Where to Go from Influencers In the Know
ALL ABOUT @wesaygravy
Name: Matt D’Andraia
Account: @wesaygravy
When and why you started blogging under your current handle:
When and why did you started blogging under your current handle.
August 28th, 2018 was my first post inspired from a pizza I had in Positano, Italy (Le Tre Sorelle). I started blogging for two reasons: 1) I enjoy talking about food and going out to eat, so posting about my restaurant experiences has become a hobby. 1) I like to cook a lot, and it’s a constantly battle to prove to my family that I can cook since they think they know everything. I come from a full Italian family who has zero recipes written down, so I figured this blog would be a good ‘recipe book’ for myself someday. I’ve memorized their recipes just from watching: A few to name are my great grandmother’s fried squash flowers, my grandmother’s Sicilian meatballs with raisins and pine nuts, my dad’s bracciole, and my brother’s lobster fra diavolo.
TOP PICKS
Three seems to be the best number, so what are your top three for the following categories, and feel free to give some insights:
Top 3 Things You Have Ever Eaten:
1) Sweet Potato Spanikopita with beet tzatziki, burrata cheese, and tapenade from Sarma in Somerville. Taste=10, Presentation=10, just an unreal dish.
2) Maccheroncelli with Feather Brook Farm Meatballs in a Montepulciano sauce from Sorellina. I’m picky on where I order meatballs, but these are next level. Pair that with their homemade maccheroncelli in a rich Montepulciano sauce and it’s lights out.
3) Salmon on Fire from Oiishi – They serve it to you literally over a lit flame so that you can torch the salmon – One of the coolest presentations I have ever seen!
Top 3 Restaurants Inside Boston:
Coppa – Ever try beef tongue and bone marrow pizza? You can here. Every pasta dish is awesome, especially the chicken sausage cavatelli. Their meatballs are addicting, I think they put ground pepperoni or something in them (I’m going to find out someday).
Saltie Girl – They have really creative dishes, especially the way they serve it. The torched salmon belly dish is unreal! Their lobster roll is one of the best around as well.
Cinquecento – My favorite bolognese dish in Boston. I hope they can recover from the recent flood on Harrison ave because this place is a go to for me.
Top 3 Restaurants Outside of Boston:
Sarma in Somerville– My favorite restaurant of them all. I can’t make a single thing on their menu because there are so many flavors and techniques and I love it.
Arnold’s in Eastham – Doesn’t always have to be fancy right? When I’m in the Cape, I’m going to Arnold’s and I’m getting all of the staples: a lobster roll, clam chowder, fried clams.
A Tavola in Winchester – Small place in Winchester where the specials are written on a giant chalkboard that always have some unique seafood dish or homemade pasta dish. Their antipasto board is one of my favorite appetizers…it has this white bean dip I could eat gallons of.
Top 3 Favorite Restaurant Pages to follow:
Posto in Somerville – Every pizza that comes out of their oven looks perfect. Their carbonara is also one of my favorites.
Prezza in the North End – They’ll show their homemade pasta for the day, or dishes on their pass ready to be served.
Goldilox Bagels in Medford – It’s a recent local start up and I like to see how they are growing by the day. They are doing really well even during the pandemic, and they’re so good that I’ve even waited outside before they open to get them.
Top 3 Favorite Influencers to Follow:
They’re all from Italy..sorry! I’ve learned the most about cooking from restaurants in Italy and their influencers so here are my top 3:
@cucinandomelagodo out of Northern Italy. a lot of the pasta dishes I make are inspired by this guy. It’s hard to make homemade cooking video’s enticing for the viewer to watch them from beginning to end on instagram but his video’s have me constantly watching the entire thing.
@katieparla in Rome likes to showcase dishes throughout southern Italy. I found her page through Bobby Flay and I’ll be sure to check out a lot of these spots next time I’m in Italy.
@mistermario_ – Also out of Italy. His pasta dishes are unreal. Another influencer that I constantly check in on when I am about to make a pasta dish.
SUPERLATIVES
If someone asked you for a restaurant that would “Even Keep the Inlaws Happy” where would you suggest they go?
Nappi’s restaurant in Medford. You won’t find an IG page for them, or even a menu. It’s also BYOB. You need to book a reservation way ahead of time if you want a seat here but it’s worth it. Small place run by a husband and wife from Italy who know all of their customers who frequent there by name. I keep telling her to do a special one night of pasta/black truffles and she rolls her eyes at me – maybe someday!
What are your “bucket list” items/restaurants to try that you haven’t yet been to?
Little Donkey in Cambridge has this Cacio e Pepe with White Truffles that I am dieing to try when they reopen.
A few of my friend’s say that Pammy’s in Cambridge is one of the best restaurants they’ve been to, so that’s on my list.
Yume Ga Arukara was a restaurant that a lot of people on instagram said is their favorite outside of Boston for udon. They are open for takeout as well so I may pull the trigger on this one soon!
I’ve been told by a certain someone (@tasteofmassachusetts) that Da Vinci in Sudbury is one of the top Italian spots around. I’m going to be a little stressed out on what to order because I don’t think I’ll be able to decide between their homemade gnocchi, to the tomahawk steak, or their Salmon dish.
If you were “going to the electric chair” What would your last meal be and from what restaurant?
Ha! Sausage & Lamb Combo with extra hot cherry peppers from the grill, followed by a Sausage and Garlic pizza (well done) from Santarpio’s. No brainer.
Some of our Favorite Photos from @WeSayGravy
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