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Authentic Southern Italian Cuisine
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Low-Carb Italian Feasts

June 15, 2013 Carlino's Restaurant no comments
Carlino's-Salumi

“Go Italian and enjoy the excitement of Mediterranean dining”

Over the past few years, low-carb eating plans have soared in popularity. From athletes in training to health-conscious diners who want to stay trim, many people have embraced a diet rich in leafy vegetables, lean protein and healthy oils. Mediterranean meals are often naturally low in carbohydrates, so if you’re counting carbs, you can still enjoy an Italian feast.

Antipasti and Salads 

If you’re going low-carb, start with a great antipasto plate. “Antipasto” literally means “before the pasta,” but you can also think of it as the opposite of pasta – full of protein in salumi, pungent cheeses and ripe olives. Marinated asparagus spears, artichoke hearts or peppers add flavor without contributing carbohydrates. Hot or cold, antipasti are an excellent choice for a light low-carb lunch or to begin your dinner.

Low-carb eating plans sometimes skimp on the fiber, but not when you add a salad. Salads bring a healthful array of vitamins and minerals to the table, too. Ask for your salad wtihout croutons to cut the carbs; instead, get crunch from slivered nuts, radishes or matchstick carrots. Although root vegetables do have carbs, the amount in a light sprinkling of carrots is negligible even on a very low-carb plan. An insalata Caprese or tricolore salad is a phenomenal low-carb option. With vitamin C from fresh tomatoes, calcium in the house-made mozzarella and a boost of flavor from basil, it’s a great choice for summer dining.

 Low-Carb Entrees

Pasta dishes are wonderful, but they’re far from the only options available. Find low-carbohydrate options among the chicken, veal and seafood dishes on the menu. Anything cooked in wine is a good choice. Wine is relatively low in carbohydrates at about 5 grams per glass, and a dish cooked in wine is even lower in carbs per serving. Chicken marsala enlivened with mushrooms and herbs is a low-carb staple. Veal sorrentino’s layers of eggplant and mozzarella are another great choice. On the seafood menu, any grilled or broiled catch of the day fits a low-carb plan as long as it isn’t breaded. Clams posillipo is a local favorite that happens to be virtually carb-free.

Pair your entree with any sauteed green, leafy vegetable, and you have a feast. Broccoli rabe and spinach are essential for fiber and nutrients, but you won’t be thinking about that when you’re eating them; in the hands of a talented chef, they’re tasty enough to be a treat, not an obligation. If you’re dining with a crowd, order a few sides and pass them around family-style so everyone gets more variety on the plate.

Some plans that monitor carbs allow moderate whole grain portions. If you’re splurging with a few carbs in an otherwise low-carbohydrate plan, you might find what you’re looking for with a whole wheat pizza crust. Choose a thin crust to minimize carbs and max out on healthful, flavorful toppings. A grandma-style thicker crust also works if you’re stepping up or down from a more tightly controlled plan. Onions, peppers, extra cheese and any kind of meat will work well on a whole wheat crust.

One of the toughest parts of maintaining healthy eating habits is avoiding boredom. When you’re tired of low-carb wraps and bun-free burgers, go Italian and enjoy the excitement of Mediterranean dining.

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Easter in Italy and Around the World

March 24, 2013 Carlino's Restaurant no comments
carlinos-easter
“Easter Sunday brings thoughts of egg hunts, Easter bonnets and chocolate bunnies”

For us, Easter Sunday might bring thoughts of egg hunts, Easter bonnets and chocolate bunnies, but the holiday has a different feel in other parts of the world. Marked with the solemnity of its religious origins and the lightheartedness of spring’s rebirth, Easter has a long and colorful history that even retains elements of ancient Roman festivals.

Russia and Eastern Europe

Russian and Eastern European countries’ Easter celebrations are most famous for their incredibly detailed decorated eggs. These aren’t the simple hard-boiled and dyed eggs most of us know for Easter; these works of art are often meant to be displayed for years. The eggs are a hold-over from the earliest celebrations of spring’s renewal. They represented new beginnings and fertility, and adorning them with festive decorations is a practice that predates not only Christianity but also recorded history; no one’s quite sure when the practice began. However, the Romans almost certainly contributed to the custom, carrying it to all corners of the far-flung Roman Empire.

