Right before we reopened, June of 2020, La Cucina Italian reached out to inquire about Paolo’s take on a Fritto Misto. The timing is incredibly serendipitous, as we are/had been in the process of waiting on a new pizza oven that would also allow spacing for a second fryer. The second fryer allows us to now fry fish! With only one, we never had that ability because of shellfish allergy concerns.
We can add a bit of context to the brief picture and shoutout in the article below. Our Chef, Paolo Laboa, is from Genova in the province of Liguria. Genova is a port town that feels very similar to his current home in Portland, Maine because of the focus on fresh, local seafood. For him, the history of fritto misto is in Genova. The arched area near the Porta Antica where fritto misto is allegedly comes from is called Sottoripa. Its fryer shops are called sciammadde and date all the way back 1,000 years! The Genovese have been frying fresh fish that come in daily from the sea since then, the time of the Republica Marinare (Sailor's Republic). Now, it is omnipresent and known simply as Genovese Street Food.