HE THINKS WHO HE IS

“He thinks who he is”—such a great New York City remark; which means that someone thinks they are better then anyone else or that they are a know it all. Well, I have to admit that people who actually live in New York City, all kind of “think who they are”, especially when it comes to restaurants and food. But when you live in New York City, one of the premier restaurant centers of the world, maybe you have a right to “think who you are”, then again, maybe you don’t. My wife Linda was born in New York City and I have lived there, with the exception of 7 years in Europe, since 1964. I guess that you could say we sometimes “think who we are”, without wanting to, especially when it come to restaurants.

When we first moved to our present country house in Bucks County, we would spend days exploring the back roads of our new neighborhood. To anyone who has not yet done so, I would recommend this very enthusiastically. Bucks County back roads are full of beauty and pleasant surprises. One day we were on the backest of the back roads, Old Bethlehem Pike, and we spotted, what we initially thought was one of those old ice cream parlors that dot the road sides in America. The sign outside said, “La Campagna, Ristorante Italiano”. Well, “thinking who we were”, we both started to laugh. “Can you imagine what that food is like? No way are we going there”.

Some weeks later, not thinking of it again, we went to visit friends that own the “Bella Vita” pottery place just outside of Doylestown, Pa. We were all talking about being Italian/Americans and how we all love good Italian food when one of our friends says to us, “Have you ever tried La Campagna on Old Bethlehem Pike? It’s great.” Linda and I looked at each other with that, “Is she crazy?” look. We know what these people from outside of New York City think good food is. Nevertheless, we said we would try it and we did. We went the very next evening.

When we pulled our car up to park at La Campagna, the first thing that we noticed thru the window was a wood burning oven that they use to make pizza, bread and other delicious things. Not a bad sign we thought, but what else was inside? When we entered we noticed Nonna making the dough for the pizza and the bread that they serve. A better sign, wood oven made pizza and bread kneaded lovingly by La Nonna? With a surprised look on our faces we met other members of the staff who were either from Italy or first generation Italian/American. The good signs were getting better and bigger every minute. To show off, because “I think who I am”; I asked Nonna in Italian if she was Sicilian. She answered sharply in Italian, “Ma che Sicilian, loro non sono manga italian’, io sono Napolitan’ ”. In jest, Neapolitans always say that Sicilians aren’t really Italian and clearly she was just jesting. The good signs here were not only getting better and bigger, they were becoming, metaphorically speaking, lighted. Linda and I looked at each other with that look of “maybe we hit on something here”.

With all the signs now metaphorically lighted, we sat down for the real test, the food. Our waitress, la bella Anna Marie, is the sister of the chef who is the grandson of Nonna, who was making the bread and pizza dough. Family affair you say, you have no idea. We checked out the menu and it looked excellent, not Italian/American but a combination of noveau Italian/American and Italian/Italian.

The real food test began when we ordered the fried calamari for an appetizer. Fried calamari sounds simple to make but this was a genuine test, because before I found La Campagna, I thought one could only get that crispy, light, not mushy, great tasting calamari in Italy. Well, when it came out, accompanied by the tomato sauce that Nonna cans herself and we tasted it, Linda and my “thinks who we are” attitude took a real slap in the face, a slap that we were happy to acknowledge. The signs were now not only metaphorically lighted they were in neon and blinking. Eureka, pay dirt, the mother lode. We found something good!!!

For the next course I had "Pollo al Matone" (Half of a chicken) marinated in special herbs, olive oil and infused with fresh squeezed lemons, grilled to perfection by incorporating hot bricks to produce uniform doneness garnished with lemon marmalade served with roasted red bliss rosemary potatoes and sautéed vegetables. This, of course, was cooked in the wood oven. Linda on the other hand had “Melanzana all Parmigiano”, which is an opulent eggplant lightly battered in a secret family combination of herbs, grated cheeses, flour and eggs, deep fried to golden brown topped with special tomato sauce, mozzarella and herbs and finished in wood fired brick oven. This was equally as good as the calamari. We didn’t partake of dessert that night, but on subsequent occasions we did. Two of my favorites are: “Granita”, which is a fresh pureed fruit with the right combination of sweetness and light cordials, quickly frozen and then served upon demand with fresh mint leaves. This dessert I dream of, especially on warm summer nights. Another great summer dessert is, Gelato Banana Frangelico with chocolate chips made on premise and always a hit when offered.