While Easter Sunday is solemn, the Monday afterward is celebratory throughout Eastern Europe. It’s tradition to spank others with decorated willow switches – think of the friendly swats you might get on your birthday or the affectionate pinch you’d get if you forgot to wear green on St. Patrick’s Day. Water-fights are also common, especially in Poland.

The dinner table almost always includes a ham, eggs and bread, often marked in the shape of a cross to honor the religious roots of the celebration. Some traditions also include cracking boiled eggs with a nail to symbolize Christ’s suffering.

Greece

Greek Orthodox traditions start with celebrations on Great Thursday with eggs dyed red and placed on altars or ikons. Easter is a more solemn holiday than it is elsewhere; traditional and devout households consider the next few days a period of mourning. On Holy Friday, church bells toll in funereal tones and flags fly at half-mast. Saturday’s observances have a distinctly modern twist; the Eternal Flame travels to Greece from Jerusalem by jet, a trip that used to be considerably longer. Each church gets its own flame that remains lit throughout the remainder of the week.

On Easter Sunday, the somber tone of the holy week is transformed to a joyful celebration. Whole spit-roasted lamb is a traditional centerpiece to an Easter feast, but any kind of lamb dish can work for those who don’t have time or space for a whole lamb. Heaps of delicacies grace every table, and the retsina and ouzo flow freely throughout the day. It’s no wonder, then, that Easter Monday is a time of restful contemplation in the Greek tradition.

Italy

The home of the Roman Catholic Church and of pre-Christian Roman celebrations of spring naturally has its own rich Easter traditions. It’s second only to Christmas in its importance socially, and for many devout Italians, it’s the most solemn feast in the liturgical calendar. Good Friday is filled with more solemn observances, including blessings from parish priests and meatless Lenten meals, but Sunday is a day for celebration.

Easter Sunday is for feasting on pork, lamb and veal as well as sweet treats in the shape of eggs. Chocolate eggs are as beloved in Italy as they are here for Easter, and the Italians have turned decorating the candies into an art form. Bakeries try to outdo each other with lavish confections and iced cakes. The colomba pasquale, or Easter dove, is a special sweetened, yeast-leavened Easter bread that is Easter’s counterpart to the traditional Christmas panettone.

Florence has a unique tradition, the Scoppio del Carro, loosely translated as the Bursting of the Cart. A cart filled with fireworks is paraded through the streets and set alight with flints from the Holy Sepulchre, bringing together a religious tradition with one that predates Christianity in a unique event that celebrates spring with a bang.

Whether you celebrate Easter as a traditional Christian holiday or as a celebration of spring’s arrival, Carlino’s wishes you Buona Pasqua!

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It’s Carnevale Time Again!

February 2, 2013 Carlino's Restaurant no comments
Carlinos Restaurant Carnevale
“Carnevale di Venezia is a day for masks, feasts and parties”

Do you know what’s special about February 12? It isn’t just another Tuesday; millions of Italians mark it as Carnevale, the last day of feasting and celebration before Lent. The French call it Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras, but its roots are deep in Italian soil, particularly in Venice. The Venetian version of the holiday is one of the most spectacular and elegant affairs anywhere, and it’s recently enjoyed a resurgence.

The traditional Carnevale di Venezia is a day for masks, feasts and parties. What sets it apart is its age; as one of the first carnival celebrations in Europe, it’s a tradition almost a thousand years old. The first recorded Carnevale in Venice was celebrated in 1162 as a party to commemorate a victory on the battlefield that kept the region, then a republic, free. As people gathered in the Piazza San Marco, they brought their favorite delicacies and wore their brightest colors, turning the party into a memorable feast.

Eating well before Lent was a tradition even before the Venetian celebration, but the coincidental timing of the victory and the feast day transformed it into something special. Italians don’t need many reasons to celebrate with wonderful food, free-flowing wine and fancy clothes; having two great reasons to throw a party made Venice’s Carnevale an irresistible attraction.

