The theme inside Cherry Hill Manor’s main dining room was strictly Italian.
Balloon bouquets featuring the Italian colors of red, white, and green accented the spacious room, and each round table was covered with a red linen cloth and centerpieces of spaghetti wrapped in red-and-white checkered ties and tomato cans that contained fresh bread sticks.
This was last Wednesday afternoon, when Loraine DiLorenzo, the Manor’s marketing director, hosted a rather unique Italian cook-off entitled “Mangia, Mangia,” which attracted a group she described as “45 enthusiastic food critics.”
“We invited a number of people form the community,” DiLorenzo said. “We have some local restaurants here today, and we’ve asked the people to judge their favorite food, but they’ll be voting on the overall taste.”
And once all the day’s judges had finished sampling four different colored cups filled with penne pasta and different size meatballs, Silvia’s Restaurant & Bar – a part of the town’s culinary scene for more than four decades, located at 133 Greenville Ave. – came away with the day’s top honor.
However, as DiLorenzo emphasized: “There were no losers here today. Each of the contestants finished a close second, and all the food tasted terrific.”
Pat’s Italian Restaurant, located at 1200 Hartford Ave., joined Luigi’s Restaurant & Gourmet Express of 1357 Hartford Ave. and Cherry Hill Manor’s kitchen headed by cook Cindy Lavalley in rounding out the field.
“Mangia, Mangia” – which DiLorenzo hinted could make a return – was also nicely accented by the music of accordionist Susan MacLeod.
And as is commonplace at such Cherry Hill Manor events, DiLorenzo added a touch of class by having a raffle that featured an Italian food basket, Providence Bruins hockey tickets, and other prizes.
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