Over the last four years we have been regulars at La Campagna and we have come to realize that we are dealing with a level of food sophistication of the highest quality. And I mean high quality. The second time we went there, we knew by the complexity of the menu and the wonderful flavors of the meals that we were dealing with professionals. I asked Annamaria who the cook was because, meaning no disrespect to Nonna, I figured we were dealing with someone very well school in food preparation and presentation. Annamarie told us, matter of factly, that the chef was her brother who was a graduate of The Culinary Institute of America (CIA). Combine La Nonna and a graduate of CIA and you have a culinary delight.

As I had mentioned before, this is a family affair, La Famiglia Coletta The capo of this family, without a doubt, is Anna Coletta She is the mother of Annamarie, Steven the chef, Gianni the assistant chef, daughter of gli nonni Maria and Antonio, sister of Aunt Mary, another waitress, and wife of Antonio Coletta. She is the force behind the restaurant, the guiding hand behind all the children and the glue that keeps everything together. She also writes the monthly newsletter, which I mistakenly thought was written by Annamarie. When I ask Annamarie who wrote the newsletter she matter of factly said “my mother”. No hubris in this family. She should have been and maybe still will be a writer. I wait for the next edition of the newsletter just for her little stories of Italy, the season and any other tidbit that she chooses to expound upon.

Steven the chef, as Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci before him, has mastered his craft at a very early age. He’s 28. But, as Nonna once told me, “ he wassa sempre appressa me when I cooka”. Loosely translated means he was always at my side when I was cooking. The family mustered up the money to send him to CIA and the world has never been the same since.

Once after Linda and I took a trip to Sicily and Italy and came back with food memories embedded in our brain, we feared we would find that the food in America just doesn’t taste right, without that freshness that you find in Italy. We were wrong. A trip to La Campagna dispelled any of those fears. Steven is a genius in the kitchen and he does it without any of the fanfare of Rocco and Emeril. He simply does it perfectly in an understated way. When you ask him about a particularly good meal you just had, he shrugs his shoulders and says,” I don’t know. I just put this and that together, it was easy”. He does not “think who he is”, but he, in fact, “is who he is”.

I remember when we first snickered at this restaurant and “thought who we were”. Well, every time I enter the restaurant now I enter an atmosphere of sophistication and food perfection. The clientele is composed of doctors, lawyers, judges, engineers, wives of unnamed politicians and generally people who know food. Everyone that goes to this restaurant loves not only the food but the family as well. Talk about “family values”, this is the quintessence of “family values”: love, friendliness, compassion and competence in their work. All the patrons wish for two things for the restaurant,1) That that it is a success, and 2) that it is not too much of a success. We jealously don’t want things to change.

The restaurant is 1 ¾ hours from New York City and less that and hour from Philadelphia. I have two words of advice for anyone who is reading this, “GO THERE”.

Oh, by the way, in case you where wondering, Linda and I still “think who we are”, but not because we come from New York City. It’s because we are patrons of La Campagna, Ristorante Italiano.






Cast of Characters
( In order of appearance)

Nonna Maria DiSandro
Nonno Antonio Di Sandro  
Pretty Young Waitress Annamaria Coletta
Capo di Famiglia Anna Coletta
Chef Steven Coletta
Chef’s Assistant Gianni Coletta
Aunt Mary Maria Grimaldi
Anna’s Husband Antonio Coletta
Friday Night Waitress Filomena Coletta
Chef’s Wife Heather Wallace Coletta
Chef’s son Steven Antonio Coletta
“Thinks who he is” writer Roberto Fumo
Beautiful wife of writer Linda Gladkowsky


