We just can't seem to keep Antonio Laudisio from doing what he loves, and does best: Cooking for you! Try as we may to keep him out of the kitchen (ok, admittedly we would love to have him in the kitchen every shift, but that just doesn't fly with a 70 year old) we still can't keep him from cooking all over town!
Have you been to the farmers markets lately? You'll usually see Antonio tossing a pie, or cooking a polenta in the oven. He's even been know to put the customers to work!
No lie, this was overheard at a recent farmers market:
Customer: Do you have any mushrooms for the pizza?
Antonio: No. Go get me some! Go to Hazel Dell and tell them it's for me!
Did the customer oblige? Of course he did, and got his pizza with fresh Hazel Dell mushrooms!
Have you seen Antonio cooking outside in the 29th Street mall for 29th St. Live? The first month or so was cursed with less than ideal weather. Did that stop Antonio? I'm pretty sure I saw him dancing around in the rain in between pizza orders a few weeks ago!
So what's he doing for fun now? Bringing a bit of Spain to our little corner of Italy here on the mall. Antonio is cooking his Paella right in front of the restaurant, for all to see (and smell!). This past friday was a huge success, with the majority of guests in attendance trying the Paella Valencia in $5 Happy Hour portions. Of course, a number of guests were thinking about dinner, and asked about ordering full dinner plates of Paella, which we of course provided them. There was a bit of a mad rush serving, since by the time it was ready there were dozens of mouths watering in anticipation, but our servers did a great job and everyone was fed happily!
We're taking a week to regroup (and let Antonio visit with family for the week) and will be back on the patio with the Paella pan on Friday, July 17th.
Oh yeah, Antonio has a brand new HUGE Paella pan. It's sitting in the entranceway of the restaurant. He really, really wants to use it, but it's about twice as big as the one he normally uses, so that means we need twice as many hungry mouths to feed! So come to Happy Hour and support Antonio in his quest to break out the giant Paella pan!
By the way, Happy Hour is everyday from 3 to 7:30. That's right. 7:30. Because we know that no one really gets out of work by 5!
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