Little Italy

Aberystwyth is a small town on the west coast of Wales. It was the Medieval—and maritime—Capitol of the Principality, but all vestiges of ship-building and ocean transport have disappeared. Today it is home to the University of Wales and the Welsh National Library, and a holiday/picnic destination for the denizens of the rolling hills that slope down from Wales’

Heartland to Cardigan Bay. Today the population of the town is about seventeen thousand—a number that rises substantially when the university is in session

I’ve been a visitor to this magical spot since 1974…and a regular diner at the Little Italy Restaurant since the early ‘90s, shortly after its inception. Then, the spot was known as La Boheme and offered a menu composed two-thirds of “traditional British” dishes (the best beef & kidney pie I’ve ever eaten), the rest of Italian specialties. In the early ‘90s the owner changed the name and the offerings: The traditional dishes were trimmed to “old favorites” on a rotating basis (sadly, the beef & kidney pie disappeared) and the Mediterranean offerings expanded. Always when I dined there I was conflicted as to whether I would order the pie…or the filet au poivre—the advantage of the menu change was that on most visits I no longer had to make a difficult choice.

Little Italy is on the town’s main street, North Parade—its upper floor is crowded with tables, but only a few get a look down on the broad and tree-lined thoroughfare.

It’s the floor below where I always reserve a certain table among the five available. Four of us negotiated space around a table meant to be comfortable for two. The room is a centuries-old stone room that is now a cellar with slate floors and a hearth near the window…ah! that window, and the table below the street. We watched under the stone arch, the leads and glass, a parade of townspeople bustling towards Friday evening.

In certainly the only disappointment I’ve suffered there, I was told the beef pie no longer appeared on the menu…

The filet was as expected—still superior to any steak au poivre I’ve ever encountered.

The meat is always firm around its tender soul, the sauce that covers the steak and floods the plate a wonder in its own right: A wine, jus and cream blend abundant with green peppercorns that harmonizes with the filet and leaves an almost citric taste.

I forgo salad and vegetables; sometimes there’s a green decoration on the plate…and that’s nice. From among the potato choices I always order the chips—that sauce is the best chip sauce imaginable; the owners of Little Italy should license it to the Sausmeesters in Amsterdam.