Pizzeria Iola

You would think that if you want lasagna you would go to Italy.  I would suspect that you would be wrong for if you want some pretty damn good lasagna, you would have to go to Japan.  No.  I am serious.  Oishi and his wife Miyoko make some damn good Italian food.  In a little, probably no more that twenty seats (and that would be crowded), restaurant, Oishi makes some of the finest Italian food around.  The best in Japan at the very least and world, well, it would be an interesting competition.

So, I was taken there by +Jim Mullins and his wife.  I am taking a trip to Japan and they called me and said, "come on down."  So I boarded the shinkansen and an hour later I was in Shizuoka.  Fast forward about seven hours and we were sitting in Pizzeria Iola.  I asked Mully what was good and he said without hesitation, the lasagna.  So I ordered the lasagna, the venison lasagna to boot!  To say that it was good would be an understatement.  It was so beyond good that it left it far behind.  The venison wasnt gamy at all.  It tasted like it was simmering for hours before it was put into the lasagna.  I asked my hosts for the evening and they said that the meat was whatever was in season at the time.  It wasnt as rich and hearty red sauce as most lasagnas are that I have had .  It was creamy and almost delicate in the way it was prepared.  I watched Oishi-san take the dough and crank out the lasagna sheets by hand.  The sauces in between the layers of cheese and pasta was more of a ragu.  I cant say anymore about it.  You will just have to come to Japan and eat it yourself.

The rest of the food was fantastic as well.  The meatballs were made with beef, pork and veal, the holy trinity of meats when you make meatball.  The real kicker was that he added ground green beans to the mix.  Unfortunately I got no pictures of the meatballs as the Mullys devoured them as soon as they came to table.  I got to taste on though, and it was a light and airy meatball, not heavy as you would expect a meatball to be.  Speaking of light and airy, you have to try the gnocchi.  Little bits of heaven.  The potatoes mixed with just a handful of flour to allow them to hold there shape and mixed with a Gorgonzola sauce.  I wish I had a plate of them right now.

Mrs Mully had the avocado salad mixed with mozzarella and tomatoes that looked yummy.

Miyoko-san took care of all the baking and did all of the deserts.  The Mully's had themselves slices of chocolate cake and I had the creme brulee.  Now I thought the sugar was a bit burned, not caramelized like it should have been, but the custard underneath was soft and tasty.  I gave Mully a bite and he went and ordered one for himself, just so he could take off the caramelized sugar and eat that whole.  I told him to wait, that he shouldnt eat it alone.

The food was fantastic, the company grand, the hosts a joy.  It just goes to show you, you can find good food anywhere, you just have to look for it.  Keep eating and as Mully says... "dont let your meat loaf."

Tratorria Pizzeria Iola
1663 Kataoka, Yoshida-cho

TEL 0548-32-0138
iola@amail.plala.or.jp

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Martinelli's Little Italy

This was a review done by our very good friends +Yu Damman. 

Ate tonight at Martinelli's Little Italy in Salina, KS.

Four people ate all they could eat of some really good food.  Not stuffed but full.  Full and happy.

Like the dearly departed Belisle's of Anaheim, CA they specialize in large portions.  1/4 portions, our waiter Zach explained, were for one person.  1/2 for one or two.  Family portions for up to four.

Bart had a soda, tomato and mozzarella appetizer, 1/4 portion of the house salad, and a 1/4 Chicken Carbonara with penne pasta.

Dee had a 1/4 lettuce and tomato salad and a 1/2 Lasagna and a water.

I had a regular coffee, in a huge cappuccino cup, a 1/4 spinach salad and a 1/4 Chicken Picatta with fettuccine pasta.

Dustin had a special which was a chicken breast, capers, provolone, and pancetta.  His pasta dish was spaghetti marinara.  A meatball on the side and after dinner he ordered two cannoli of which he gave me one.  I forget his drink order.  He was odd man out and on another bill.

House bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar which never saw the bill and we had three or four half loaves among the four of us.

Bart and I had more than we could eat and brought some home.  I couldn't finish my pasta and Bart had some of his salad and entree and pasta left over.  I am a big guy and a big eater.  They could serve me more than I could eat and that is a credit to their portions.

I had some of Bart's appetizer.  Super.  Just nice mozzarella, basil and tomato.  Just like a traditional pizza if you only ordered the toppings.

I asked for extra salad plates so Dee and I could swap some samples.  Lasagna was excellent.

I had a hard time deciding which was better between my salad and my entree.  Rare for that to happen.  When all was said and done I finished my salad even to the extent of letting my pasta get cold.  Spinach, grape halves, walnuts and a rich dark dressing.

I didn't think it was possible for this quality of Italian food to exist in Kansas.  Especially not in a small town that comedian John Bowman joked looked half like a real city and half like the set for Grapes of Wrath.

Even with an appetizer we cleared a bill for three people that would be about the same in any diner in the little berg that I live in.

This is not an Italian themed restaurant but a proper Italian restaurant.

I grew up eating a combination of German, Italian, and Midwestern field-hand food.  I could beat their meatballs, at home and to my liking at least, in texture but not in flavor.

The meatball was a side dish as is traditional and thank goodness that it was too much for Dustin to finish so I could have some of it.  I prefer the texture of the more home-style meatball that poor folks make that is about 2 parts bread to 3 parts meat.  I could never match Martinelli's traditional seasoning and flavor that I haven't tasted since the 1970's.

According to our waiter and unlike most Kansas establishments the staff actually takes their lunches from the same kitchen that they work in.

Short of Italian restaurants in California wine country it was some of the best Italian food that I have ever had.  Those restaurants could not touch Martinelli's portions or cost.

If I could have had a sprig of fresh Rosemary on my Chicken Picatta I would have cried.  If I had ordered a carafe of wine I would have sang.

I think that if they would have arranged some sort of trial by combat for seconds on the cannoli I would have removed my shirt, in Latin and Italian brawling style, and fought it out against all comers for at least another two or three of them.

Service excellent.  The hostess, the manager, one waiter, and two waitresses worked our table.  Primary waiter, Zach, knew the menu and preparation of the dishes well.  Handled Dustin's pasta change order with no fuss.

I live about four or five hours driving time away from Salina and Martinelli's.  In the future I will contrive a reason to go back to Salina so I can eat there again.

http://www.martinellisonline.com/