well flavored and just melted into the tortilla. I also ordered a side of black and tan onion rings. These were normal price on the menu $3 and enough to share with a friend. While the tacos were pedestrian, the onion rings were phenomenal. They were crispy and not greasy with a ton on flavor. A definite choice for the future. Sometimes onion rings can be soggy with too much batter but these had a perfect balance of onion to batter.
At the end of the night....dinner and 2 margarita's later my entire bill with tax and tip was under $14. PJ's is a great bar at night for music as well. They have quality specials every day of the week including steaks on Saturday. Ordering from the specials and off menu definitely is a great option for those looking for a yummy frugal meal.
Enjoy the Fourth everyone!
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