Raffetto's Italian Grocery: Where Diets Go to Die

The passage of the cold front yesterday morning awakened an autumnal appetite, and I found myself walking automatically to Raffetto's on Houston St. Last year, after I found Raffetto's and its array of affordable take-home Italian food, I gained 17 pounds.* I'm not kidding. I spent all summer walking it off and eating small servings of yogurt instead of Raffetto's hand-made cheese ravioli, zucchini cakes, meatballs, and marinara sauce.
This year I'll try better to balance Italian food with a commitment to exercise. I left the store without a zucchini cake. Maybe I'll buy one in November.

*OK, maybe just 3 pounds. I'm from Texas and allowed to exaggerate. I attribute just one pound to Raffetto's. Another came from Bruno Bakery, where I often stopped on the walk home from Raffetto's, and the other from Eli Zabar's E.A.T. on the Upper East Side.