Good Lifestyle

I will start with evidence: forty has not been easy. While the coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage the country and the world, the effects are felt by doctors and medical workers at theMillions of people deposit for unemployment across the United States.

Following a public health and economy crisis, it feels a bit stupid to talk about restaurants, when places do not work as they usually do, which would result in job loss for so many people . That being said, however, you feel during the pandemic is valid - and for many of us, these feelings include sadness. The sadness on marriages and trips canceled, about not being able to see loved ones, on what is essentially an end of life, because we knew it. And if the food has been a source of comfort for you during these difficult times, you are not alone.

When everything is stopped and everyone is at home, the food is the only constant of how things were before. We can not go to the restaurants, but we can always try our hand in new dinner recipes at home. And if we are lucky enough to be employed, we can support local businesses by buying take away. Which brings me to a "local business" that I had never thought of attending:Rao's, an Italian restaurant in Manhattan.

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Rao is an ancient Italian joint at East Harlem, which dates back to 1896, when the neighborhood sheltered to many Italian immigrants and their families. Today, Rao is a group of restaurants in its own right, with places in Los Angeles and Las Vegas (and you have probably seen their sauce sauce in the grocery store, too). But the original location is always easy to miss: there is more than half a mile from the nearest metro station, and it is not surrounded by other restaurants and shops.

Despite the low profile, however, Rao remains one of the most difficult restaurants to get a table in New York and the United States. In 2016,Vanity fair nicknamed "The most exclusive restaurant in New York", noting that the small location has four tables and six stands. The restaurant does not take care of reservations, evenMelissa McCarthy could not get in the restaurant East Harlem. So even if I live a few blocks away from half blocks, I never thought I would have a way to eat Rao's food.

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With the coronavirus, however, all this has changed. The legendary restaurant closed its already limited seats, just like all the restaurants in New York. Instead of,Rao proposed a fixed dinner menu for takeaway-And you do not have to know someone to get it.

March 23,Rao shared his first post InstagramAsk people to run a restaurant's account message to join the waiting list for dinner to go for two. About a week after sending the DM restaurant, I received a text message that I was out of the waiting list and that I could try to take away from Rao this afternoon.

There is no take-away menu for the special pandemic. $ 80 You'll get Penne Marinara, lemon chicken, two meatballs and a salad. I answered right away to let the restaurant know that I was in and puts my pickup time.

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To be honest, I was slightly skeptical about the special, especially with a price price as steep. I had eaten the Sunday sauce of the rao at the place of Los Angeles during a vacation out there and I was not stubborn; The sausages and meatballs did not have much taste and did not compare those that my grandparents did when I was growing up. Sunday pasta were an emblematic part of my childhood experience and Fade meatballs and the sauce did not make the memory justice.

But when I took my first bite of the meatballs of the original Rao location, my eyes filled with tears. I bit myself into a piece of garlic in the meatball, exactly the way my grandmother would have done them. She died just before the quarantine starts and the meatball brought as many memories of being gathered around her dining table when he was covered with giant servers bowls "lotsa pasta".

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Overall, the meal had little in common with the one I had eaten in California. The huge meatballs were numerous tasty, with a nice crisp outside. Marinara sauce was fresh and acidic. Pasta were not soggy, despite being taken away. And the lemon chicken had the perfect character; It was so juicy that the meat falls from the bone.

For me, the meal was the perfect quarantine dinner. It was plentiful and nostalgic, the ultimate comfort food to be stuck at home in times of uncertainty. I doubt it's the best Italian in New York and objectively, it's not worth $ 80. But remember my grandmother (and to be able to say that I ate Rao), it was worth every penny.