Seven Fishes feast completes the La Villa dream
La Villa in Morrisville
- If you go
- La Villa Pizza and Family Restaurant is at 21 S. Pennsylvania Ave., Morrisville. Reservations are required for the Feast of the Seven Fishes. Cost: $45. Information: 215-736-3116; www.lavilla-restaurant.com.
Posted: Thursday, November 21, 2013 12:15 am | Updated: 7:04 am, Thu Nov 21, 2013.
For Gino Lenti, the American dream was to become a successful businessman who honored his Italian heritage.He spent years working in the kitchens of friends and relatives after he moved to the U.S. from Calabria — “the toe of Italy’s boot.”Lenti was determined to make himself a success, and one day, he had an epiphany that helped him find his way.
A friend invited him to Trenton and told him he had to try a tomato pie known as “The Chambersburg.”
After his first bite, he said, it felt like he was in a dream. The pizza, with a thin-crust bottom and topped with flavorful tomatoes, was a revelation, he said.
“It was a traditional pie like my grandmother used to make in Italy,” said Lenti. “There was something special about that pizza. I thought, ‘Once in a lifetime, you get a chance like this and you have to take it.’ I was willing to lose everything for that pizza.”
He went home and tried to re-create it. He knew right away the secret was in the tomatoes and he set to work to get the flavor right.
Lenti had a few misfires in his experimentation — including burning his tongue. He even went back to the restaurant where he first tried the pizza to learn more about how it was made and to figure out which cheese was used.
When he got it right, he purchased a building that used to be a Pizza Hut and transformed it into La Villa.
Now, it’s a staple of Morrisville dining and has been for nearly 16 years.
It serves several traditional Italian dishes, but the most traditional meal comes when La Villa hosts Amici del Buon Mangiare (Friends of Good Eating), an Italian dining club.
For the past six years, he has hosted a monthly traditional dinner, save for August and September, that can include whole roasted pig, lamb or rabbit and always fish.
The club’s largest special dinner party of the year is the Feast of the Seven Fishes, a traditional Italian dinner, typically served on Christmas Eve, that includes several courses of fish.
This year, Lenti will host his feast on Dec. 2.
Joe Lipari, the coordinator of the Italian dining club, approached Lenti about hosting the dinners almost seven years ago.
It was a great move for Lenti, who wanted to cook traditional Italian meals and help keep his heritage and traditions alive.
The first Seven Fishes event was attended by about 10 people. Today, the crowd is so large, with about 150 diners, Lenti closes the dining room to the general public and serves the special feast to only those who have reserved a seat.
The Seven Fishes dinner is one Lenti prepares for like it’s the big game. The room is decorated and the tables are set long — so food can be served family-style.
He spends an entire day preparing the food like calamari, Lipari’s favorite, or baccala, the traditional salted cod dish.
He also brings his famous tomato pie into the mix by serving it with anchovies for one of the nine courses.
The night of the meal, guests are invited to bring conversation and wine to share. They sit shoulder to shoulder at the long tables and pass the food around.
“We do this to keep our culture alive,” said Lenti. “Even people who came a long time ago, they come and enjoy that sense of tradition.”
When asked if he accomplished all that he set out to with his restaurant, Lenti says: “It took a lot of work. But the dream is in my hands. People come from miles around to look for me — they come and say, ‘Where’s Gino?’ They know who I am because I took that once-in-a-lifetime chance.”
After his first bite, he said, it felt like he was in a dream. The pizza, with a thin-crust bottom and topped with flavorful tomatoes, was a revelation, he said.
“It was a traditional pie like my grandmother used to make in Italy,” said Lenti. “There was something special about that pizza. I thought, ‘Once in a lifetime, you get a chance like this and you have to take it.’ I was willing to lose everything for that pizza.”
He went home and tried to re-create it. He knew right away the secret was in the tomatoes and he set to work to get the flavor right.
Lenti had a few misfires in his experimentation — including burning his tongue. He even went back to the restaurant where he first tried the pizza to learn more about how it was made and to figure out which cheese was used.
When he got it right, he purchased a building that used to be a Pizza Hut and transformed it into La Villa.
Now, it’s a staple of Morrisville dining and has been for nearly 16 years.
It serves several traditional Italian dishes, but the most traditional meal comes when La Villa hosts Amici del Buon Mangiare (Friends of Good Eating), an Italian dining club.
For the past six years, he has hosted a monthly traditional dinner, save for August and September, that can include whole roasted pig, lamb or rabbit and always fish.
The club’s largest special dinner party of the year is the Feast of the Seven Fishes, a traditional Italian dinner, typically served on Christmas Eve, that includes several courses of fish.
This year, Lenti will host his feast on Dec. 2.
Joe Lipari, the coordinator of the Italian dining club, approached Lenti about hosting the dinners almost seven years ago.
It was a great move for Lenti, who wanted to cook traditional Italian meals and help keep his heritage and traditions alive.
The first Seven Fishes event was attended by about 10 people. Today, the crowd is so large, with about 150 diners, Lenti closes the dining room to the general public and serves the special feast to only those who have reserved a seat.
The Seven Fishes dinner is one Lenti prepares for like it’s the big game. The room is decorated and the tables are set long — so food can be served family-style.
He spends an entire day preparing the food like calamari, Lipari’s favorite, or baccala, the traditional salted cod dish.
He also brings his famous tomato pie into the mix by serving it with anchovies for one of the nine courses.
The night of the meal, guests are invited to bring conversation and wine to share. They sit shoulder to shoulder at the long tables and pass the food around.
“We do this to keep our culture alive,” said Lenti. “Even people who came a long time ago, they come and enjoy that sense of tradition.”
When asked if he accomplished all that he set out to with his restaurant, Lenti says: “It took a lot of work. But the dream is in my hands. People come from miles around to look for me — they come and say, ‘Where’s Gino?’ They know who I am because I took that once-in-a-lifetime chance.”
3 comments:
When I was a teen, my much older (married) sister would have a seven fishes feast every year. It was pretty wild. It's so nice to see this traditional event in Morrisville.
love the restrooms for customers sign
If you new how filthy the kitchen is, the place would be shut down. I wouldn't eat there if I was paid to
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