The following was taken from the Eat It and Like It Podcast, which drops multiple times a week via Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

So you missed out young lady. You missed out for real. You were supposed to be my plus one. But you’re under the weather.

Maggie: I don’t want to get you sick, Jesse.

Jesse: No, I understand. And I don’t know how good it would have looked for you to walk into this lovely restaurant with a box of Kleenex. It just wouldn’t. Probably not. That would not have worked.

So we got invited to Coastal Capri, Italian restaurant, Mid Island. What is the name of that strip that’s there next to Nectar, do you know? South Island Square? I guess, yeah, that sounds right. It’s South Island Square, yeah. Yes, so we’ve been chatting via email for a couple of weeks, finally made it over there. And I have to say, before I say another word, that I understand.

I understand completely that there are many, many nuances when it comes to Italian food, especially on the island. As you know, I like to joke there’s probably, you know, one Italian restaurant per thousand people. They’re everywhere. They’re just everywhere. I don’t think any two are the same. You and I have been invited to some that we like more than others. I don’t know that you and I could ever say we’ve had a bad meal, right? No, we’ve been to this one and that one. There are just some that I like more than others. Some that I can’t wait to go back. Some that don’t exist anymore. You know, I can mention their name like Dino’s Woodfire. Remember, we enjoyed that meal. Yeah, that was delicious. Yeah, it was really, really good. And that lasagna and the whole thing, everything was good.

But I qualify everything in that regard because I just wanted to stress for the record that I understand that not everybody is going to agree with me, especially when it comes to Italian food on the island. I get it. You know, when it comes to, let’s say, Cuban food, which I guess I’m an expert in because I’ve been eating it all my life. You know, I go to three Cuban restaurants and I’m going to pick it apart. Well, this was good, that was… And I’m going to be a little more nuanced when it comes to that stuff than I would say a Vietnamese restaurant because I don’t have as much experience with it. But obviously, I’ve eaten plenty, plenty of Italian food in my time, both here in this area and elsewhere. I’ve had some great stuff. I’ve had some stuff that’s dreadful and forgetful and all that stuff. But I am here to tell you, Margaret, we call her. Drumroll. This was the best Italian meal I’ve had in this area ever. Wow. Ever. Ever. And that wasn’t my words. That was Sheila, my wife’s words toward the end of the meal. She said, this, this was the best Italian meal I’ve had in this area. And I paused to think about it. I’m like, yep. Yep. Wow. Everything about this dinner was just exceptional from the, from the, and I knew, I knew it was going to be good.

I had a feeling it was gonna be good because we got bread and a roasted red pepper, believe it was, spread. And the spread was outstandingly delicious. And I went, I didn’t say a word. I went, this is great. There’s attention to detail here. This is gonna be unbelievable. We had a shrimp appetizer, which was absolutely fantastic. Burrata, burrata, and I forget what it was. The roasted red peppers and artichoke heart and all that stuff. So, so good. And then when the mains came out, I had the, it was funny because I was torn between the shrimp pasta with broccoli or the, was it chicken parm? It might’ve been, no, it wasn’t chicken parm. It was, the pappardelle. The pappardelle or the shrimp pasta.

And I asked our server who was exceptional. She was so good. What should I get? She, well, you know, the Pappardelle is… The Bolognese, what it was. The Bolognese. Then the table next to us came out. There was a Chicken Parm and the Chicken Parm was like the size of my head. And it looked great. You know, I’m not motivated usually by how big something is like that, but it looked so decadent. And I said, when she came back, said, now you got me with the Chicken Parm over here. She goes, yeah, it’s, she goes, why don’t you do the Chicken Parm and we’ll do a side of the Bolognese. Okay, side of Bolognese.

So Sheila got the veal, a veal dish. I don’t remember which one it was. I apologize. But they sent out the Chicken Parm. They sent out the Bolognese Pappardelle that he makes in house. She had the veal, they sent out a bowl of gnocchi, and then we had the Arancini actually as an app with the vodka sauce. The vodka sauce I can drink just like pour it on my head right now.

All that to say everything, everything Maggie was just so good, so perfect. And Joe the chef, so incredibly hospitable, so nice, learned a little bit about their story, the family’s from Chicago.

They are doing solid, solid work there. They are very confident in what they’re doing there, and rightly so. Call it like I see it, rightly so. This restaurant belongs in the conversation with, you know, our Mountain Rushmore. Now, they’ve only been there a little over a year. July of 24, I believe, they opened. So, you know, they haven’t achieved legendary status yet. But it is an experience. You and I are going to go back. Sign me up. So, so good. So, so good. Are they open for lunch? You know, I don’t think so. I don’t think so. Don’t hold me to that. But it was no. Then the server, she didn’t write. It was, Sheila made the reference. The service felt kind of European. It was slow. Take your time. I’ll put the food in when you’re ready. kind of thing. It was a love and I wasn’t there to dine. I didn’t even drink wine. You know, she allowed a glass of wine. I did not, ’cause I was driving back, et cetera, et cetera. But everything about that experience, was just mind blowingly wonderful. It was just, you know,

I don’t want to sound like this was the best meal I ever had in my life. That’s that’s that’s kind of silly. It was a lovely Italian meal. Joe kept calling it peasant food. This is peasant food. This is home. This is what we do and they, you know, get it. It’s very simple for them. It’s just a few flavors. But I can’t say enough good things about that dinner and I don’t know the last time you and I sat here and I raved like this.

Maggie: You are waxing poetic for sure.

Like I said, I didn’t go there to dine. We ate. We ate comfortably. But I cannot wait to go back there and dine and get a bottle of wine and have a place to stay that night and just relax and enjoy the whole thing. Apparently on Saturday nights they do lasagnas. Lasagna night is Saturday night. And they do a tray of 15, I’m told. People call ahead to make their reservation and say, I want a lasagna. And before they even open, eight of the pieces of lasagna are gone. They’re sold before they open. Yeah. So I’m guessing it’s one of those, if you know, you know, on the island. And if you don’t know, you should at least try it.

No, it wasn’t full. This was Wednesday and it was probably 30% full.

I’m sure in the weekends they get it going pretty good in there. It was just great, top to bottom. There’s a bar area, can sit at the bar and have a bowl of pasta if you want. I’m sure in a glass of wine if you want to keep it moving like I like to do sometimes. But yeah, everything about it, Joe was telling me they make the pasta by hand. What he doesn’t make that’s dry comes from Italy, the cheeses, all of it. It was… It was that good and I don’t throw praise like this around very often but when it’s deserved you can have it. Y’all need to go to Coastal Capri and eat it and like it. My goodness. Outstanding.

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