Wednesday,
September 26
A Touch of Little
The
ANNOTICO Report
Savarino’s Cucina is a haven for
displaced Yankee Italians. But don't bother if you are in a hurry. Corrado and his family need time to give his delicacies the
proper tender loving care.
Our
Own Little
It’s Hillsboro Village, not the North End, but your taste
buds won’t know it
by Jack Silverman
September
27, 2007
SAVARINO'S
CUCINA
(615)
460-9878
For
more than a few transplanted Italians living in Nashville,... it was easy to
get nostalgic for South Philly, or Boston’s North End, or Providence’s Federal Hill, or
New York’s (or Cleveland’s-or
Baltimore’s-or Wilmington, Del.’s)
Little Italy.
But
then the answer is Savarino’s Cucina run by Corrado Savarino, the Italian bakery/deli/restaurant that has
become a popular gathering spot for Italian Americans, Italophiles
and other displaced Northerners longing for the home cooking and warm
neighborhood feel of their favorite Italian haunts "Up North".
Corrado’s wife
Maria does much of the cooking, his father Pietro
helps out in the kitchen and
his daughter Francesca and son Carmelo often man the register, so Savarino’s is a family affair. Corrado
is a proud and patriotic American who served in the Army Airborne division. And
his brother works for the Davidson County Sheriff’s
Office. Oh, and
Corrado’s grandfather, for whom he’s
named, was a sheriff himself-in
Corrado, too, was born in Sicily
(his family emigrated to Brooklyn when he was 9) and spent 10 years baking at Veniero’s Pasticceria, one of New York’s (and North America’s) preeminent Italian
bakeries, so he knows a thing or two about Italian pastries. He brought his
family to
Though baking is Savarino’s, um, bread and butter (dough!) (d’oh!),
the eatery features some of the best (and most authentic) Italian food
Savarino’s
stuffed pepper is one of Nashville’s more sublime
gustatory pleasures. If stuffed peppers conjure up unpleasant memories of your
high school cafeteria, leave that aversion behind and take a leap of faith. The
roasted, lightly
charred red pepper filled with a creamy risotto flecked with beef and herbs is
a wonderfully subtle marriage of flavors, and has become a favorite of the Scene
editorial staff.
Though it’s on the appetizer menu, it can be a meal in itself,
particularly
with a house salad or some caponata. The savory caponata -a mixture of eggplant, carrots, celery, olives
and capers -is, like the peppers, another example of a flavor being far more
than the sum of its parts.
Attention Italian
meat fans: pass by Nashville’s myriad sub shops and head directly for Savarino’s Ed Pontieri sandwich. Named for a frequent
customer, the Pontieri features mortadella,
hot sopressata, hot capicola,
hot cherry peppers, lettuce, tomato and bomba calabrese
(hot sauce). One patron from the largely Italian town of
The chicken Parmigiana sub was good. Other
entrées we enjoyed included the steak Pizzaiola (a
piece of steak pounded thin in a zesty sauce and served with rice) and the
eggplant Parmigiana. Pizzas are also recommended -
the chicken-and-broccoli-rabe pie we sampled was
quite tasty, in large part because of the crust.
And
desserts?
Corrado is a baker extraordinaire, supplying bread
and pastries to a number of
One thing any Savarino’s novice should know- don’t
go if you’re in a hurry. First, it’s
not a full-service restaurant, but more of a bakery and deli, where you’re welcome to sit down and eat. It’s
almost like you’re sitting in a friend’s kitchen while he’s making
you dinner. We’ve waited anywhere from 15 to 40
minutes for food, with the average wait during the lunch rush being about 25
minutes. Speed is not a priority, and
Corrado is even considering
putting up a sign saying something along the lines of, "If you don’t have a half-hour to wait, go to McDonald’s."
There’s no microwave in the kitchen, and they put a
premium on fresh ingredients, even if it takes a little longer. With the
exception of imported Italian specialties, nothing comes from a package - Corrado even makes his own breadcrumbs from scratch. He’s heard occasional complaints about the wait, but he’s not eager to change things in that regard. "If
you want fast, go to a buffet," he says straightforwardly. And as
a frequent European traveler pointed out, that’s much more typical of the Italian dining experience.
So if you’re looking for a fine dining experience with table
service tonight, or you’ve got an appointment in an
hour, now might not be the time for Savarino’s. But if you’re
in the mood to relax and enjoy some
authentic, home-cooked Sicilian food like you used to get in Joisey or Philly or wherever the hell you’re from, stop by
the cucina. And anyway, what’s your hurry? You some big
shot or sumthin’?
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