Da Filippo with my Figlio

Yesterday Sylvain and Nora disappeared into the March blizzard, he for France and she for New York, leaving me and Thibault with a night of our own. Where to go and what to eat were the pressing questions. Because of the bitter cold we ruled out sushi in favor of comfort food. I reccomended Da Filippo (Autentica Cucina Italiana) in Somerville as the only good, authentic Italian restaurant in New Jersey. Like many New Jersey Italians, Filippo is Sicilian, but his food reflects several regions of Italy.

For me it was a great treat to return to Filippo after several years, and for Thibault it was an initiation into true Italian cuisine. He has a wonderful love of food (his favorite sandwich as a two-year old was black olive tapenade and chevre on focaccia) and enjoys sushi, Indian, Thai and of course French cuisine, but his experience of Italian has been limited to what is available locally. Can you say, "standard Italian American?"

To get into the mood, we started with the bruscetta de la casa - simple toasted Italian bread with sliced tomatoes, garlic, basil and fresh parmesan - and a big bottle of sparkling Abruzza water.

For appetizers, Thibault ordered the braised artichoke special and I had the fritelle di rughetta - pan-fried arrugula with a creamy sauce of anchovies, garlic and parmesano-reggiano. Mine was unbelievably good as I knew it would be. Crispy but creamy, pungent but sweet. A heady and auspicious start to our meal! Thibault dispatched with his artichoke without complaint and with an audible groan of pleasure.

The appetizers tempted me more than the main courses, or maybe I had had one bruscetta too many. For dinner I ordered a double portion of the Sarde Fritte a Linguata, delicate, lightly battered and fried fresh sardines with a squeeze of lemon, and a side of meltingly tender but still bitter escarole with garlic and olive oil, and rosemary roasted potatoes. So good! Thibault has been on a gnocchi mission lately and ordered the hand-made ricotta Gnocchi con Sugo Bolognese which he happily devoured.

No dessert for La Signora but Thibault managed to find room for a plate of Profiteroles. He said liked the contrast of the cold cream filling with the warm chocolate sauce. I had a taste and he was right on.

In all, it was a great meal, good conversation and a lot of welcome laughter in the company of my son. As a parent, it is so satisfying to arrive at this place in time where my child and I are nearly peers and can enjoy each other's company as equals. And we listened to The Clash, nice and loud, all the way home.

http://www.dafilippos.com/