We’ll take the Gandolfini table in the back

So, the last night of our trip earned a pretty prominent exclamation point.  Cas and I have been deliberately avoiding Little Italy until it was time to have dinner with Scotty and Lisa, his old pals.  This completed the circuit of visiting college buddies, as well as the last big dinner of the trip.  Behold, the two college kids together, then, of course, the whole lot of us.

We went to a place called Il Cortile, and everything was fabulous.  We decided on this trip that it would be hard to get a bad meal in New York City.  Every ethnic restaurant is probably reasonably authentic, as plenty of folks here are from somewhere else, and lots of them brought recipes, foods and traditions with them.  We had great Chinese, amazing Spanish tapas, spectacular deli food, fantastic bagels and a slice of pizza big enough to hide behind.  Il Cortile was the icing on the cake.  Cas had the Pepite di Gnocci, which was he describes as a cross between a pasta shell and a dumpling, and I had the lobster ravioli.  Scotty and Lisa had some kind of tortellini.  It was all pretty amazing.  We finished off the evening with cappuccino and cannoli.  I mean, when in Rome, right?  

It was good to see the two of them, and I think they may have had a good time, too.  We sat at a table in the back of a very pretty room, and the plaque over my head announced proudly that James Gandolfini had graced that spot.  We were at the Gandolfini table.  Bada Bing.  Had to say it.  I’m not even sorry.  

When that was a wrap, we headed to the subway and back to the hotel.  It was pretty late, and we have a travel day today.  We’re shoving dirty shirts into roller bags right about now, and I had to break from that to write this.  

Fun fact: Cas is pretty clever, and when we’ve had to set an alarm on this (or any) trip, he picks a song to wake us up based on our travels.  On this trip, we have heard Sweet home, Chicago by the Blues Brothers, Subterranean Homesick Blues by Minnesota’s own Bob Dylan, Dirty Water by the Standells, the Dartmouth Alma Mater by a group of college a cappella singers, and New York, New York by the incomparable Frank Sinatra.  It turns out that the song was originally written for a movie and performed by Liza Minnelli.  We learned that on our horse and carriage ride.  Fun facts abound.  But I had one for this morning.  We didn’t set an alarm, as we are allowing ourselves a slow start today, but when we did start to wake up, I played the theme from the old TV show Dallas.  I earned a laugh from that, and I also remembered how unnecessarily long that theme song is.  

But that’s it for now- we’re zipping up luggage, about to go off and locate some coffee.  We fly out of LaGuardia, named for former New York City mayor Fiorello LaGuardia.  You know what, nobody names their kids Fiorello anymore.  

Nevertheless, it’s time to head out, so I share the photo link once more and will write you all at the end of this journey.  https://photos.app.goo.gl/2sYnZaQSheDb6sfJ6