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Health & Fitness

Community Update

Hello friends and fellow food-lovers. It's been awhile. I wish I could say that I've been off learning how to cook, and have decided to only serve and eat organic, home-cooked meals. I can't. (And maybe I really don't wish I could say that.)  The truth is, I have been out there -- sitting in the same old places or waiting at home, wine in hand, while Joel fetches food from a familiar old favorite. The leaves are changing, and, I decided last Friday, so should our dinner options! 

Pizza is a crowd-pleaser around here. We have our favorite, Aurelio's, which we hit at least twice in a month. But caught up in a need for the new, I asked my first-graders to think of somewhere different. After ruling out Portillo's, we settled on "the place we went once when we were 4. We got to draw on the wall." Gino's East, it was. We headed out around 6:45, and worried all the way that we'd have to wait to sit at one of the cozy booths we remembered from our visit two years ago. The parking lot was full, but the pizza place was not crowded. After being seated by a witch of a hostess, (it WAS the weekend before Halloween, remember...) Batman's side-kick, Robin, took our drink order and told us our server would be right on her way. My son is a mozzarella stick aficionado, so we ordered a "basket of sticks" from the kids' menu, along with a family-style house salad to start. The sticks included garlic breadsticks and both those and the mozzarella were tasty and hot. Our salad was crispy, fresh and dressed with a lovely vinaigrette. Between the be-costumed staff and the lively, family atmosphere, we really saw the writing on the wall, so to speak. (I know, I know!) We had found a new pizza place! 
Or... so we thought. The momentum of the evening slowed about 30 minutes after the apps arrived. Several attempts at the "Claw" machine in the bar, and countless "Cade and Elise were here's" on the wall later, our pizza was delivered. However, it was not quite the pie we had ordered. Joel, tried and true, sticks to nothing but pepperoni on his half. Staying with my grand idea of venturing out of my comfort zone, I had asked for half supreme, with easy onion. We now sat facing an onion-doused circle, neither of us wanting to even bite in, for fear of tasting nothing but bitter, raw, crunch. Ever the trooper, and never one to want to tick-off the waitress, Joel pushed through and ate a slice or two of his. I did not, and did gently remind our server that this was not what we had ordered. She was very kind, and even looked alarmed when she took a look at the onion-fest upon our table. Right away she took care of everything, whisking said pie from the table, and refreshing my wine, gratis. The pizzas were comped, which was generous, and our server was very kind about it. But in reality, when the right pizza was delivered another half-hour later, it just didn't do it for us. We did order the thin crust, for which they are NOT known, so perhaps that was our mistake. But we both felt that the pizza was lacking in that zip and flavor that we find each and every time, and on both types of crust, at Aurelio's. By this time, the kids were too full from all of the sticks (and I wish I could add salad) that they'd consumed an hour earlier. They were thrilled with the cookies that ended their meal. We all left feeling as though Gino's East was a really fun and festive place, but two of us just didn't feel so satisfied. We will go back, next time ordering deep dish or pasta. But when we crave pizza, we will find ourselves in that familiar booth at our neighborhood favorite.

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