It is rare that an eatery can surprise me, especially when I have known them for decades. But J…read moreTrani's Ristorante certainly did just that--- surprise me, in a good way.
So I am a big food giver, it is how I show appreciation because when I want to thank someone, I want their belly to feel it. And this place has this really good Sunday Sauce plate, that I just know as their short rib plate. Like one time, I took it to a former colleague that I kinda wanted to make happy, cause of how they made me feel, and he warmed it up in the microwave. And it was not like microwaving fish, it was quite the opposite. Instead of pungent odor, the dish infused the small kitchenette with a wafting aroma, that almost felt like a morning after hug. It made everyone who wifed it, wonder who and what introduced good eats to another wise basic break-room. More broadly, I have never eaten anything at J Trani's that I have felt bad about buying. At least not that I can recall readily, which means that they have not seared a bad experience in my mind, which, is great flowers given to offer them considering that I have been coming to this place, time and again, for decades. Now the question becomes how they surprised me, when I know them to be a good spot consistently?
So I called because I wanted to get a pizza for a guy I wanted to thank. And, they read me their pizza list and my bells, that signal positive experiences, went off. I heard sweet corn. And sweet corn is an ingredient I love by name. So I got the bacon and corn pizza, and also, I tried to explain the dish I wanted, remember I do not know it by Sunday Sauce. The person answering the phone, I forgot her name, explained that the Sunday sauce was their short rib plate. But instead of ordering there, I was like I'll just go so I can peruse the menu, Seconds later she called me back. I thought she was going to try to explain more to me, but I had made my mind up I wanted to see the menu. I was a smidge irked, I will not lie, I just did not want to continue the conversation after I had made my mind. So I picked up and she explained that she could text me the menu. And she did just that, the picture shows is the proof.
Wow--- this was excellent service, not because they went the extra mile--- which they did- but because they centered my expectations, without me knowing it I had that expectation. They could have said, review the menu online, which I was not going to do. I was going to go and wait, which I could do, but it has its elements of a drag quotient. Instead, with the menu, in hand (well sort-of) was able to make the right choices for me. And She specifically told me that the order was going to take 25 minutes. This was the cherry tomato on top of the Burrata salad---- my whole experience was handled by the restaurant when I was not there.
I got there and I had to wait a few minutes for my order to be packaged. As I waited, I heard a traditional mom and pop, and kid family unit discuss the choices the kid had made. The dad, I heard, say something like, I would have never, spoken to my dad like this when I was young, I do not want to here anymore from you. I heard this interaction, and kind of was glad because it gave me something to chew on (my thoughts). I wondered what the kid did and how I would handle the discipline? I also thought that some people still practice the stale or maybe fresh axiom of: Children should be seen not heard?
The pizza was fantastic. I had a slice the next day for breakfast, and the bacon was crunch, the taste of corn was heavily present, and in short, it was a delicacy on my commute to work.