BUON APPETITO, ROSANNE

Or ‘enjoy your dinner, Rosanne’. It was hand-printed on a card that came with the menu we had chosen, having driven into Toronto to pick up our Saturday night dinner.

You can imagine what restaurants, cafés and eateries, among others, are doing when they can no longer serve patrons inside their places of business. What many of us have done is order online and pick the meal up or have it delivered.

Last Saturday night we decided to order something special. We’d eat Italian. Dinner for two ordered from the Trattoria Milano in downtown Toronto.

The restaurant being closed because of the pandemic, it serve takeout with two different menus to chose from; along with a bottle of chilled Italian Proseco.

We drove into Toronto arriving at Trattoria Milano to pick up our 7 PM order, our ‘health’ masks covering our faces. We were handed our dinner in three heavyish brown paper bags and a sincere ‘Buon appetito Rosanne’ hand-printed on the menu tucked along with it.

We brought it home to Woodbridge, set the table caressed by a burning candle. We started with the antipasti of grilled asparagus, soft boiled eggs and ‘Parmigiano Reggiano’, a rich melted cheese.

Next: A nostri primi: an Italian crepe, with prosciutto Cotto, Fontina cheese.

1 Secondi: Polenta Grigliata con salsiccia di Cinghiale. This translated into a main course of polenta with wild boar sausage.

Still with me? Then came the ‘dolce’ (sweet) dessert: a Tiramisu Classico made with Mascarpone Cream, Ladyfingers dipped in Expresso, and cocoa powder. They call this an Italian ‘pick-me-up’.

Author’s comment: Talk about a quiet, delicious way for a couple to spend a Saturday night. We both felt during this pandemic, not to abandon restaurants in particular trying to stave off going out of business. Even if it means picking up expensive dinners in brown paper bags with handles.