 
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Menu Offerings
APPETIZERS
CALAMARI  seasoned & fried or grilled calamari    $9.00
MELANZANA  pan fried zucchini/eggplant layered w/fresh mozzarella & marinara sauce     $8.00
COZZE  steamed Prince Edward Island and New Zealand mussels, choice of red or white sauce  $12.00
  BRUSCHETTA CON MOZZARELLA    grilled country-style bread topped w/melted fresh mozzarella, extra-virgin olive oil, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, olives, capers & herbs     $8.00
FRITTO MISTO (serves 2)     beer-battered fried calamari, scallops&shrimp   $16.00
ANTIPASTO  assortment of meats and cheeses w/ olives & roasted red peppers     $13.95
FRIED MOZZARELLA  batter dipped/fried mozzarella served in a lemon caper anchovy butter sauce       $9.00
 
 
**Please Note: In order to maintain the creativity of the Italian cuisine, our menu changes periodically. There may be additions or deletions to this brochure. Your order taker will be more than happy to assist you when ordering. Buon Appetito!

FIRST COURSE
Entree portions
Complimentary choice of soup or salad
 
RAVIOLI             three cheese & spinach ravioli in a rose cream sauce      $20.00
RISOTTO DI GIORNO    risotto of the day              $21.00
GNOCCHI   potato dumplings in varied sauces      $21.00
LASAGNETTE   baked lasagna - choice of meat or seasonal vegetables      $19.00
VONGOLE    spaghetti & clams served red or white      $21.00
Il SANTO  Hand -made taglatelli pasta served in a white veal fennel, spinach ragu         $21.00
Il STEFANO   wild mushroom herb polenta served in a Bolognese sauce        $19.00
PESCATORI   linguini w/shrimp & scallops in a tomato seafood sauce   $21.00
POLPETTI   classic spaghetti & meatball       $19.00
 

SECOND COURSE ENTREE
Complimentary choice of soup or salad
BISTECCA    grilled Rib-eye served w/ mushroom Risotto - choice of weight -  (16 oz, 24 oz, or 32oz) Market Price
SALMONE   grilled brushed w/ pesto served over white bean, spinach & shrimp $20.00 GRANACHIO    sauteed crab cakes w/pici pasta, broccoli rabe, oil & garlic sauce $22.00
CACIUCCO    clams, mussels, scallops, calamari &shrimp w/ linguine in tomato seafood sauce      $23.00
 SALTIMBOCCA veal scaloppini w/prosciutto & fontina cheese in a sherry sage sauce served over seasonal vegetables $21.00
SCALOPPINI     Choice of: grilled or sauteed veal or chicken in a   choice of : lemon caper or marsala sauce Served w/pesto risotto $19.00
PASTICCIATA            grilled chicken, sausage, peppers and onion casserole   $17.00
PARMIGIANO      chicken or veal parmesan w/spaghetti   $17.00
RIPIENO       breaded chicken breast stuffed w/roasted eggplant asiago cheese prosciutto over herb risotto $21.00
 
 
**We reserve the right to change prices, offerings and specials without prior notice**

OLD WORLD BRICK OVEN PIZZA    LARGE $9.50       SMALL $7.00
ADDITIONAL TOPPINGS
Pepperoni, Mushrooms, Onions,, Sausage, Olives, Anchovies ,Pepper      LARGE (Each) $1.75     SMALL (Each) $1.25
SPECIALTY TOPPINGS
Prosciutto, pineapple, broccoli, spinach, roasted red peppers, ricotta, carmelized onions
Large $3.25                         Small $ 2.00
SPECIALTY PIZZAS
Pizza Margherita $9.00 / $12.50
-fresh mozzarella, basil and tomato sauce-
Pizza Quattro Stagioni $10.50 / 13.95
-"four season" w/ prosciutto, artichokes, mushrooms and smoked salami-
Pizza Diablo $9.75 / $12.75
- "The devil’s Pizza"; spicy w/ sopressata
Pizza Napoletana $6.75 / $9.00
- tomato pie w/capers, anchovies & garlic -
Pizza Alle Melanzane $9.75 / $12.75
- pizza w/pan fried eggplant -
Pizza Al Tonno $10.50 / 13.95
- pizza w/carmelized onions and tuna -
Pizza Al Gorgonzola $9.50 / $12.50
- pizza w/ blue cheese and spinach -
Pizza Alla Campagna $10.50 / 13.95
- roasted red peppers, broccoli rabe & sausage-
 
Or Create your own Masterpiece!