When I was a very little girl, my family used to go to a restaurant in Massachusetts called Kitty's for special occasions and sometimes just because we wanted to have pizza. I used to ask to go there all the time, and we didn't ever have much of the menu, our choices were always pretty much the same. We'd order two pies, one mushroom and onion and one other one, it's escaping me now but I don't think it was just a plain one. Maybe we'd try different things for the second pie and that's why I can't remember, but it was always at least one that was mushroom and onion. Along with the pizza we'd have an Antipasto, and to this day that's the only Antipasto I really ever want whenever I see it on any menu. Sometimes we'd get the pizzas to go and have them at home which was very nice to do too, but going to Kitty's and sitting at a table or in one of the booths was always the best.
Over the years as I grew up and went back to Kitty's on occasion I'd try other kinds of pizza and other things too. I've always loved onion rings, and I think I began my love for them there. Other places just don't know how to make onion rings like Kitty's does, and although I sometimes will order them in other places, it's always Kitty's that I really wish I was having.
I've had pizza in New York, New Haven, Oregon, Pittsburgh, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Long Island and New Jersey. I think I may have even had it in Europe and possibly London. There are some wonderful pizzas I've had, don't get me wrong, but there is no place like Massachusetts for pizza. Any hole in the wall place you walk into, any bar, any place that is making pizza makes a wonderful one. Some are fancier than others, but they're all really wonderful. Kitty's is the creme de la creme, at least in my book, and in a way I'm very lucky that I don't live near there because I'd probably have it every day along with an Antipasto salad and some onion rings.
Last week I had some meetings in Massachusetts, and I shared some time with some old and new friends. We were all in the mood to get together with all of us at one point and decided that we'd have dinner. When I was talking to one of my friends about places we loved to go to, she mentioned Kitty's and I asked her if it was still open. I seemed to remember looking it up a while ago and seeing that it was closed, but she told me it had closed for a time and was now open again and just as good as ever. I said that all I ever really wanted when I went there was pizza, and she said that's what she liked to get too, along with an Antipasto and onion rings. I told her that was always my favorite choice and we decided that we'd check with the rest of our group to see if Kitty's would be all right with them. We laughed when we said there's lots on the menu so they could have something else if they wanted but we knew what we were having. I sent messages to the others and Kitty's it was.
When we arrived it looked exactly the same, as if no time had gone by at all. I remember it being darker inside at night, but perhaps that was just in my childhood memories. We all decided on the same things which made me smile that here we were after all these years and we all thought the idea of pizza, Antipasto salad and onion rings was a great one. So much fun to be there with these friends, and so wonderful to have these flavors and textures that I've dreamed about be with me as part of my life once again.
