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By Dave Pratt AONE RETURNED CON ENTUSIASMO TO SPIGA RISTORANTE ITALIANO on Saturday, March 24th, for this year’s annual Spring Kickoff Meeting. The word must have spread about Spiga’s great food and the nice time we had last year, for attendance was up from a respectable 22 people to 37 this time — just about the ristorante’s capacity! Spiga Ristorante Italiano is located in Needham, MA, just off Route 128 (I-95), and is owned and operated by friends and relatives of AONE member Roberto Rosa. They are normally closed on weekends for lunch but again graciously opened their doors especially for our club. It’s a great feeling to have a great Italian restaurant all to ourselves for an AONE function. Although we missed the previous week’s summery weather by about 24 hours, it was a nice, dry day and most of the convertible tops were down. And the mid-50s temperatures sure trumped the mid-30s temps we had for last year’s event! So, before we went inside, we of course hung around outside among the cars for the usual tire kicking, story swapping, and general camaraderie that our club always enjoys. Last year, Greg Stidsen made a splash by arriving in his new Fiat Cinquecento, and this year John Paradiso followed suite with one too! (Okay, it’s really his wife Sharon’s.) In addition to our wonderful wide array of Alfa models that spanned four decades, we were also joined by two Lancias. (Well, and a few lesser cars.) In time, word got around that the food was coming out, and we made our way inside. Waiting for us was an assortment of fine appetizers, which most of us accompanied with various libations that included an selection of excellent Italian wines by the glass. Then the main buffet was opened up — roast chicken, two very different and delicious types of pasta, grilled sausages and peppers, roasted potatoes, grilled asparagus, plus salad and bread. The chicken and potatoes were roasted in Spiga’s wood-fired brick oven. Magnifico! And the dessert was the one we raved about last year — a homemade Italian bread pudding with a secret glaze served with a scoop of gelato — heavenly! Eventually, President Tom Lesko got us to quiet down a bit and called the meeting to order (it’s the Spring Kickoff Meeting, remember?). We reviewed the upcoming events currently scheduled and discussed each of them in a little detail, and in some cases club members who were involved in planning the events gave us some additional comments on them.
After we finished the agenda, Tom adjourned the meeting (not exactly
sure when that occurred), and most of us hung around for a while
chatting, both inside and out, before heading off in the various
directions from which we’d come. It was a great start to another
exciting AONE season, aided in no small part by Spiga's terrific
food, friendliness, and finesse. Our club will surely be returning
again for events in the future — better start building that
addition!
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(Click on the thumbnails below for a larger view, and then
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