Addio, Something Italian!

The passage of time sucks. Looking through the window into the shuttered and emptied space where Something Italian had resided for 19 years, I look back and remember the great food and wonderful camaraderie with Louie and Sara.

For its first decade I occasionally went to Something Italian just before closing time for unsold slices. Battani's Pizza was my usual go-to-place since the late 1980s but after they closed in 2010 my appetites then focused on Something Italian. And so I went from noshing on the day's end slices to enjoying more of what Something Italian had to offer.

Something Italian's pizza tent at the Des Moines Downtown Farmers' Market attracted my palate often with Louie's inventive takes on breakfast pizza, and especially so for Mama Rosa's frittata – oh, just about the best thing to stuff in your face on a Saturday morning!

Another one of my pleasures was the Tuesday Taco Slice special, a slice of sausage pizza topped with lettuce, cheese, house made salsa, black olives, crushed tortilla chips, and a big dollop of sour cream, especially so if Sara was making it! I'd make it rain with Parmesan and crushed red pepper before digging in.

Some things you never get back. And so it is true for Something Italian. Ci mancherai tanto.