Veritasty: Truthfully Delicious

In our part of Bensonhurst, very little remains of the old days of the neighborhood.  There's Alex's dry cleaner that is closing down shop after fifty-two years in that same spot in the strip mall next to Food Dynasty.  There's Mona Lisa Bakery, but we don't talk about that anymore .  There are a few good no-frills-but-delicious-food Italian restaurants and bakeries on 18th Avenue: West End Bakery, Il Colosseo, and the like.  But right on the corner of Bay 8th Street and 86th Street is Tommaso's Restaurant, an unassuming but quaint storefront that's been there for as long as I can remember.  In twenty four years of residence in Bensonhurst, never have I stepped foot into Tommaso's until now, and boy was I missing out! It was date night.  Where, oh where, can we grab a nice meal that's not Paco's Taco's or Outback Steakhouse?  We ventured past Tommaso's tiny outdoor patio and into a very homey, rustic-looking restaurant space.  Instantly...

Shout out to my girls, Christie and Julia! When one of my girlfriends said we were going to have dinner at a place called Tommy Lasagna, the image I conjured in my mind was of a rustic stone chamber with a rickety wooden table and splintery chairs, a kindly portly grandma serving us pasta with her famous Sunday sauce and pouring wine from a jug of grape juice she fermented in the cellar, and the candlelight casting long shadows against the wall.  Y'know, something romantic and picturesque and smacking of Italia . Tommy Lasagna was sort of the exact opposite, but the food was equally as delicious and the whole experience was divine.  Tommy Lasagna is in the Gramercy neighborhood of Manhattan.  Its decor is sleek, modern, and minimalist - nothing like the rustic, rural Olive Garden-esque wannabe I had in mind.  My dining companions were starving by the time I arrived, so we ordered quickly and we maaaaaay have experienced that "your eyes are bigger than your ...