Phantom Gourmet: Carmelina’s In Boston’s North End

BOSTON (CBS) — There are few foods that will warm you up like a big bowl pasta, and whether it’s smothered with tomato sauce, tossed in gorgonzola cream, or loaded with chicken, sausage, peppers and alfredo, nobody does Italian comfort food like Carmelina’s.

Located on Hanover Street, in Boston’s North End, Carmelina’s features a warm and comfortable dining room, and a busy open kitchen. The restaurant is actually named after chef-owner Damien DiPaola’s mother.

And eating a meal here feels very much like you’re dining in her kitchen.

“It feels like you’re eating in my mother’s home, in Carmelina’s home. My mother would be frying cutlets, and cooking meatballs, and you heard the pans, and the frying, and the smells and the sauteing, and all the action in the kitchen is part of the experience of eating here,” DiPaola’s mother said.

In fact, much of what’s on the menu here is inspired by old family recipes that have been updated with Damien’s modern touch. From the hearty, heartwarming pastas, to perfectly cooked seafood and juicy grilled steaks. And everything that comes out of the kitchen, is mom approved.

“One thing I’ve always said, and I tell my guys this too it that when you’re cooking in this restaurant, cook as if you’re cooking for your mother, you know, hopefully you love your mother, you know what I mean.”