Penne for your thoughts…

After having binged multiple seasons of The Great British Bake Off, I was really craving a nice crisp decadent pastry. After years of curiously driving past this place, I decided to try it out. Palazzone 1960 is located at 190 NJ-23, Wayne, NJ 07470. The cafe specializes in “traditional and contemporary, offering old world quality in an ultra-modern setting, crafted with authentic and delicious ingredients”.

Anyone that knows me, knows my love of Italian food. The sad thing is that living in New Jersey, there is ample opportunity to walk into a restaurant and be transported to Italy, but the same could be true for the opposite. Unfortunately, many places go by “throw some garlic, oregano, tomatoes, and call it Italian”. Palazzone 1960 is a wonderful, refreshing change to Italian gastronomy in northern New Jersey for starters, they make their own pasta on site and sell it. They serve lunch every day from 11am-4pm.

The Lasagna was a perfect blend of flavors. The pasta was cooked to perfection, but what absolutely stole the show was the sauce. When cooking with tomatoes, there is a tendency to overcook them causing the acidity level to rise, making it dominant flavor of the dish. That was not the case here. The tomatoes were cooked to peak perfection, seasoned skillfully, and balanced perfectly with the cheese. My only comment would be that the beef was a pinch too salty.

The Penne Arrabbiata was okay. The pasta was al dente just like I prefer it. Overall flavor-wise it was a bit bland. The sauce could have used more salt. The pepper was too strong and could have used a touch of cream to thicken the sauce and round out the flavors.

The cappuccino was a bit dark but not bad. The coffee had a nice bold flavor.

For dessert, I ordered an orange Sfogliatella. The bake on that was perfection!!!!!! I could easily sit and eat these for hours. The layering was nice and defined, it had a nice crunch when bitten! UGH! Perfect!

I ordered the Napoleon on the recommendation of the counter girl. I am not a fan of this particular dessert. But this was enough to change my mind! Every single layer clearly defined. I could have eaten the whole tray of these!

Overall this place for lunch gets a 3.5, but the bakery gets a solid 5!

-themoodiecutie