Calamari

Esquire magazine loved Kanella's straight-ahead "Cyprus breakfast" of eggs (and bread, too) fried in olive oil, sizzling Halloumi cheese, and Lounza, a salty pork. But our favorites for Sunday brunch at the rustic Cypriot kitchen tend toward the grilled eggplant salad, the shaksouka (eggs poached in cumin-scented tomato and pepper stew), and the spit-roasted meats that chef Konstantinos Pitsillides turns over an open-air charcoal fire. A good un-breakfasty bet is little bulbs of grilled calamari-like sepia, also called cuttlefish.

Richel d'Ambra is a big-time calamari fiend. The co-owner of Pierre & Carlo's European Spa Salon loves it deep-fried with a little tomato sauce on the side or maybe smothered in tomato sauce atop a bed of carbo-rich pasta. "It's my all-time favorite," she said. "Most people who know me know if it's on the menu, I'm going to get it. " But it's not like you can get good calamari everywhere you go. When some restaurants prepare it, it takes on a tough, chewy texture. "Definitely don't overcook it. When you overcook it, then it gets tough," said Jo d'Ambra Gulino, Richel's mother, who taught her how to cook calamari when Richel was a girl.

Q: Is there a difference between calamari and squid? My whole family enjoys fried calamari and I was told that they are interchangeable. I use a mixture of egg and bread crumbs, dipping the calamari in egg first, then bread crumbs. Is there another method for crispy calamari? - Julie V. A: The word calamari is the plural for calamaro , which is the Italian word for squid. So anyone who hasn't had too many alcoholic beverages along with their calamari would obviously think that since calamari is the Italian word for squid, they must be one in the same.

It's remarkable how many diners who wouldn't touch a squid just love calamari. From upscale kitchens to beer-on-tap watering holes, calamari is appearing on menus with increased frequency. Usually served as a munchie - floured and fried with tomato-sauce dip - it is also finding its way into pasta dishes, seafood stews and salads. Squid's new-found fashionableness is due partly to its Italian calamari moniker and current emphasis on the Mediterranean diet as a healthful one. But it's also because it comes to the table incognito.

Calamari, hold the fryer To those weary of deep-fried squid, the calamari appetizer at the new Timber Wood-Fired Grill in Abington is a refreshing change of pace. It's simplicity: Chef Erick Jones takes a flat, wide slice of meaty calamari "steak," marinates it in olive oil and basil, parsley, citrus juice, and garlic, plops it on a wood-fired grill, and finishes with a lemon beurre blanc sauce. Runs rings around the fried stuff.  

Pasta, pasta, bread, pizza and pasta. An Italian restaurant is a minefield for anyone with celiac disease, an autoimmune disease that destroys the lining of the small intestine when wheat gluten is ingested. Often misdiagnosed, celiac disease is estimated to affect about 2 million individuals. Also, many parents of children with autism and Asperger's syndrome have discovered eating a gluten-free diet is helpful. So, Pasquale Masters, Skip Elmer and John Fina added a gluten-free menu at their Voorhees, N.J. restaurant, Pasta Pomodoro.

Pete Antipas was well aware that the St. George Restaurant, on 19th Street near Ludlow, had been vacant for some time. Well, he really couldn't miss knowing that. He is a neighbor, owning and operating the New City Cafe, about a block away, up on 20th and Ludlow. And, he said, he really liked the area. He had seen a lot of changes in the last 10 years, and thought that if he had the opportunity, he probably could revive St. George. Give it new life. Antipas got the chance recently, when he bought three properties from an estate, one of which was the defunct St. George, a kind of large, urban diner-luncheonette.

Salvatore D'Angelo - Sal to his friends - used to take to the stage, but now the stage comes to him. Celebs from Michelle Pfeiffer to Michael Bolton to Hall and Oates come to eat his food and hear him play guitar and sing as he strolls through his restaurant. "Lionel Richie came in and said, 'Sal, you gonna sing for me?' Sometimes James Ingram's wife calls from California and asks me to sing 'Volare' over the phone," D'Angelo said in his heavy Italian accent. A former professional actor and musician, D'Angelo got his start in restaurants when he was 12, working in the kitchen at the old Jimmy's Milan, a few blocks away, where his brother, Tony, was a chef.

The Discreet Diner stopped by a Burlington County branch of the Aldo Lamberti family of restaurants for a meal last week. It was actually the DD's third visit this year to the eatery on Kings Highway in Maple Shade. The first meal at Pasta Vino, in January, was absolutely wonderful. It was a busy Saturday evening, but the service was attentive and the chicken Sorrento ($12.75) was delicious - tender medallions of chicken sauteed with scallions and sun-dried tomatoes in a demiglace and topped with eggplant, prosciutto and mozzarella.

Marking its 26th year this month, Judy's Cafe, with its bright pink neon sign, has garnered a reputation as being a gay-friendly neighborhood joint. But as owner Eileen Plato noted, "We try to be straight-friendly and I think we do a good job. " Named after a partner in the business - Judy Galfand - who left for other pursuits within the first year, Judy's has built its strong neighborhood following with great service and by offering two-for-one entree deals Monday through Wednesday.

