Read the following text and choose the correct answers (True/False) New York’s ‘real’ Little Italy By Danielle Oteri A It’s a dark winter evening on Arthur Street in the Bronx, one of New York City’s five neighbourhoods. Shops are closing. But as shopkeepers turn off lights and pull down metal grates, the windows of Mario’s restaurant glow yellow. Inside you can see old paintings of Italy’s most famous places, from the Blue Grotto to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. “Some customers have told me they don’t like the paintings,” says owner Joe Migliucci. Joe is 80, but he doesn’t look a day older than 50. He’s Mario’s son, and the paintings were made by his uncle, Ciro. He looks at them lovingly. “They say they’re too dark—too old-fashioned. But this is our history.” B Mario’s is the oldest restaurant in one of the oldest Italian neighbourhoods in the city. New Yorkers know Arthur Street as the city’s ‘real’ Little Italy, where more than twenty Italian shops and restaurants have been in business for up to a hundred years. Most of them are owned by the third and fourth generations of the families who started them. A few have been sold to long-time employees who have kept things the same. Italian-Americans living in New York come here each week to do their shopping. But no place on Arthur Street captures the spirit of Little Italy like Mario’s, the best place to experience the culinary traditions of New York’s early Italian community. Indeed, tourists from Italy are surprised to see dishes from their grandmothers’ time. C The Migliucci family left Naples in the 1890s after Joe’s great-grandfather Mario blew off his hand with fireworks. Ashamed of his injury, Mario moved his family to Cairo, Egypt, where they opened an Italian restaurant. Their son Giuseppe married a woman from Naples and moved back to Italy. Then, in 1913, Giuseppe moved to the Bronx with his mother Scolastica, his wife, and 1-year-old Mario. D In the early 20th century, Arthur Avenue was a rural area where a lot of Italian families lived. It was here, at 2342 Arthur Avenue, in 1919 that the family opened G Migliucci, a pizzeria with just six tables. Scolastica and her daughter-in-law cooked simple dishes like escarole in soup, and Giuseppe made pizza. After school, young Mario worked at the restaurant selling slices of pizza on the sidewalk for five cents. His friends would come by for a slice. They called the restaurant “Mario’s”. E Mario and his brother Clemente took over in the 1930s and changed the name to Mario’s. The restaurant grew into one of New York’s most celebrated, serving politicians and famous people like baseball player Joe DiMaggio, singer Frank Sinatra, and film star Elizabeth Taylor. In 1971, director Francis Ford Coppola wanted to film a scene from his new film The Godfather in Mario’s dining room. But when Mario heard about the scene – the character Michael Corleone was going to kill two men at a table – he said no, saying it didn’t sound like a family film. Coppola had to film the scene at a different restaurant. In 1976, New York Times food writer Craig Claiborne invited Mario and Clemente to cook at his home with celebrated French chef Pierre Franey. Afterward, he wrote an article about how good Mario and Clemente’s cooking was, and the Mario’s (the restaurant) became more famous still. F Today, Joe always corrects people who call his restaurant “old-school Italian”. “It’s Neapolitan cuisine,” he says. When Mario’s opened in 1919, pizza was an Italian dish that was only found in Naples. The Migliucci family adapted their city’s age-old recipe to their new environment and made pizza with the best of what they could get locally. Neapolitan pizza traditionally uses buffalo’s milk cheese. Since the only buffalos in New York lived at the nearby Bronx Zoo, the Migliuccis topped their pizzas with cow’s milk cheese. G Though the menu at Mario’s has changed, pizza, made the same way as it was in 1919, has never left the menu. Unlike most New York-style pizza today, which comes with a heavy layer of cheese that overpowers the tomatoes, Mario’s uses a perfect balance of tomatoes and fresh herbs on fresh, hand-sliced cheese. And while most New York pizzas use wood-fired ovens, Mario’s still uses its old gas oven so the pizza is perfectly crisp. H For my family, pizza at Mario’s is a family tradition. Like Joe’s father, my great-grandparents were from the city of Naples in Italy. They owned a baccalà (dried and salted fish) shop just a few doors down on Arthur Avenue from 1918 to 1980, and they always said that Mario’s made the best pizza. A century later, Mario’s is still our family restaurant. Italian families celebrate Christmas Eve with a big homemade dinner. When my mother passed away, we were at a loss. She always cooked for us. We went to Mario’s instead, because it felt like home. Adapted from BBC.com Mario's opened in 1919. Select one: True False
Read the following text and choose the correct answers (True/False)
New York’s ‘real’ Little Italy
By Danielle Oteri
A It’s a dark winter evening on Arthur Street in the Bronx, one of New York City’s five neighbourhoods. Shops are closing. But as shopkeepers turn off lights and pull down metal grates, the windows of Mario’s restaurant glow yellow. Inside you can see old paintings of Italy’s most famous places, from the Blue Grotto to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. “Some customers have told me they don’t like the paintings,” says owner Joe Migliucci. Joe is 80, but he doesn’t look a day older than 50. He’s Mario’s son, and the paintings were made by his uncle, Ciro. He looks at them lovingly. “They say they’re too dark—too old-fashioned. But this is our history.”
