A Thrilling Italian American Joint Points Backward and Forward
Memory is a powerful attractant, even if the memory isn’t our own. Something draws us inexorably to nostalgia, to the soft focus of hindsight, the comforting narrative completeness that can be found in the rearview. This is never more true than at a restaurant, where you sit inside the story, smell the story, eat the story. For all of its allure, though, nostalgia is a tricky element for a restaurant to trade in, and a risky thing to rely on. Storytelling can get people in the door, it can set the mood, but it’s not the same thing as substance: a restaurant has to be good as a restaurant, not just a set piece, to get you telling your friends about it, or to get you back a second time.