Our Lady of Grace hosts ’Steak, Cards, and Cigars’

“Nobody goes hungry here,” Joe Quartino said last Friday evening inside the Our Lady of Grace Church parish center. “And there’s still more food to come.”

Simply put, when the Rev. Peter J. Gower hosts an old-fashioned steak fry, the event isn’t just about salad, baked potatoes, and beef.

The gathering – another way Gower seeks to bring parishioners together to enjoy food, fun, and fellowship while raising funds for the Roman Catholic parish – was billed as “Steak, Cards, and Cigars.”

Although a late afternoon storm forced event-goers to dine inside the parish center, it actually made it easier for volunteers to serve a multi-course dinner that began with Italian antipasto and wound up with a dessert of tiramisu.

Each attendee received an impressive wooden box that contained three top-shelf cigars like the Montecristo Platinum Toro, a cutter, and a deck of cards.

Approximately 50 people enjoyed five different courses that ranged from fresh cut Genoa salami and prosciutto to one-pound porterhouse steaks that were perfectly grilled by Lou Mansolillo, one of Our Lady of Grace’s resident chefs.

“There’s no way I can eat all this steak,” Lombardi, who serves on the Johnston Senior Center Advisory Board, told his buddies. “This has been quite the meal.”