An Old Menu from a Bygone Little Neighborhood

La Focacceria, aka Vinnie's, closed nearly five years ago.  Today, while doing a little post-holiday cleaning, I found this menu under my desk.  There was always a bunch of menus on the counter at Vinnie's, although I never saw anyone consult one.  The specials were written on erasable wall boards, and the spellings were eccentric in the extreme.  I usually ordered the sfinciune, a cheeseless onion-and-anchovy Sicilian pizza, that appeared neither on the menu nor on the wall; nor did the cheesy, meaty rice balls.  Both appeared randomly from the kitchen and were deposited on the counter, near where spleen was frying for the vesteddi. 

There was once a little Little Italy along First Avenue, from around St. Mark's to East 14th Street.  All gone.  There are tons of pizzerias, but they are slick and shiny whole-pie joints, none of whose clients drove in from Staten Island to pick up a couple of pies for a confirmation party.  I miss Vinnie's and I miss Vinnie, even though  he once made a grab at my left boob outside Key Food.  Hell, he could have a grab at the right one  if I could just have once more slice of sficiune.