Help! Northend Italian. Ideas?

[bigDAVE]

My wife insists we eat at a northend Italian place during visit. Her brother had a wonderful meal there.
Also is Mike's pastry still there

[gini]

Just another endorsement for Prezza and Neptune Oyster. Recently had a great meal at the bar of the former - the godere a due (actually made it tre for the group - let's not get into the semantics of what that means in Italian) that was perfectly marvelous. Think Joanie already reviewed the dishes, but just want to say that the prawn over purple slaw, pea raviolini, and polenta with sausage were all breathtakingly good (I'd order any of these as full dishes - though probably not something with a meatball - theirs was really dry and flavorless).

[Joanie]

Shoot, i was hoping they would have changed that menu by now. Wonder when that will happen. Altho yes, those first two courses are amazing.

[lissy]

I wouldn't usually order polenta but boy was the really delicious, though anything with tons of milk and butter has got to be good.

[phatchris]

I had the gnocchi with duck ragu recently at Monicas and while it wasn't as interesting as the gnocchi with green lamb at Taranta it was still a very good dish with light and fluffy gnocchi.

[NiKoLe1625]

Mike's is still there, but you can get better pastries at Modern Pastry, also on Hanover Street.
My restaurant picks would be: Mamma Maria, Antico Forno, and Taranta.

[ldchow]

Lucia's - great, friendly atmosphere

[ShelT54]

Euno on Salem St. is charming.

[Bostonbob3]

My usual list of favs:

Mamma Maria
Terramia
Taranta
Prezza
Marco
La Galleria 33
Carmen

For less expensive:

Antico Forno
Daily Catch

For seafood:

Neptune Oyster

[MC Slim JB]

BB3 -- have you been by La Galleria 33 recently? I was wondering if they'd resolved their family soap opera or whatever it was. I'd gone by to try it some months back, only to discover that the chef (the daugher of L'Osteria's owners, maybe?) had left abruptly, and the place was serving the L'Osteria menu -- which frankly didn't interest me.

I'm also curious about Monica's: I'd heard that Rita d'Angelo is now hosting there, and I've had good luck with any restaurant she's been associated with over the years.

[Pegmeister]

I've gone to LaGalleria 33 the last few Sundays and it was great. It seems like they have resolved the kitchen issues. Very difficult with an open kitchen! Rita, as I understand it, along with her sister are the owners. Their mother owns L'Osterias, so she was helping with some of the transition issues when the chef left. On my last visit I had a free form lasagna loaded with mussels, clams, shrimp and mushrroms with a light tomato cream sauce. They make a great veal chop and I'm also partial to the veal cannelloni, which reminds me of the veal and spinach ravioli special that was even better!! I know I'm always singing their praises, but even in the chaotic days with the chef screaming at everyone in the kitchen, I still had a great meal and the owners are lovely! Their website http://www.lagalleria33.com is also now up and running.

[hiddenboston]

The last time I went to Monica's (about 2 years ago), it was tremendous. Fresh pastas, decent wines, etc. I don't know why I haven't gotten back there lately; it's one of my favorite places in the North End.

[Bostonbob3]

They still have some L'Osteria items on the menu, but they also have several dishes unique to LG33. And as Pegmeister noted, while the original chef may have been talented, he could tend to take away from the dining experience with his pot throwing, cursing rants.

In short, I like the food there.

[JSchwo7]

Mike's Pastry is still there, right on Hanover street. I am a huge fan of Mamma Maria's in North Square, but this link might help as well.
http://www.northendboston.com/dining.htm