Small Business Saturday X The Infatuation

It was more than a decade ago when we had our first Locanda vini e olii meal. An old drugstore, with walls lined with nostalgic pharmacy bottles, converted into a neighborhood restaurant has always instantly made us feel like we just showed up at our uncle’s house on Sunday. To combat the pandemic and winter in a dining ban they have converted the restaurant in a direction back towards the drugstore providing meals and provisions. This new alimentari offering highlights their fantastic ingredient list including their famed (at least in our house) olive oil. My mom can’t get enough of it. The menu is all available for order out so you can indulge in their best in-house dishes like their pappardelle with wild boar OR alici e burro (Sicilian anchovies). For us the Italian Marketplace is where it’s at. Stocking up on delectables like house made pasta, limoncello or their Italian breakfast in a box. If you are looking for a first move because you’re overwhelmed with choice as we were when we hit the site, start with the Meal-Kit. Each week a new offering includes a selection across three courses of tasty. By example, this week choose between Fettunta or Tuscan Lentil Soup to start. Follow that with Broccolini Pesto Gnocchi or Polenta (or Pappardelle) ai Funghi, a tough choice. Round that out by picking a winner in the Pork Shank vs Baby Octopus “Inzimino” bout. We’d go octopus. It’s a game-changer. Next week the options change so you can enjoy it all again. As my grandfather used to say, “a scarpetta” which signifies soping up sauce with a piece of bread to savor every last bit on your plate. We recommend the same theory applied to both the Loncada menu and marketplace.

We’ve got a little inside baseball on this one. Without spilling the beans too much, just know, the chefs behind this one have been friends of FTHQ for almost a decade. No big reveal BUT we can confidently say this, the Future of Protein Dinner is a must attend dinner. First off, who doesn’t like to time travel. Second, doing it with your tongue sounds far better than that antiquated phone booth Roofus had Bill and Ted ride. 80’s movie jokes aside, this experience spans three centuries of protein edibles. That’s meat for you culinarily challenged folks. Meat in it’s loosest sense, of course. You’ll learn, and taste, from where we started “meating”, trapping and hunting our food. On the other side, you’ll explore advanced cooking options through insect and plant based “meat” making. I know I’m psyched to get my grub on. Maybe literally. Tuesday, June 28 from 7 to 11PM @ MOFAD in Brooklyn. 

We can’t figure that much out about SubCulture Dining’s Pork Store Harlem except that it will be driven by Chef Russell Jackson, include 3 courses and NOT be in Harlem. Chef Russell is know mainstream for his appearance on Food Network’s Next Food Network Star competition. We love him because he’s cut from the same apron as us. Community, Food and experimentation drives his subculture dining events and he earns his rightful place amongst the underground dining grandmother sand grandfathers…uhhem. We’re excited for this east coast gathering and hoping there’s some rhubarb for old time sake ;). Monday, April 11 @ 6:00PM in NYC.

You know how much we love film and TV inspired dinners. Graham Bellefeuille and Ty Cox are cut from the same cloth. They created Guild of Cookery based on the medieval meals you’d find in Game of Thrones. Sans blood, gore and beheadings of course. They honed their craft in some of the best kitchens in SF. Most notable, for us, Foreign Cinema. A place that inspired our supperclub. Given the impending new Game of Thrones season, we’re betting tickets will go quick.