As the party grew into an ever larger social event, the elegant clothes evolved into masks and costumes. Eventually, masks became a way to move beyond the bonds of social hierarchy, letting people from every walk of life celebrate the final day of feasting before the austerity of Lent. Mask-makers held high status; if painters were the rock stars of Renaissance Italy, then Venetian mask-makers were the back-up singers, earning invitations to all the best parties. Today, the masks Venetians and visitors wear are just for fun, although the crowning of the year’s most beautiful costumes has become an event for fashionistas worldwide.

Over the years, traditional mask styles became especially well known and are still visible on the streets of Venice during Carnevale. The traditional square bautta covers the whole face, while the delicate columbina hides only the eyes and is almost exclusively worn by women. Dama masks look like the serene face of a beautiful woman, and gato masks transform their wearers into cats. Other popular styles resemble traditional comedy and tragedy masks or jesters.

The food of carnevale is right in the name: meat, and plenty of it. The “carne” in Carnevale means meat, and for two weeks before Ash Wednesday, meat is a mainstay. Beefy meatballs, pork sausage and tender veal dishes are favorites for Carnevale. Anything creamy, rich or luscious also fits the celebratory theme, so cream-filled pastries and rum-soaked cakes have a place on the holiday table. Wine and spirits flow, keeping the party atmosphere lively well into the night.

However revelers call it – Carnevale, Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras – it ends sharply at midnight. For all its excesses, Carnevale has a solemn heart, marking as it does the last farewell to feasting and frolics before Lent.

You don’t need to observe Lent to enjoy the festivities, though. Make February 12 special with a feast of your own at Carlino’s. Why have just another Tuesday when you could have a party instead?

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Restaurant Hunter “Best Italian Food In The World”

May 12, 2012 Carlino's Restaurant no comments

When Rob Petrone, the Emmy award-winning host of FiOS1’s “Restaurant Hunter,” got a letter proclaiming Carlino’s food “the best Italian food in the world,” he took it as a challenge that he had to taste for himself. After sampling our veal pizzaiola and house-made sausage with broccoli rabe as chef and owner Carlo Corteo looked on, the food critic certainly looked convinced. We’d like to invite you to find out what makes Carlino’s so special too. If you missed it during its original airing, get a glimpse behind the scenes in Carlino’s kitchen on this episode of “Restaurant Hunter” on our Gallery page.

Click Here To View “Best Italian Food In The World” Video

Carlo spent the first fourteen years of his life in Monte di Procida, a town just outside of Naples, Italy. He’s designed Carlino’s menu to reflect the skills he learned and the tastes he loved from his boyhood. “I try to remember the taste that my mother put into every one of her dishes,” he told Rob Petrone.

The bold, bright flavors of the Neapolitan coast come from simple, but exquisitely fresh ingredients. Watch Carlino’s chefs prepare tangy veal pizzaiola from fresh, ripe tomatoes and sweet, spicy basil. Thin-sliced veal gets a light coating of flour, salt and pepper before nestling in the pan next to the tomatoes until it’s crisp and redolent of all the rich flavors in the sauce. As Carlo notes, “It’s all in how you put it together,” and in the right hands, these simple ingredients become a savory memory of home.

You’ll also learn about another Italian classic that distinguishes Carlino’s: homemade sausage. The perfect Italian sausage requires balance between aromatic fennel seeds, black pepper and succulent meat. Carlino’s take on sausage adds a fourth flavor note that brings all the others into harmony: a dry white wine. The sausage rests in the refrigerator for 24 hours after making it to let all the flavors blend; then it’s sliced and cooked to order. Our rustic presentation of sausage with broccoli rabe and rigatoni tastes as good as it looks on “Restaurant Hunter,” but you’ll also find our sausage makes a perfect pairing with peppers or adorning a pizza.

With or without our homemade sausage, pizza is another one of our specialties. Naples invented pizza, so it’s no wonder that Carlo wants to do justice to one of the world’s most popular foods. For two decades, Long Island residents have loved Carlino’s grandma pizza with its crisp, thin crust and its light marinara sauce; watch it come out of the oven on our “Restaurant Hunter” segment, and you’ll see why it’s so beloved. It tastes even better than it looks, but don’t take our word for it – try it for yourself.

Come to Carlino’s and find out why the “Restaurant Hunter” found just what he wanted!

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