Tangredi's is being sued by American Express

This is a sad story of betrayal and criminal activity from a local restaurant owner and his son. You would like to think that this can't be true but we can only sit back and see what unfolds.
~Corey

Read about it below:

A national credit card company said a Nashville restaurant owner racked up over a million dollars in charges after opening a credit card in one of their employee's names. The suit accuses the Tangredis of opening one of several fraudulent American Express charge card accounts in the name of employee Laura Lightfoot. The employee was "duped by the Tangredis into having her name and credit information used so that a credit card could be issued to perpetrate their fraud," according to the suit.

American Express has filed a complaint against Michael Tangredi and his 18-year-old son, saying the two obtained fraudulent American Express accounts. The suit accuses Tangredi of failing to pay more than a million dollars in those fraudulent credit card charges.

Read the rest of the story in the Tennessean newspaper.

A European couple review Zola the restaurant

So we wanted to try fine cuisine in the US. Probably, having had the choice, for this experiment we wouldn’t have selected Nashville, a city famous for other offerings. But this is where work brought us to, and anyway we had heard nice things about Zola, where Chef Debra Paquette (co-owner with husband Ernie Paquette) produces dishes inspired by Mediterranean (notably Spanish/Moroccan) and French cuisine.

Let us come clean at the outset: the experiment was not successful. We don’t want to play the part of the snotty Europeans (though what else are we?) so we would prefer to attribute the failure to a seemingly impassable gulf between our concept of fine dining and the Nashvillian one.



As you might have guessed already the main problem for us was that the multitude of ingredients expressed only muted flavours at best. We prefer dishes with fewer ingredients, but with clear, well extracted flavour. We read in an interview with Chef Paquette (you see, we really do our research) that fun is an essential feauture of her cooking philosophy. And no doubt her cuisine looks joyful, if ungenerous in the meat portions. We wish good luck to Zola, which anyway does not need our wishes because it clearly meets the local taste.

Read the entire review and visit their site at Eat Drink Man Woman.

Mario's Ristorante burns again!

See some video on the video bar on the left side of this blog.
~Corey

Crews responded to a two-alarm fire at a fine Italian restaurant in Nashville.

According firefighters, Mario's, located at 2005 Broadway, caught fire around 12:45 p.m. Officers shut down 21st Avenue as crews worked to completely put out the flames, which could be seen shooting through the roof.

The inferno quickly gained an audience, and witnesses said that Mario's looked like a complete loss.

Mario's has been vacant since 2006, and no one was in the restaurant Tuesday at the time of the fire.

Stay updated on this news at Newschannel5, Nashville.

Restaurant of the Week: Savarino's Cucina

Sfogliatelle



Sfogliatelle is a heavenly pastry that is handmade from scratch at Savarino's but that isn't the only thing that will delight your tastebuds. They have sandwiches, pastries, cookies, Italian ice cream as well as a market so that you can buy things to take home and prepare.

Stop in and visit them and you will be so glad to know that this man has brought his love and skills for food to our city.



Savarino's Cucina Italian Bakery
2121 Belcourt Ave
Nashville, TN 37212
(615) 460-9878

Hours:
Monday-Satday 8:00am-8:00pm

Giada De Laurentiis...Nice Carrots!

Lunch at Corrieri's

Our sandwiches:

10K Lira-
A real Italian sub. Loads of prosciutto cotto, salame toscano, mortadella, coppa and sopressata. For cheese we add provolone and mozzarella. For flavoring we add spinach and peppadew peppers. All served in a big hunk of foccacia drizzled with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, kosher salt, freshly cracked black pepper and italian seasonings.

El Mucca-
Italian roast beef, roasted red peppers, kalamata olives, tapenade, red onions, roma tomatoes and spinach. Great on the sweltering days of summer.


It was a nice day with perfect weather, great food and company. The food, as always, was sheer bliss and brought on talk of food and how, when done properly, it is just a mind-boggling event.

I look forward to visiting this amazing establishment...again and again.

Be sure to visit Corrieri's Formaggeria for good food.

Other Places Where I Enjoyed a Good Meal Recently

~~Nashville Airport Marriott~~
French Toast, omelettes, biscuit and gravy, bacon, fresh fruit, coffee, juice and milk. It was a delicious way to start a Saturday.

