Tommy's Italian Ristorante

mmm-yoso is not on vacation.  Its just Cathy blogging today.

Hi. There is this place in El Cajon, on 2nd at Persimmon.  Its been there for 30 years now, always owned by an Italian family.

The style of cooking here is Sicilian, which is to say, there are Greek, Arabic as well as Italian influences to the food...kind of like Puerto Rico is a US Territory and you would not say that Puerto Rican food is "American food", Sicilian food is not totally Italian...Sicily is an island off the tip of the "boot", therefore south of Naples and pretty much rivals Naples with flavors...using sardines and local seafood in a lot of the dishes as well as fresh (buffalo) mozzarella.  Caponata (eggplant salad) is also a regional specialty.

Since we had eaten all we could for our Thanksgiving Day, the Mister and I decided some good, basic Italian was in order...nothing fancy.

We got the large antipasti salad ...(Oh, and a side of anchovies for me). The salad was a nice antipasti, with mostly iceberg lettuce, lots of olives(The Mister *hates* olives, so all for me), a good Genoa salami and mortadella and a very nice provolone, topped with oil, vinegar and dried oregano. This was the large size ($9.95) and we had plenty to take home for tomorrow. If you get this salad as a "to go", it comes in a small pizza box and there is even more lettuce.

The large cheese pizza arrived (we had a coupon for $3 off a large pizza..we did take home half of this and it made for a great breakfast and snack the next day).
I know, it kind of looks like its not done; the cheese isn't burnt or bubbly...
but , as you can see from this cross section, its kind of all cheese and not much sauce, which is how I usually ask for it at some places where the sauce is too strong in flavor...here, the sauce is mostly chopped (canned, with a great flavor) tomatoes, oregano and olive oil..what The Mister and I consider "proper" pizza sauce (we spent some time in Italy many years ago).

There is a small Deli inside with a pretty good selection of Italian meats and cheeses, as well as other items imported from Italy. It doesn't have the smell of a more authentic deli, Like Filippi's in Little Italy...probably because there aren't any dried salted fish here.  The deli is a good source if you are in East County and don't want to drive downtown.  There are three different imported Panettones available for Christmas on sale now: Original, one with milk chocolate baked into the dough (the dough is part white and sort of striped with chocolate"sticks") and one made with Limoncello cream...(lemon liqueur)...

Stop by if you are in the neighborhood; you'll leave satisfied and happy.

Here are some pages from the rather large menu.

Tommy's Italian Ristorante and Deli 1190 Second Avenue, El Cajon (619) 440-2676

Comments

[RONW]

the anchovies....mmmm yoso.

[Denver]

Okay, now you've done it. Now I have to order pizza now (Filippi's, though, since it's closer). :) Tommy's looks awesome though. I gotta try it one of these days.

I like that you post pictures of the menu. It's handy when trying new restaurants (so I can decide what to get beforehand).

[cathy]

Hey Ron :D

Ah, Denver...the Filippi's downtown is the best one...the one on Kearny Villa (between Clairmont Mesa and Balboa) has been wildly inconsistent lately. Tommy's has the $3 coupons in the East County edition of the U-T on Thursdays..and I have photos of the complete menus of all the places I have visited if you want any... I just don't post all of them.

[Jo]

::smack smack:: Sounds (and looks) like a high end Banchero's. A family style place in Hayward, CA. Man... what I wouldn't give for some of that mortadella in particular. I adore mortadella but a good one is SO difficult to come by. The best I've ever had were acquired in Spain. Of all places!?!?

[Chubbypanda]

Well done. Looks like a great, "light", meal. Perfect for the post-Thanksgiving slump.

- Chubbypanda

[cathy]

Jo-The Morena Costco down ehre is sort of a "test market" for certian items and coincidentally has a lot of Spanish cheese and meats available (at least they did about 3 weeks ago; but the turnover rate in Costco is 14 days) anyhow, yes, the Spanish meats and cheeses are very nice. If it sold well here, it will be available at all Costcos...you do have one up there, right?
Hey CP-...really, its just bread, meats, lettuce, tomato sauce, olive oil, a *lot* of cheese..and anchovies...yep, "light".. :)

[Jo]

Yep, at the moment the nearest Costco is in Wilmington, about 50 miles away but well worth the trip cause gas tends to be about .10 gal less there as well. So when we go, we always tank up as well as the other shopping. We were all thrilled beyond words to discover they carry the "Truffete" by Chocmod over here. Truly the best by in Chocolate. Mike puts them in espresso drinks but I like to eat them out of hand. You just can't beat the price! I'll be looking for the meats & cheeses! I adore mahon. Would you be so kind as to tell me what meats are available? Jamon Serrano was there, but are there any sausages now? Sobrasada? Morzillio?

[milgwimper]

Yum antipasti Salad looks so good. Must make one soon!

The anchovies are a love hate thing. Sometimes I love them and other time I hate them! *sigh* such a fickle taste buds.

Jo,

Wish I could get a moch here from Mike! When is he going to deliver my Mocha???? :P

[cathy]

Hi Jo- It was an entire aisle of Spanish meats in the open (bend over into)cases in the center..and the other side was all cheeses...so many and mostly from Spain and Italy. It is a test market store though, so if it did not sell, then the meats won't be bought for all the other stores. But lots of different hams. Sorry, it was when I first got casted/broke the wrist and I was kind of on a lot of pain meds then...I did not see sausages.
mlgwimper-Hi...saw you were "up north" on vacation...many good memories for me. The (one of many) odd thing(s) about The Mister and myself is- He will *not* touch my can of anchovies, ever...and I will not touch his can of sardines..and both of us tries to gross the other out by eating straight from the can in front of each other...

[milgwimper]

Cathy,

LOL Dh and I both could eat a can of sardines, and Dh looks at me strangely and makes gagging noises when I reach for the anchovies! :P :)

Ahh I am SO behind on the posts for Michigan, and it didn't help that I had computer problems, and the holidays. I love visiting Upper Michigan. I am just hoping to get to Michigan when sour cherries are ripe...I can't find any sour cherries frozen or fresh here in California! *pout*

[cathy]

Going "up North" was a big deal for us, milgwimper, I have photos of myself growing up, standing in the same place, same position and the Macinaw Bridge in the background....if we did go over The Bridge, we usually only stopped at the Paul Bunyan/Babe the Blue Ox statue/climbing those surreal things and then turning South to go home, stopping at Hartwick Pines for the whole family to hold hands around the biggest pine tree...Tahquamenon Falls was a *big* deal for us, as were the Soo Locks....sorry: memories...ANYHOW, the only "good" cherries I have gotten out here were both the jarred and frozen ones from Trader Joes..and they aren't the same...