{"id":20204,"date":"2024-07-01T07:44:50","date_gmt":"2024-07-01T11:44:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/?p=20204"},"modified":"2024-07-01T07:44:50","modified_gmt":"2024-07-01T11:44:50","slug":"autentisk-then-and-autentico-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/?p=20204","title":{"rendered":"Autentisk Then, and Autentico Now"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some years ago, a unique stop on my Flavors of Little Levant ethnojunket in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn was Leske\u2019s Bakery, the last vestige of that neighborhood\u2019s Norwegian community. Although specifically Scandinavian baked goods proliferated primarily around Christmastime, Leske\u2019s also catered to the local Italian and Irish populations with first-rate Irish soda bread, Danish pastries and Brooklyn specialties like black & white cookies, blackout cake, and New York cheesecake. It was an unexpected site amid the dozens of Middle Eastern and Yemeni venues we frequented. Sadly, after a long and bumpy run, much beloved Leske\u2019s closed permanently.<\/p>\n

Subsequently, I was pleased to discover the arrival of a new bakery in the same digs at 7612 5th Avenue that was equally legit but Italian this time, Il Fornaretto with authentic roots in Italy by way of Bensonhurst.<\/p>\n

(Click on any image to view it in high resolution.)<\/em>
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\nThis is one of their takes on focaccia and it was the real deal, topped with onions, herbs and a touch of tomato sauce; they also offered a cherry tomato version.<\/p>\n

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\nBeing incapable of leaving an Italian bakery without something sweet to look forward to, I selected a sfogliatella (or \u201csfol ya del\u201d as we pronounced it in my yout\u2019) aka lobster tail (which we never called it).<\/p>\n

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\nThe inner workings reveal a filling made from sweetened ricotta, semolina, and eggs that evokes happy, high-calorie kidhood memories.<\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t tried their artisanal prosciutto bread yet, so check out my Flavors of Little Levant ethnojunket<\/a> and we can taste test it together!
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From Norway to Italy. Read on…. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3336,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,18,21],"tags":[63],"class_list":["post-20204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-good-eats","category-shopping","category-sweets","tag-italian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3336"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20204"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20213,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20204\/revisions\/20213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}