~~Uncle Gio's~~
Lasagna

~~Olive Garden~
Shrimp & Asparagus Risotto, Tuscan Garlic Chicken, Chicken & Gnocchi Veronese

~~Noshville~~
Eggs, bacon, potatoes, everything bagel and coffee.

~~Hermitage Cafe~~
Bacon, eggs, biscuit and gravy, fried potatoes, coffee and sweet tea.

A Feast for Mothers Day at Buca Di Beppo

This was such a delicious day and the weather was very beautiful. After eating all this food and being ready for a nap, we went out and did a family photo outside on the grassy knoll. We had lots of fun with that because we got some great family photos that are now on the wall but also some fun, goofy ones that most of you all won't see. Ha!!

From start to finish the food was excellent, as was the service. We had lots of fun and, as always, I look forward to going back again soon. We had leftovers for days as well.......yummmm

Appetizer:
Garlic Bread Wheel (large)

Entrees:
Macaroni Rosa (large)
Lasagna (large)
Pizza Angelo Pizza (large)

Dessert:
Chocolate Vesuvio

Buca Di Beppo Cool Springs

Notes from Music City- (From December)

~~This past Saturday we went over to Corrieri's for a wine, cheese and truffle product tasting. The weather was perfect as the event was held outside in the "courtyard" in front of Corrieri's and we sampled some Australian wines while hearing fun stories about the vineyards and people that produced the very wines we were enjoying. It was a nice intimate setting with no more than 15-20 people at a time around talking and enjoying the wine which made it seem more of a pleasure. You know how it goes, we all love to be there when something is fresh and new and not yet "discovered" by the masses. Well, I know this is one of those things and I'm so glad to have been a part of it and plan on attending the next one as well, whenever that is.

After hearing the stories of Dave Bidelman, who works with wine and has toured quite a few vineyards, and getting all warm and fuzzy from the wine we wandered over to a table set up by Kenneth Jones, owner of SullaTavola, where he had all sorts of imported truffle products. He had an assortment of cheeses and some bread to dip in the truffle oils or spread truffle jelly on it.
My taste buds and senses were in a heavenly overload and I was loving it and never wanted to leave. After finally deciding I wanted to get something more to eat and since we were just around the corner from Mafiaoza's Pizzeria and Neighborhood Pub. There we shared a pizza, talked, laughed and just had a really good time. After we finished the pizza we went next door to Vinea wine shop and enjoyed a fine selection that they have and purchased a bottle of Marquis/Phillips Cabernet to bring home with me. Suddenly it hit me that I wasn't ready to leave yet and that I had to go back to Corrieri's to get some cannoli for dessert. As always, it was a little bit of heaven.

Thanks to Brett, Brandon, Mark and everyone else that made all the fun this past Saturday happen. I can't wait to do it again.

Some of the wines we enjoyed. They are all grown in the southeastern Australia.
Pipers Red Box
Marquis/Phillips
Piranga

**Vinea wine shop carries all of the wines from this particular tasting so feel free to stop in there and ask them questions and enjoy.**

~~Restaurants visited~~~

Mafiaoza's Pizzeria~
"The Last Request pizza"A really delicious pizza in a warm and friendly atmosphere that is fun and keeps you around for a while just soaking it all in.

~Corrieri's~
We had some cannoli after dinner that was excellent and Corrieri's is such a wonderful place to visit for imported cheeses, sandwiches, soups and they also offer things you can take home and prepare yourself.

~Hermitage Cafe~
This is a blast from the past kind of place where most everyone knows each other and you will feel like you are family by the time you leave. Two visits here recently allowed me to enjoy a chili cheeseburger with fries that was messy, greasy and so good. I ate a good bit of it with my hands but after they were covered in chili, I decided to use a fork for the rest and clean up a bit.

~Hot Diggity Dog~
I was there recently on a really beautiful day and sat out back on the deck in the sun and enjoyed the taste of the dogs with all the stuff that comes on them. Also thought the fries were a perfect combo of taste, crispiness and grease. Really good stuff that brings you back time and time again.