For a friend’s birthday several years ago, she wanted to try out a little West Village Italian Wine Bar known for it’s bruscettas, tramezzinnis, and paninis called ‘ino. The tiny restaurant doesn’t allow reservations and, as a result, we had a long wait to get in. I hate long waits anywhere, and this was no exception . . . but being that it was her birthday, I sucked it up and stuck it out. 

Once I got a single taste of the delicious food, I didn’t regret waiting one bit. In fact, I have recommended it several times since and yearn to return there someday for another great meal. Seriously, it really was very good. (Unfortunately, being that it’s been three years plus, I can’t remember exactly what I had so that’s as far as I am taking this mini review . . . )

The owners of ‘ino, Jessica and Jason Denton, have since put out a cookbook called Simple Italian Sandwiches detailing both their experience opening the restaurant and their recipes for the delicious food they serve. Lucky for me, that same friend who took me there several years ago bought me a copy for my birthday this year. It only took one month of salivating before I sat down and decided to try my first recipe.

Now, the recipe is for long-lasting sweet onions that go into a number of other recipes in the book. But the delicious onions could be used in many other applications as well (like on pizza with some mushrooms, if you are into that sort of thing). So this is really a jumping off point for bigger and better things. In the meantime, I am just enjoying munching on these delicious little onions that are as sweet as their name suggests.