A friend and I took a drive to Easton, PA yesterday to meet up with another friend who lives in the Poconos. Easton was our halfway meeting place for lunch, about an hour and fifteen minutes drive, and what a nice town it appears to be! (It is also home to the famous Crayola Factory.)
I had, of course, done a little research into possible restaurants, and quickly came across the website for Sette Luna, a “Tuscan Trattoria,” that offers “Rustic Italian Cuizine,” which appeared to have a nice menu of Italian specialties, including many gourmet pizzas, or “Pizze” as they call them. I knew we all liked the pizzettes at Teresa Caffe in Princeton, and this was similar, but a larger selection, divided into categories of Pizze Napolitane, Luna Pizze (tomatoey), and Bianca. Interestingly, not only did each of us order a pizza, we each ordered from the Bianca category.
Bianca Pizze
One friend had the Bianca, with olive oil, spices and imported cheeses, which she pronounced “delicious.” The other had Terry’s Bianca, with olive oil, garlic, spices, imported cheeses, sea salt, baby arugula, baby roma tomato, lemon and pepper.
And I ordered Josh’s Bianca, with soppressata, egg, and black truffle – wow!! There were three perfectly runny eggs poached on top of the pizza. Thin slices of soppressata and shavings of black truffle completed this perfect trinity of flavors. And, as were all our pizzes, on top of a fantastic charred and bubbly thin crust, just the way I like it. (I notice Teresa Caffe offers pizzas with egg at weekend brunch.)
Josh’s Bianca
Note that Sette Luna is owned by three partners named Josh, Terry, and Bud, and as their website explains, “WHY EASTON? It is our home. Our grandparents’ home. We love Easton.” They also own a newer place, Maxim’s 22 Bistro-Brasserie just a few blocks away, so maybe we’ll try that another time (cassoulet $20!).
Vongole
I couldn’t resist starting with an appetizer of Vongole, littleneck clams with house-cured pancetta, chile, and lecino olives. For some reason, I anticipated a small serving of baked clams (i.e. Casino style), but this turned out to be a generous bowl of many clams, with lots of delicious broth. Neither of my friends like clams it turned out, so I ate them myself, but left behind most of the broth, and even at that, brought home half or more of my pizza. Which was outstanding – I know I’ll be thinking of this pizza for ages. Too bad it was the middle of a 90-degree day, so we cautiously did not order from their award-winning wine list, but instead stuck to iced tea and water.
No matter, this was an excellent lunch on all counts, in spite of a dining room on the noisy side (we were still able to converse), and I highly recommend it. Sette Luna and Maxim’s 22 are both in the historic downtown core of Easton. These hometown boys have a winning formula for culinary success. (And, I have to say, I used the contact form on their website in advance of our visit to double check that they would be open that day – just in case, you never know – and their Front of House Manager very pleasantly emailed me back to reassure me they were. They don’t take reservations, but we had no trouble being seated.)
Leftovers at home – the egg survived!
NJ SPICE 