When my best friend became pregnant, one of the things on her mind was maternity clothing.  She was not thrilled at the thought of wearing baggy, un-fashionable clothing.  The other thing that was on her mind was spaghetti, non-stop.  We decided to take a trip to New York, to take care of both of those things at one time.  We planned a tour of Little Italy, to find the best spaghetti and meatballs, and we planned a trip to the fashionable stores in search of fashionable maternity wear.

We have taken these food based tours before, heading to Texas one time to find the best Barbecue, and we went to Boston a different time, in search of the best clam chowder.  For Mexican food, we go to Mexico, and for Italian, we usually go to Italy, but this time we had found a great rate on a room in New York here…newyorkcheaphotel.com so New York it was.  Our first stop was at a store known to be the hippest place for new moms to be, Veronique Maternity.  The prices were a bit steep, but my friend found a few great deals, and with that we headed for our first destination in Little Italy.  We found Il Palazzo, a great little place with a perfect patio, and some very, very good spaghetti.

The next day, we headed to a place our waitress told us about called A Pea in the Pod.  This was my friend’s favorite shops as the styles included everything from low rise jeans and great dresses…I even bought one of the dresses for myself.  That night we found our best spaghetti so far, at Casa Bella Ristorante.  The menu was huge, but we were just in the market for the spaghetti.  I asked for mine to be just a little bit spicy, and it was.  The chef came out to congratulate my friend, and made her a special desert…his grandmother’s recipe he said.  It was a beautiful ending to a very fine trip of shopping and the search for the perfect sauce in Little Italy.