This week started with Labor Day burgers and ended with a full Italian Sunday dinner with the in-laws. In between came FiDi pizza on Pearl Street, a first visit to the brand-new Via Posa in Fairfield, Spicy Blood Orange Margs at Geronimo, and grass-fed NY strips for a son home from Greece. A migraine took Saturday, but Sunday made up for it. This was a week about comfort and the table, and getting back to both.
Monday: Labor Day, House Projects, and Grass-Fed Burgers
Labor Day was less about a big barbecue and more about getting things done around the house. The kind of day where the to-do list is long, the weather is good, and dinner needs to be easy without being boring.
So we kept it simple. Grass-fed burgers from Sport Hill Farm in Easton, a few hot dogs, and sweet potato fries. That’s it. And honestly, that’s all it needed to be.
Good local beef changes a burger. It doesn’t need much dressing up, just a hot grill and a little patience. With sweet potato fries on the side it felt like the right end to a holiday spent working. Yum, and easy. Sometimes those two words are the whole review.
Tuesday: Pizza on Pearl, Then a First Taste of Via Posa
Tuesday was a city day, and lunch was pizza at NicolAngelo’s on Pearl, down in the Financial District. It was super, super good. FiDi has no shortage of pizza, but every so often you find a spot that makes you want to come back and work through the menu slice by slice. This was one of those.
The evening brought something I’d been waiting for: a quick stop at Via Posa in Fairfield, a new spot that just opened. Via Posa leans into Italian street food: Roman-style pizza al taglio, panini, and fresh homemade pasta. For a first visit, I went straight for the pasta.
I ordered the cavatelli with sausage and broccoli rabe, one of my favorite Italian combinations. The slight bitterness of the rabe, the savory richness of the sausage, and those little ridged cavatelli catching everything in the bowl. It was really, really good.
Then came dessert, and this is where Via Posa went from “nice new spot” to “we’ll be back.” We tried the cannoli, a limone cake, and a flourless Nutella cheesecake. All three were excellent, but that flourless Nutella cheesecake made me say WOW out loud. Rich, smooth, and dangerously easy to keep eating. A new Italian place opening this close to home is good news. A new Italian place opening this close to home with desserts like that is great news.
📍 NicolAngelo | 77 Pearl St, NY, NY ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📍 Via Posa | 2126 Post Road, Fairfield, CT ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Wednesday: Leftover Cavatelli and a Garlic Wine Butter Finish
Wednesday started with the best kind of leftovers, the rest of that cavatelli from Via Posa. Good pasta holds up the next day, and this one did.
Dinner was all about the grill. I made grilled chicken, roasted fingerling potatoes, and grilled zucchini. Once everything was cooked, I made a garlic white wine butter sauce and sautéed it all together in the pan for a few minutes.
That last step is the secret. Everything was already good on its own, but a couple of minutes in garlic, wine, and butter pulled the whole plate together. The chicken picked up that silky richness, the potatoes soaked up the sauce, and the zucchini went from side dish to something you actually want seconds of. Yumm. It’s a trick I keep coming back to, and it never lets me down.
Thursday: Back-to-Back Calls and Geronimo Margs
Thursday was a work-from-home day, and it was relentless. Back-to-back meetings all day with exactly two 15-minute breaks. Wow.
You know what a day like that calls for? Margs.
Geronimo in Fairfield was calling. Geronimo has long been known for its tequila program, one of the deepest collections around, so you know the margaritas will be done right. I went with a few Spicy Blood Orange Margs, which balanced a little sweetness, a little citrus, and a little heat. Paired with chicken quesadillas, it was exactly the reset the day needed.
Some dinners are about discovery. This one was about recovery, and it hit the spot.
📍 Geronimo Tequila Bar and Southwest Grill | 2070 Post Road, Fairfield, CT ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Friday: A Homecoming Steak Dinner and a Bourbon Smash
Friday had a homecoming. My son got back after a week in Greece, and after a week of Greek food he had one request: beef.
So I grilled grass-fed NY strips, local and beautiful, with roasted potatoes and broccoli. Nothing fancy, just simple things done well. A good steak doesn’t need much, and when the beef is this good, the best thing you can do is stay out of its way.
I also picked up some fresh mint and made a Bourbon Smash: bourbon, muddled mint, a little citrus and sweetness, over ice. It was pretty good. Good enough that I had two.
There’s something about cooking for someone just home from a trip. They come back with stories, and you’re the one with the grill and the steaks. It’s a small way of saying welcome home.
Saturday: Sherwood Diner, Then a Lost Day
Saturday morning, my wife and I drove down to Westport for breakfast at the Sherwood Diner. It’s a solid spot, the kind of classic diner where breakfast is always on and nothing tries too hard. A good way to start a weekend morning together.
Unfortunately, not long after, a migraine hit, and the rest of the day went nowhere except to bed. Not every day in this series gets a happy ending, and that’s okay. Some weeks have a pause button built in whether you want one or not.
📍 Sherwood Diner | 901 Post Road East, Westport, CT ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Sunday: Homemade Pasta and an Italian Sunday Dinner
By Sunday I was back, and back in full form.
The in-laws came over, and that meant one thing: a proper Italian Sunday dinner. I made homemade pasta, along with some gluten-free pasta from Massimo so everyone at the table was covered. For the sauce, I used local hot Italian sausage and D.O.P. San Marzano tomatoes. Always San Marzano. Once you’ve cooked with them, there’s no going back. They’re sweet, deep, and low in acidity, and they make a Sunday sauce taste like it’s been simmering in someone’s nonna’s kitchen all day.
Alongside the pasta we had chicken cutlets and good bread for swiping through the sauce. That’s the whole formula. A crowded table, a big pot, more food than anyone needs, and nobody in a rush to get up.
And I almost forgot dessert: a Lemon Flourless Cake. Bright, moist, and tender, with fresh lemon flavor in every bite. It was the perfect light finish after a heavy, happy meal. Can you say drool?
This is the kind of dinner The Amore Life is really about. Not just the food, but the family around it and the feeling that, no matter what the week threw at you, Sunday brings everyone back to the table.
Closing Reflection
This week had a little of everything. Labor Day burgers between house projects. FiDi pizza on Pearl Street. A brand-new Italian spot in Fairfield with a flourless Nutella cheesecake I’m still thinking about. Garlic wine butter making a weeknight dinner sing. Spicy margs after a marathon of meetings. Steaks for a son just home from Greece. And one lost Saturday that made Sunday’s pasta, cutlets, and lemon cake taste even sweeter.
That’s the rhythm of a real week: some highs, a low, and the table there at the end of it.
Buon appetito, and here’s to next week.