About 20 years ago the local pizzeria in my neighborhood in the Bronx was bought by Koreans, and changed its name from “Sal’s” to “Two Peninisulas Restaurant.” The logo was maps of Korea and Italy smooshed together.
Shortly after the change, I went in there to order a pizza. There was a tiny Korean woman behind the register who got confused when I tried to order a half-pepperoni and half-mushroom pizza. Overhearing this, the cook, a big Italian guy in a white apron smeared with tomato sauce, came out of the back and said in a thick Bronx accent, "Don’t tawk to her. Tawk to me.
I don’t think they ever attempted kimchee pizza, but they didn’t last too long.
Oh, since some of you already mentioned Americano, can you please explain what does that mean in the US?
In Spain, an Americano is a let’s-call-it-coffee with about 4 times the usual amount of water over a café de máquina (take the coffee as it comes from the machine; add 3x volume of water). An Americano largo, double that water again. But I see references in American media which make me wonder what the fuck are those people talking about; some may be taking the piss but since I’m missing context I really can’t tell if “an Americano with three shots of espresso” is supposed to indicate superlative levels of doucheness or just moderately-high ones.
I know a lot of people who’d be very surprised to know that “Glory Glory Hallellujah” is actually called “the Battle Hymn of the Republic”. In Spanish it has an official version sung in Mass and multiple unofficial ones sung in buses during school trips…
Side question Nava, I formed my coffee preference at an early age on a holiday to Spain nearly 40 years ago (Near Barcelona) where I asked the barman for a coffee with milk and he pulled an espresso shot and steamed some milk and combined it.
The strength and consistency was very much “flat white” rather than “cappuchino” and it has been my favourite style ever since and seems to be the default “coffee with milk” wherever I’ve been in Spain.
Question is, and strange that I’ve never bothered to find out, does it have a specific name? is it regional or have I just hit on the areas that serve it?
We went to a Chinese buffet for my son’s birthday (not sure how old, youngish).
At some point we must have mentioned it was his birthday, because they brought out a small cake with a candle and a large red gumball/jawbreaker/something on it. Birthday boy of course got the candy.
It was a cherry tomato. Fortunately the kid liked tomatoes, but an odd choice.
I think it’s just what “café con leche” is in most of Spain; in Italy it would be a caffè latte. Though there could be different names depending on how much milk and/or foam there is in the mix. These days almost everywhere uses Italian espresso machines rather than filters.
If there’s more coffee than milk it’s a cortado. If there’s more milk than coffee it’s a manchado or, if you wanna be faaaaaaanceeeee machiatto. If you want a manchado and the bartender looks confused, then it’s a café con leche largo de leche, or a leche con café.
IME , Americano means the same here, except I think it’s more than 3X the water - I think it’s usually a one-ounce shot of espresso with four or five ounces of water. But the only way “an Americano with three shots of espresso” makes sense to me is if it’s supposed to be a large size, like three shots of espresso and 13 ounces or so of water to make 16 ounces total.
A cafe Americano is a watered down espresso. It’s resemblance to a good filtered coffee is similar to a watered down Port being passed off as a glass of wine. Do they actually do cafe Americano’s in the US? I’ve had the horrid experience in a Barcelona Starbucks, believe it or not, of being told there’s no difference between a cafe Americano and a filtered coffee. I was too eager for caffeine, and too lacking in Spanish language skills, to argue or demand a refund. Cafe con leche isn’t my preferred coffee, but it’s my go-to coffee in Spain since. And I’ve not returned to any Spanish Starbucks since that experience.
I don’t know if it was *wrong *but it was certainly interesting – on some probably college radio station I once heard a song which turned out to be Sympathy For the Devil performed by a Ukrainian klezmer band.
I have a four-CD set of Hispanic covers of 1960s rock, punk, psychedelic, garage and various pop songs (“Los Nuggetz”) which includes such hits as “La Neurasthenia” ("19th Nervous Breakdown), “Mi Auto Puedes Manejar” (“Drive My Car”), “Bule Bule” (“Wooly Bully”) and other goodies.
There’s even a Spanish language version of Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made For Walking” which mercifully has not come up yet on iPod shuffle (though everything else seemingly has - shuffle loves this album).
