An Italian eating place in Des Moines is closing its doorways after over six many years of bringing its homemade dishes to the masses.
Mama Lacona’s Italian Restaurant, positioned at 3825 121st Street in Urbandale, is final permanently on August 31.
Through the years, Mama Lacona’s has served conventional Italian recipes handed down from the past due to Teresa Lacona — formerly Teresa Tursi — who many don’t forget the super-grandmother of Italian cuisine in Des Moines.
And the Tursi-Lacona have an impact on keeps to shape Des Moines’ Italian food scene.
“It’s been an excellent run, but for health reasons, I am retiring,” stated co-proprietor Jim Lacona. “I want to thank the community for helping us all these years. It’s sad for us to should close.” Lacona owns the eating place together with his spouse, Katie.
Lacona said the eating place might be honouring any gift playing cards till August 31, but the restaurant lately closed for lunch in the course of the week. Mama Lacona’s remains open for dinner and Sunday brunch.
A scaled-down version of the menu turned into posted on its website that includes objects like fried ravioli, baked cavatelli, and different pasta dishes, pizza, bird marsala, steaks, and seafood.
Lacona’s father, Chuck Lacona, started the restaurant in 1957, motoring across the Drake community from 3629 Beaver Avenue on a three-wheel Cushman cart while clutching a CB radio. He offered pizza like this for 15 years.
In 1989, Chuck’s son, Jim Lacona — who became 26 at the time — took the reins and bought dressings and prepackaged lasagnas in markets throughout Des Moines. During that yr, there were 3 locations of Mama Lacona’s within the Des Moines metro.
The contemporary Mama Lacona’s opened in July 2010 within the spot that was formerly the Rusty Scupper.
Jim and Katie Lacona had intended to pass the restaurant right down to their daughter, Olivia. “She’s clearly sad we are final because she desired to take over at some point,” Jim Lacona stated. “But I can’t dangle on. Sooner or later, she wants to (open a restaurant) and I instructed her I can be right here for her and we’ll get her started. But I recognize she’s very disillusioned.”
This huge circle of relatives of restaurateurs and its descendants is behind such local favourites as Noah’s Ark, Tursi’s Latin King, Gusto Pizza, Scornovacca’s and the previous Bambino’s —owned by way of Jim’s sister, Vanessa Lacona Devine, who currently moved to Winter Haven, Florida.
The conventional menu shape in Italy consists of essentially eight guides. However, the lengthy traditional Italian menu is typically kept for unique activities together with weddings, with ordinary fare consisting of handiest the first and 2nd publications, with the side dish being served with the second course. As an exception to this order, a unique direction, Piatto Unico, can replace the primary or second course with, for example, pizza.
The traditional menu includes:
ANTIPASTO – which can be warm or bloodless appetizers, literally it manner “before the pasta”; includes a numerous aggregate of colourful foods. The most famous components are melon or tomatoes served with prosciutto cut into very skinny slices. Lettuce, along with with the slightly bitter endives or rocket, or other green leaves, such as the aniseed-tasting fennel, are generally used as a garnish, positioned around the rims of the serving dish.
Salami, mortadella, coppa and zampone, synthetic meat products, are not unusual in antipasti. The artistry of the meals is as vital to Italians because of the flavour. For instance, the reddish colouration of salami offers a perfect contrast to the inexperienced lettuce. Fish and different seafood can also be used inside the antipasti path and, of direction, olives and artichokes also are commonplace servings, as are mushrooms (fungi) pro with salt, pepper and lemon juice.
