Galleria Umberto Rosticceria - Boston Day 3

Galleria Umberto Rosticceria

(289 Hanover Street, Boston, MA 02113)

                Day three of my Boston trip and basically my last day in the area/city/state brought a great many sites to behold.  I started the day off at the Boston Aquarium, walked over to take a gander at the Museum of Science, hiked over to Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital to visit a new friend, trekked to the Museum of Fine Art …oh and somewhere in there I so happened to find a fantastic local hole-in-the-wall little Italian Restaurant in Little Italy; Galleria Umberto Rosticceria.  I guess from my mastery of the Italian language, “Rosticceria” meant that it was some sort of Italian deli, “Galleria” probably meaning a display of some sort and “Umberto,” the original owner’s name.  So in my mind “Galleria Umberto Rosticceria” = Umberto’s Italian displayed Deli.  Hold your applause you don’t have to be awed by my astute understanding of Italian, it’s just what I do.         

     

                                                                                                                                                                                The first thing you notice is that there’s a line.  It’s 12:15 on a Thursday afternoon and the line is just about out the door.  Fortunately for me, I got there just before the line actually made it out the door and along the sidewalk.  Secondly, the smells… oh the aromas.  This little joint smelled like what most people (myself included) would think a mom and pop Italian place would smell like.  I didn’t know what everything was on the menu, or in the display counter, so I decided to get one of each and figure it out myself. 

      Let the festa begin…yes I spelled that corrected “feast” in Italian is apparently spelled “festa.”  The guy behind the counter, whom I could only assume was part owner kindly asked for my order and when I told him that I was from Texas and came to Umberto’s to have authentic Italian food, a smile appeared on his 50-60 year old worn face that span ear to ear.  I ordered one of everything, but sadly he had just run out of the Paninis so I had to go without.  So the list of players on my tray of goodness: a Sicilian Pizza Slice, Pizzette, Panzarotti, Arancini, and a Calzone.

The pizza slice was Sicilian Style and with just cheese as the topping.  Don't mistake this as just your plan Jane ordinary slice of pizza, this my friend, was a work of pizza art.  Though unassuming, the bread was soft, airy, had a hint of olive oil and herbs and was cooked though well enough to have a nice crispy outside layer.  The cheese was flavorful, I wouldn't have been surprised if the cheese was made from scratch in house or from a neighboring deli, but I'd like to think that they made the mozzarella in the back everyday...kinda gives it more of an rustic mom and pop feel.

     The Pizzette (picture above) was as tasty as it is hard to pronounce for an Asian ESL elementary student. This was comprised of a baked pretzel stuffed with rolled up pastrami, cured ham and what I presume as their homemade mozzarella.  It was a bit salty, but just barely.

    The Panzarotti was a lightly battered and deep fried oblong shaped amalgamation of mashed potatoes, mozzarella and rosemary.  You would think that this would be greasy and pretty hard to stomach, but the potatoes were buttery, creamy and seasoned very well with salt, pepper and rosemary.  In the middle of all of it was melted mozzarella that gave it a bit more of a tooth feel that worked quite nicely.  And the breading wasn't greasy, but crispy and crunchy at the same time.

    I had to ask another patron which dish was the Aranciini (picture to the left).  From what they told me and what I could gather from inspecting experiencing its composition, its a well seasoned deep fried rice (maybe risotto) ball stuffed with mozzarella, beautifully seasoned pulled pork, and peas.  I've never heard of such and animal before, but I'm glad I had the opportunity to have my cranial nerves VII and IX stimulated to allow me to perceive the pleasantly palatable item.

The last item on my rather large plate was the .Spinach, Cheese and Sausage Calzone.  Umberto's used the same pretzel shell as they did for the Pizzette and stuffed it with a large helping of spinach, mozzarella and Italian sausage.  Though it was good, I do believe that it could have used a bit more salt.  The only salt came in the form of the salt located on the outside of the breading.  This lead to a sort of bland tasting, albeit moist, spinach filling.  The Italian sausage was barely noticeable.  Quite frankly the calzone was a bit of a let down compared to the other four dishes that I was lucky enough to sample.  
    So upon doing a bit more research on Galleria Umberto, apparently they are only open for lunch and only until everything runs out.  So I want to thank the food gods (if there are such things) for the good fortune of me finding the place and finding it when everything wasn't already sold.  If you happen to get a chance to find yourself in "Lil Italy" in the North End of Boston and its lunch time, you should really...REALLY...consider stopping at Galleria Umberto Rosticceria for a bit of authentic Italian cuisine. 
   So until next time folks, I bid y'all happy eating.
-Henry