Calamari, hold the fryer To those weary of deep-fried squid, the calamari appetizer at the new Timber Wood-Fired Grill in Abington is a refreshing change of pace. It's simplicity: Chef Erick Jones takes a flat, wide slice of meaty calamari "steak," marinates it in olive oil and basil, parsley, citrus juice, and garlic, plops it on a wood-fired grill, and finishes with a lemon beurre blanc sauce. Runs rings around the fried stuff.  

Esquire magazine loved Kanella's straight-ahead "Cyprus breakfast" of eggs (and bread, too) fried in olive oil, sizzling Halloumi cheese, and Lounza, a salty pork. But our favorites for Sunday brunch at the rustic Cypriot kitchen tend toward the grilled eggplant salad, the shaksouka (eggs poached in cumin-scented tomato and pepper stew), and the spit-roasted meats that chef Konstantinos Pitsillides turns over an open-air charcoal fire. A good un-breakfasty bet is little bulbs of grilled calamari-like sepia, also called cuttlefish.

Q: Is there a difference between calamari and squid? My whole family enjoys fried calamari and I was told that they are interchangeable. I use a mixture of egg and bread crumbs, dipping the calamari in egg first, then bread crumbs. Is there another method for crispy calamari? - Julie V. A: The word calamari is the plural for calamaro , which is the Italian word for squid. So anyone who hasn't had too many alcoholic beverages along with their calamari would obviously think that since calamari is the Italian word for squid, they must be one in the same.

Pasta, pasta, bread, pizza and pasta. An Italian restaurant is a minefield for anyone with celiac disease, an autoimmune disease that destroys the lining of the small intestine when wheat gluten is ingested. Often misdiagnosed, celiac disease is estimated to affect about 2 million individuals. Also, many parents of children with autism and Asperger's syndrome have discovered eating a gluten-free diet is helpful. So, Pasquale Masters, Skip Elmer and John Fina added a gluten-free menu at their Voorhees, N.J. restaurant, Pasta Pomodoro.

The Discreet Diner stopped by a Burlington County branch of the Aldo Lamberti family of restaurants for a meal last week. It was actually the DD's third visit this year to the eatery on Kings Highway in Maple Shade. The first meal at Pasta Vino, in January, was absolutely wonderful. It was a busy Saturday evening, but the service was attentive and the chicken Sorrento ($12.75) was delicious - tender medallions of chicken sauteed with scallions and sun-dried tomatoes in a demiglace and topped with eggplant, prosciutto and mozzarella.

Richel d'Ambra is a big-time calamari fiend. The co-owner of Pierre & Carlo's European Spa Salon loves it deep-fried with a little tomato sauce on the side or maybe smothered in tomato sauce atop a bed of carbo-rich pasta. "It's my all-time favorite," she said. "Most people who know me know if it's on the menu, I'm going to get it. " But it's not like you can get good calamari everywhere you go. When some restaurants prepare it, it takes on a tough, chewy texture. "Definitely don't overcook it. When you overcook it, then it gets tough," said Jo d'Ambra Gulino, Richel's mother, who taught her how to cook calamari when Richel was a girl.

Salvatore D'Angelo - Sal to his friends - used to take to the stage, but now the stage comes to him. Celebs from Michelle Pfeiffer to Michael Bolton to Hall and Oates come to eat his food and hear him play guitar and sing as he strolls through his restaurant. "Lionel Richie came in and said, 'Sal, you gonna sing for me?' Sometimes James Ingram's wife calls from California and asks me to sing 'Volare' over the phone," D'Angelo said in his heavy Italian accent. A former professional actor and musician, D'Angelo got his start in restaurants when he was 12, working in the kitchen at the old Jimmy's Milan, a few blocks away, where his brother, Tony, was a chef.

Marking its 26th year this month, Judy's Cafe, with its bright pink neon sign, has garnered a reputation as being a gay-friendly neighborhood joint. But as owner Eileen Plato noted, "We try to be straight-friendly and I think we do a good job. " Named after a partner in the business - Judy Galfand - who left for other pursuits within the first year, Judy's has built its strong neighborhood following with great service and by offering two-for-one entree deals Monday through Wednesday.

Pete Antipas was well aware that the St. George Restaurant, on 19th Street near Ludlow, had been vacant for some time. Well, he really couldn't miss knowing that. He is a neighbor, owning and operating the New City Cafe, about a block away, up on 20th and Ludlow. And, he said, he really liked the area. He had seen a lot of changes in the last 10 years, and thought that if he had the opportunity, he probably could revive St. George. Give it new life. Antipas got the chance recently, when he bought three properties from an estate, one of which was the defunct St. George, a kind of large, urban diner-luncheonette.

EYE OF THE STORM Restaurant Maureen, the long-running beachfront eatery in Cape May, N.J., which has gone under the name Spiaggi the past two seasons, will go out with the tide Oct. 18. Charismatic owners Steve and Maureen Horn, whose first incarnation of Maureen gathered a diehard following at 21st and Ludlow in Philly in the '70s, operated in the Victorian seaside playground for the past 18 years. Next up, in mid-November, the couple will open a new Maureen on Longboat Key in Sarasota, Fla., their second home the past nine years.