Letters for November 22, 2001

Concerning the first point: Every restaurant has servers who have bad nights. From the five-star, $50-a-plate, private dining establishments down to IHOP, servers have good days and bad days. Maybe Karetnick just happened to get bad service that night, which does not speak badly of Conca D'Oro. All restaurants must deal with that from time to time. But even if she did have subpar service, she shouldn't take it out on the chef. Surely she is professional enough to understand that. Isn't she?

The food at Conca D'Oro is fabulous. It appears that Karetnick was just pissed off that her server left the table when the server's number began flashing -- indicating that food in the kitchen was ready. Get over it, Karetnick. Don't trash an establishment simply because the server might have given you some questionable service.

As to the second point: Italian food is not New York food! I get sick and tired of hearing New Yorkers constantly compare "their" food to others. New Yorkers believe that their pizza is better than Chicago's pizza and that Italians who don't live in New York don't know how to make authentic Italian food. Both are lies! Nothing could be further from the truth. There is New York Italian food, and then there is authentic Italian food. Conca D'Oro is not New York Italian food. It is authentic Italian. Mr. and Mrs. Deluca, owners and creators of Conca D'Oro, were born in Italy.

A.J. Fowinkle
MiamiErratum:
Because of an editing error, the news story "Babel in Boca" in the October 25 issue incorrectly identified the American Jewish Committee in one instance as the American Jewish Council. New Times regrets the error.