Vic's for Dinner - More than Pizza

My family and I recently discovered Vic's for pizza and we were so happy, I thought I'd try the dining room when a friend and I went out for dinner.

Friendships.  As children, it is fairly simple to make new friends simply based on who you sit next to in the classroom or on the school bus, who lives in your neighborhood and the children of your parents friends. If you are a parent, you may chose to become friendly with other parents based on interaction at children's sports or activities.  When life becomes day after day of work, home, work, home, it may be a bit more difficult to develop new relationships, except through other friends.  My new friendship has developed as the result of, "a friend of a friend" and seeing each other in social settings. Every new relationship has to start someplace, at whatever age and last for as long as it will.  For now, we talk over a good meal.

The dining room is fairly quiet on a cold Thursday evening and we are told we can sit wherever we like and so a window side table is ours. I ask the lady taking care of us (I am starting to form an aversion to the word 'server') what she recommends or what is popular and her first answer is, "the eggplant."  Well, I am starting to want it already.  We order a wine and a beer and so it begins.

A cutting board of warm bread is brought out and I was not going to have any to save room for dinner, but once I realized it was warm...I was hooked. Crusty on the outside and well, squishy on the inside, the perfect balance!

We talk and talk and I am reminded of those junior high school friendships and sleepovers where stories are told and laughter just happens.  The main difference, we also include stories of hardships, difficulties and life lessons we were forced to learn or accept.

Steamed clams are brought to us and they are absolutely gorgeous to look at and the sauce is delicious.  We eat the shellfish and are quite happy to then dip the crusty bread in the remaining and flavorful liquid. 

Dinner time!  Funny thing about these entree photos, if I did not pay attention to which one I photographed first, you may not be able to tell the difference.

On top is veal parmigiana and the bottom is eggplant and both are served with a healthy side of spaghetti.

I have to confess, the sauce, especially alone on the pasta, was not one of my favorites.  It may simply be a matter of taste, because I very much enjoyed their sauce on pizza and was fine with it on my eggplant. I can't be sure if they were different sauces or if it simply lacked the extra flavor and saltiness of the cheese.

Do we have room for dessert?  Well, the thing about having dinner with someone is that you may not be done talking and so yes, you want dessert to give yourself more time.  Also, I now crave a little something sweet after a meal, so dessert...of course!

A traditional cannoli.  The shell is crisp and does not seem as if it were filled and simply sitting around waiting.  The filling is dense and not too sweet.

Zeppole.  6 beautiful balls of fried dough dunked in confectioners' sugar are presented on a plate and perfect for sharing.  Little clouds of sugar dust rise up and tickle the nose, but the dessert is fabulous.

Our check arrives and remember, we had 2 beers, a glass of wine, an appetizer, 2 entrees and 2 desserts so I am not in shock at the total.  If each of us simply had a plate of food and maybe a soda, the bill would have been substantially less.  My friend looks at the check and says, "We ate well."  I smile inside and think ahead to writing this up for Fed Well.  

Yes, we were and are indeed Fed Well.