Termini Bros in Philadelphia, PA

While wandering around Philadelphia, I stumbled across the Reading Terminal Market. I had heard of this market in the past, but completely forgot about it until it was in my sights and bells went off in my brain that I should go in.

 

Inside, Reading Terminal Market sort of reminded me of Chelsea Market in New York, only on a larger scale. They sold almost every type of food stuff imaginable in here, ranging from Pennsylvania Dutch made cheese to Middle Eastern foods to Italian pastries.

The whole market was swarming with people, some taking foods to go, although the majority seemed to be eating in the tables set up in the aisles between the various vendors.

I had already ate lunch at Tony Luke's earlier in the day, so I decided I would get some dessert in the market. I came across a place called Termini Bros that caught my attention.

They had giant butterfly cookies in their display case. I have some happy food memories from when I was a little kid associated with these cookies, so I decided that I would get myself one.

The cookie was huge, probably a foot long from wing tip to wing tip. It was made of a flaky dough with a sweet cinnamon filling between the layers. I totally overdid it, but I devoured the entire cookie in one sitting.

We also got a cannoli from Termini Bros. They were filling these behind the counter as ordered, so it definitely made it more interesting than just getting a pre-made dessert from the case. The filling had a very strong ricotta flavor which I enjoyed. To me, this is what cannoli filling should taste like. The person who I split the cannoli with disagreed and prefers the typical Florida Italian restaurant cannonli filling which tastes more like icing.

Pizzeria Del-Dio in Orlando, FL

I recently met with TastyChomps to go try some Italian food at Pizzeria Del-Dio in Orlando. Del-Dio was once located in Fern Park and I have some vague memories of trying them back then, but that location changed ownership. In the early days of this blog, I actually wrote about the Fern Park Del-Dio while they had the second owners. Their pizza wasn't the best with some issues with the crust/sauce/cheese ratios and they eventually closed. Del-Dio's original owners reopened in the back corner of a strip mall off of Colonial Drive in Orlando, facing the Executive Airport.

When I arrived at Pizzeria Del-Dio, our meal started with a meatball appetizer. This consisted of two large meatballs in sauce. These were nice and flavorful. The garlic flavor was very strong here.

Next, we split a pizza. We ordered half pepperoni and onion and half sausage and spinach.

This was a very good pie. The crust/sauce/cheese/topping ratios were done right and there seemed to be just the right amount of everything. The pepperoni & onion slices were good, but I preferred the sausage & spinach. The spinach was sauteed with garlic and the sausage was sliced as opposed to crumbled (better that way).

Our meal ended with a cannoli for dessert.

I enjoyed my meal at Pizzeria Del-Dio. They served some pretty tasty pizza. Now that I know where they're hidden, I'll be stopping here again for more pizza at some point...

Stavro's and Sons in Eustis, FL

I had a late dinner at Stavro's and Sons in Eustis, FL.

The meal started out with some garlic bread and a Greek salad with shredded lettuce, onions, ham, feta cheese, kalamata olives, and a pepperoncini. Ham doesn't typically come in Greek salads, so that was somewhat surprising.

For my meal, I ordered the Cannelloni Florentine. As described on the menu, this consisted of large tubular noodles filled with spinach, cheese, and veal. Differing from the menu, the cannelloni I received also had carrots mixed into the filling. I didn't see any of veal in the noodles, but the cannelloni was served in a meat sauce, so perhaps that's where the veal was. Even though the cannelloni was served slightly differently from how described, it was still really tasty. For $8.95, it wasn't a bad deal considering a plate of spaghetti with meatballs was $9.25 when cannelloni is definitely more labor intensive to make.

When paying, we spotted the dessert case filled with cannolis and decided to get one to go. The shell wasn't the typical crispy cannoli shell and was instead more light and flaky. The custard filling was topped with chocolate shavings on each end and was really good!

Monreale Bakery in Franklin Square, NY

I was planning on getting a bagel one morning, but then remembered the Monreale Bakery in Franklin Square, NY that I remembered passing a few days before. I decided I'd stop in and get some other type of bread. I was greeted by racks of freshly baked bread in the window, and then cases of Italian cookies and pastries in the cases inside.

I bought some bread and also had to try some of the desserts, so I selected a few to try. I took the food back to the house, all in this great box tied with red and white string.

I had this Semolina Roll topped with sesame seeds for my breakfast.

Although it doesn't show in the picture that well, bread made from semolina flour is more yellow than your standard white bread and tastes a whole lot better!

Later on, I tried the desserts I bought. I tasted this really good cannoli first, stuffed with it's ricotta filling.

I also tried this dessert. I'm not sure what it's called, but was similar to a empanada filled with the same ricotta filling as in the cannoli. It was good!


These Italian Bakeries seem to be all over this area of Long Island and Monreale was a good one. Question time: Anyone know of a good Italian Bakery like this somewhere in the Orlando area?