Spiedini alla Romana at Café Spaghetti

Plus: Pastries at Poppy's and Pancakes at Sadelle's.

Hello Thursday friends,

Check out that dish above: I can’t stop thinking about it! It’s the Spiedini alla Romana at Cafe Spaghetti in Brooklyn and it’s the most genius thing. It’s a grilled mozzarella sandwich that gets doused in a bright, acidic tomato sauce infused with anchovies and lemon. Somehow the brightness of that sauce infuses the crispy bread and doesn’t quite make things soggy, it just brings everything together into the most miraculous bite of food.

Sadly, I had to share this with three other people:

Spiedini alla Romana thieves: Zuhair, Adam, and Craig.

But now it’s my life’s mission to recreate it at home. My main question is: how did they keep the sauce so light and bright? The tomatoes didn’t taste canned. Maybe that’s the secret? Fresh tomatoes, even in November?