B Mario’s is the oldest restaurant in one of the oldest Italian neighbourhoods in the city. New Yorkers know Arthur Street as the city’s ‘real’ Little Italy, where more than twenty Italian shops and restaurants have been in business for up to a hundred years. Most of them are owned by the third and fourth generations of the families who started them. A few have been sold to long-time employees who have kept things the same. Italian-Americans living in New York come here each week to do their shopping. But no place on Arthur Street captures the spirit of Little Italy like Mario’s, the best place to experience the culinary traditions of New York’s early Italian community. Indeed, tourists from Italy are surprised to see dishes from their grandmothers’ time.
C The Migliucci family left Naples in the 1890s after Joe’s great-grandfather Mario blew off his hand with fireworks. Ashamed of his injury, Mario moved his family to Cairo, Egypt, where they opened an Italian restaurant. Their son Giuseppe married a woman from Naples and moved back to Italy. Then, in 1913, Giuseppe moved to the Bronx with his mother Scolastica, his wife, and 1-year-old Mario.
D In the early 20th century, Arthur Avenue was a rural area where a lot of Italian families lived. It was here, at 2342 Arthur Avenue, in 1919 that the family opened G Migliucci, a pizzeria with just six tables. Scolastica and her daughter-in-law cooked simple dishes like escarole in soup, and Giuseppe made pizza. After school, young Mario worked at the restaurant selling slices of pizza on the sidewalk for five cents. His friends would come by for a slice. They called the restaurant “Mario’s”.
E Mario and his brother Clemente took over in the 1930s and changed the name to Mario’s. The restaurant grew into one of New York’s most celebrated, serving politicians and famous people like baseball player Joe DiMaggio, singer Frank Sinatra, and film star Elizabeth Taylor. In 1971, director Francis Ford Coppola wanted to film a scene from his new film The Godfather in Mario’s dining room. But when Mario heard about the scene – the character Michael Corleone was going to kill two men at a table – he said no, saying it didn’t sound like a family film. Coppola had to film the scene at a different restaurant. In 1976, New York Times food writer Craig Claiborne invited Mario and Clemente to cook at his home with celebrated French chef Pierre Franey. Afterward, he wrote an article about how good Mario and Clemente’s cooking was, and the Mario’s (the restaurant) became more famous still.
F Today, Joe always corrects people who call his restaurant “old-school Italian”. “It’s Neapolitan cuisine,” he says. When Mario’s opened in 1919, pizza was an Italian dish that was only found in Naples. The Migliucci family adapted their city’s age-old recipe to their new environment and made pizza with the best of what they could get locally. Neapolitan pizza traditionally uses buffalo’s milk cheese. Since the only buffalos in New York lived at the nearby Bronx Zoo, the Migliuccis topped their pizzas with cow’s milk cheese.
G Though the menu at Mario’s has changed, pizza, made the same way as it was in 1919, has never left the menu. Unlike most New York-style pizza today, which comes with a heavy layer of cheese that overpowers the tomatoes, Mario’s uses a perfect balance of tomatoes and fresh herbs on fresh, hand-sliced cheese. And while most New York pizzas use wood-fired ovens, Mario’s still uses its old gas oven so the pizza is perfectly crisp.
H For my family, pizza at Mario’s is a family tradition. Like Joe’s father, my great-grandparents were from the city of Naples in Italy. They owned a baccalà (dried and salted fish) shop just a few doors down on Arthur Avenue from 1918 to 1980, and they always said that Mario’s made the best pizza. A century later, Mario’s is still our family restaurant. Italian families celebrate Christmas Eve with a big homemade dinner. When my mother passed away, we were at a loss. She always cooked for us. We went to Mario’s instead, because it felt like home.
Adapted from BBC.com
Mario's opened in 1919.
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