On Sunday, March 18, I celebrated my mother’s birthday at one of my favorite Italian restaurants, Benevento’s, located in the North End. If you are looking for good food, this is the right place!
You might be wondering what makes this restaurant so great. First of all, they have amazing food. The appetizers they offer include bruschetta, spinach crepes, and lobster ravioli. After you finish those delicious appetizers, there are *excellent* choices on the menu for the main meal. Their pizza topping options are endless, like ricotta cheese, pepperoni, bacon, eggplant, and broccoli. If you are not in the mood for pizza, other yummy options include their salad, chicken parmesan, eggplant parmesan, and—my personal favorite—the cheese ravioli with butter and grilled chicken on top.
There are a few drawbacks, though. Parking is hard to find due to the narrow streets, the restaurant space itself has very cramped seating, and Benevento’s has no dessert menu.
However, if the weather is nice enough in April or May, it would be fun to walk around the North End to get dessert from one of the other restaurants on the street. Gelato is like ice cream, but better. I also recommend stopping by either Mike’s Pastry or Modern Pastry to get a delicious pastry, like tiramisu, rum baba, or even cupcakes. Since I went on a freezing Sunday, my family and I quickly went to Modern Pastry and then went home.
In the summer, the North End is home to the Saint Anthony Feast. It is celebrated every year at the end of August, and it is considered the most important feast in the North End. Foods such as arancini, which are Sicilian rice balls, zeppole, which are fried Italian cookies, cannolis, and gelato are among the many served during the feast. Modern Pastry and Mike’s Pastry are packed on those days. The reason this festival is so important is because St. Anthony is one of the most important saints in Italy. The North End has been home to Italian immigrants since the start of the twentieth century.
As someone with Italian heritage who grew up taking Italian as a language in school, I *love* going to the North End—particularly Benevento’s—eating gelato, and having delicious pastries. I also love Italian cinema, and some of my favorite dishes include Sicilian rice balls, ravioli, gelato, and biscotti cookies! That being said, where we come from defines us as a person. If I were to give this restaurant a rating I would give it a 20/20 or an A+ because I love the atmosphere, and the service we receive at this restaurant is also excellent.
Benevento’s is located at 111 Salem Street in Boston. To book a reservation, use opentable.com. I guarantee you you will enjoy this restaurant as much as I do when you go.