Family Dinner on Sunday Afternoon
It was my birthday last week, so yesterday my parents, my sister, her husband, and Ben’s parents all came into Astoria to have an early dinner with Ben and me. At Ben’s suggestion, we decided to go to Trattoria L’Incontro, the best Italian restaurant in the city according Michael Halberion, former owner of the Steinway Mansion.
The restaurant is located just a block from the subway. Of course on Sunday, this block was full of treacherous icy pools and slippery slush, which I’m sure the parents enjoyed walking through. The entrance is odd, since there is an entrance on Ditmars, but not open to the public and then there’s the main entrance on 31st. The interior is lovely, forsynthias greet you as you walk in. The place has high ceilings and walls with large paintings of the Italian country-side.
We all sat down to a comfortable table. The restaurant was fairly crowded for a Sunday afternoon. The waiter came over to tell us the specials and, to our surprise, it took nearly ten minutes for him to do so. I couldn’t pay attention after a while. But the menu itself had many delicious sounding pastas and salads to choose from.
I ordered a goat cheese salad in a raspberry vinagrette and a pasta with basil and tomato. We spent the dinner talking about childhood plays and family memories. The food was delicious, but filling. I barely finished half my meal!
We strolled past Freeze Peach on the way home and picked up some tasty Chai to drink with the cake that my mother had baked. We all came back to our cozy apartment, and enjoyed the cake and the company. It ended up being the perfect family Sunday dinner.