Here's the website with menu for a fine Italian restaurant, it's a wonderful treat for us to go there when we are in the City. It's probably typical of other excellent Italian restaurants in other cities around the country.

Here is a link that might be useful: North Beach Restaurant, San Francisco

And here's another one, a local place here. Nothing is frozen or from a can or a corporate menu.

Here is a link that might be useful: Gino's in Salinas

to be honest, I've never eaten at an *authentic* Italian restaurant. I'm not a pasta person and the smell of Parmesan cheese is nauseating. I would consider any authentic style Italian restaurant one as a place where the owners are Italian and everything is made from scratch. And not a chain restaurant. I'm thinking more of a mom and pop type place.

Here's my favorite. It's in a hotel lobby and is always busy. I almost always order Miss Mary's salad and Beef Manacotti.

This is the entry to the restaurant.

Here is a link that might be useful: Frank Grisanti's

I'm of Irish descent. That means I know potato, not pasta. So for me, take me to Italian Bistro or wherever, and I'll thank you.

Linda, when I first looked at your picture, I thought to myself, "that looks like am Embassy Suits I went to in McAllen, Texas." Then to see the name Grisanti's. We go to a Grisanti's in Omaha. We went last week. I love it.
Salad and bread sticks.
Leslie

That's an Embassy Suites Hotel, is it not? I'd recognize one anywhere because they are all the same and all beautiful!

I got married in the Embassy suites in Mesa,AZ. My Bridal party and I came down that Glass elevator in the Lobby and it was so fun!

Yes, it is an Embassy Suites Hotel. The restaurant is in the lobby. Leslie, there are two Grisanti families in Memphis in the restaurant business. They are cousins. The first Grisanti restaurant in Memphis was a tiny hole in the wall and run by an older man I called Papa. I was a young girl when my grandfather used to take me there on Thursday evenings for supper. A few months ago I was trying to find out his first name. He died many years ago and I only knew him by Papa. Anyway, when I looked it up I saw that there was a Grisanti's Restaurant in Omaha. I asked Mr. Frank if he was related to those in Omaha and he said that as far as he knew he was not.

I bet there are chain restaurants in Italy that serve authentic Italian food and probably some mom & pop restaurants there that serve bad food. LOL Good food can happen anywhere, whether it's a hotel lobby, a hole in the wall place, or a chain restaurant. Italy is a big country and the style of cooking varies quite a bit from the north to the south; some areas are spicier, some have thicker sauces, some are sweeter and some, like northern Italian recipes, hardly use any tomato sauce at all. All are authentic.

Baltimore MD has an area called Little Italy, with several restaurants that are considered to be excellent and authentic. The food is quite different from place to place and most people in town have a favorite. I think it all depends on what you like.

Real Italian food--good bread, sauces made from scratch and not all of them tomato-based, pasta that is al dente and not gummy, salads that are fresh and not totally Iceberg lettuce, and a good selection of wines. I cook a lot of Italian dishes so am somewhat picky about Italian restaurants.
When we lived in Rochester NY there was a great place called Ciao's. They had wonderful food and great service. I miss it so much!

Reading about the history of food and food preparation is very interesting. Remember, that at one time there was no "Italy". There were different regions separated by geographical features (mountain region, shoreline, valley) and experiencing different extremes in climate. The dishes coming out of those regions are quite different due to limitations obtaining sources of fuel used for cooking, ability to import exotic items from the Middle East, ability to store foods for longer terms, ect. Seafood dishes are ubiquitous in shoreline regions, but do not appear much in the mountain regional dishes.

"Real" Italian cooking would use fine, fresh, indigenous ingredients and traditional cooking techniques that have been handed down through generations.

Chain restaurants will substitute hard to obtain or expensive ingredients thinking the average customer won't notice. They will substitute cottage cheese for Caprino Fresco, even going so far as to substitute wax for grated Parmigiana cheese. They will make scallopini out of turkey meat instead of veal. Use domestic blue cheese for Gorgonzola. They will skip delicate preparation methods and use the deep fryer for everything. Has anyone every had real mozzarella marinara? Its not junky frozen breaded cheese balls, deep fried with a ketchup based dipping sauce served on the side. It's mozzarella that is breaded and fried, and then slowly baked in a casserole dish in the marinara. The marinara used is chopped tomatoes sauteed in oil. The dish looks similar to, and is served like lasagna, but without the pasta.

http://www.annamariavolpi.com/what_is_italian_cooking.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_cuisine#Sicily

Here is a link that might be useful: Wiki Link

Mscsippy, Grisanti's been around a LONG time. My folks were going there in the 50's!

Brick oven bread
Fresh pasta, made from scratch, on the premises, that day.
Sauces and gravies made from fresh vegetables and herbs
Use pure olive oil.
No oregano...use Italian parsley.
Garlic bread made with above bread and fresh garlic

Capers, they have to use capers or I won't eat there. Oh, and garlic, lost of garlic. And pasta, made from scratch. :-)

Jodi-

Has to be family owned. Preferably for generations.

Has chicken,shellfish and veal choices on the menu.

Menu is short. A long menu with too much on it denotes a mass market kitchen.

Pasta is always al dente and never heavily sauced. Pasta is seldom considered a meal. It is a course,a small side or a base for a nice broth or light creamy meat,chicken or fish based entree.

We have a place like that. Grandpa developed the recipes and is always still on the premises. Generations of family work there.

If they like you, you will always be given the best of service and individual care. You are treated like family.

If they don't like you you will be gently prodded away from coming back with cool,efficient service that meets minimum standards. The food however will be excellent.

Sushipup, did they go to the one in Memphis? The only one that was owned by that man I called Papa was on Summer Avenue. That was in the 1950s. There was a small bakery right next door to it that made bread sticks for him.
I think John Grisanti came along after him and then there were several others that opened in the late 1960s or early 1970s, but none have been the legend that Big John was.

Linda

Yes, I grew up in Memphis, went to Central HS. I don't recall getting to go out to dinner very often, so I missed it. But it was Mother and Dad's favorite. I do recall some dinky check-tablecloth places that they took us kids to. One was on Park, across from the old VA Hospital.

sushipup, if it served home cooking it was probably Audobon Cafe. They had great iced tea.

No, I seem to recall it was something like Sam's or Pete's or Sam and Pete's. This was a LONG time ago!

Has to be family owned and must have gnocchi on the menu. Best Italian food I ever had was at my mom's kitchen. She came from Sciliy.

Oh, I thought you were talking directly across from the VA. Pete and Sam's is across from the VA sort of; maybe a half a block down the street. Did you know that there is no Pete, just Sam. The restaurant was robbed about this time of year about 4 or 5 years ago and Sam was shot. He's a tough little man. He survived. Before we started going to Frank Grisanti's we used to go to Pete and Sam's when we went out to eat Italian. A lot of workers that were there many years ago are still there, or at least they were the last time we were there.

Wow, you mean it's still there since the 50's? We moved from S. Perkins to the Cooper/Madison area in 1961, so we went there before then. And I got the name right? Wow, again. I figured my memory was completely shot, what a nice thing to be actually right. LOL.