Spending four hours on the road may seem to some like too
much, but Italy has some great rest stops for food. I used to be a big fan of
Autogrill, and they do have a bunch of great choices, but Sarni rest stops have
stepped up their game. Today, I stopped at an Autogrill, but none of their
sandwiches were hitting home with me. So I had a breakfast pastry and drove for
a couple of hours, then stopped at Sarni. Wow, their arancini di riso (rice
ball) filled with ragu (meat sauce with peas) was one of the best I’ve eaten in
Italy. I also had a ciabatta con cotoletta di pollo e pomodoro (chicken cutlet
and tomatoes on ciabatta roll). It was basic, but when they pressed the sandwich,
the tomatoes began to sweat making the sandwich moist and flavorful.
Once in town, Zia and I had dinner at Ristorante Netti. I
had the Pizza Netti, with rucola (arugula), mozzarella di bufala (buffalo milk mozzarella),
pomodoro, and Grana Padano cheese. It was mom’s favorite and one of the best on
the menu. Zia had Pizza Bufalina which was a plain pizza with buffalo milk
mozzarella. She gave me her leftovers, and I had some of mine left too, so I
have a great breakfast for a couple of days.
Spending four hours on the road may seem to some like too
much, but Italy has some great rest stops for food. I used to be a big fan of
Autogrill, and they do have a bunch of great choices, but Sarni rest stops have
stepped up their game. Today, I stopped at an Autogrill, but none of their
sandwiches were hitting home with me. So I had a breakfast pastry and drove for
a couple of hours, then stopped at Sarni. Wow, their arancini di riso (rice
ball) filled with ragu (meat sauce with peas) was one of the best I’ve eaten in
Italy. I also had a ciabatta con cotoletta di pollo e pomodoro (chicken cutlet
and tomatoes on ciabatta roll). It was basic, but when they pressed the sandwich,
the tomatoes began to sweat making the sandwich moist and flavorful. 
Once in town, Zia and I had dinner at Ristorante Netti. I
had the Pizza Netti, with rucola (arugula), mozzarella di bufala (buffalo milk mozzarella),
pomodoro, and Grana Padano cheese. It was mom’s favorite and one of the best on
the menu. Zia had Pizza Bufalina which was a plain pizza with buffalo milk
mozzarella. She gave me her leftovers, and I had some of mine left too, so I
have a great breakfast for a couple of days.