B is for Billy Joel
I am noticeably late to the game on this one, nearly 50 years late actually, but I have recently become a Billy Joel fan, that is if you can call listening to one legacy album on repeat, fandom.
The Stranger, released in 1977, was Joel’s first commercial big-hitter, including tracks such as She’s Always a Woman, Vienna, and Only the Good Die Young. Despite being his fifth studio album, (the second being his now-eponymous Piano Man), The Stranger became his big public breakthrough sitting for six weeks at the top of the Billboard Charts. This album is undoubtedly a lyrical masterpiece and heavily showcases the storytelling genius that is the brain of Billy Joel, and for me, the standout track is Scenes from an Italian Restaurant (a segue to food is coming soon, I promise).
The song, a seven-minute rock cantata, has three distinct movements which depict a night in an Italian restaurant and reminisce about the ease of high-school days. Joel confirmed that the song was written in and about a family-run joint in Midtown Manhattan called La Fontana di Trevi, which has sadly now closed down. Listening to this song, not only makes me hungry but also nostalgic for times past and really past.
My sister and I used to frequent an Italian restaurant called Les Vitelloni on Rue Dupetit-Thouars. We went almost every Sunday over the course of a year but recently the seemingly unbreakable tradition has been dwindling. I wrote for Table Magazine, back in 2020, about the ecstasy of feeling like a local in a foreign city and how the comfort of a steaming bowl of pâtes à l’ail helped to dissolve any weekly plagues.
The reasoning behind our lacklustre upkeep of tradition is three-fold; new flats, no salt, and repetition fatigue. Mia and I both moved up the hill into Belleville, making our local Italian not so local anymore, and with this distance came perspective. From higher up the hill we had a new view of the city and a hunger to try and find new traditions. More Italian food has been eaten and has given an unfavourable comparison to the under-seasoned spaghetti at Vitelloni making the trial separation less painful.
I often felt slightly guilty about eating at the same restaurant over and over again and ordering the same thing (2 bowls of Aglio e Olio and a tiramisu to share). In a city with more than 40,000 eateries, it was possible that we were fleecing ourselves. Mia will never watch the same film twice, and yet we clicked replay on the restaurant scene in the film of our lives. (Mia to be played by Rosamund Pike, will accept suggestions for my double, best one wins a prize.)
Despite all of this, there are weekends when the Sunday blues kick in and I do miss the scenes from that Italian restaurant.
La Fontana di Trevi
Joel’s Italian haunt, La Fontana di Trevi, was a well-known New York institution, frequented by artists and common-folk alike. Located opposite Carnegie Hall and the SONY music offices, it wouldn’t have been uncommon to spy a musician or two having lunch in the corner. The food served was unfussy and the Caesar salad, served table-side (it was the 80’s), was the star.
A Caesar salad (a cae-sal) is a simple work of engineering; a few staple ingredients and a bit of elbow grease will bring together a fantastically un-light lunch. I won’t write out my recipe for a Caesar sal but have rounded up a few tips that will make your version even better.
If you’re roasting your own chicken for the dish, roughly cube some leftover thick bread and lay under the chicken whilst it cooks. Crisped croutons with schmaltzy chicken fat.
Grill your romaine lettuce before dressing —a quick flash in a hot pan with oil until the leaves are charred, frilly, but still fresh.
Add the recommended amount of parmesan and then add it again — more is more.
Most likely verboten / would be kicked out of the kitchen but I think that sliced pickles work very well to cut through the creamy dressing and add a deserved tang.
Shopping List for you
Wunderhorse’s new track
Breadsong by Kitty and Al Tait
White plate nostalgia from @normanscafelondon
Reminder to hydrate from @aliomalley_
A lesson in Authenticity from @potluckzine
Leftover chocolate eggs