As I crunched into my fifth or sixth pizzelle from Colosimo's Sausage, I had a childhood flashback.
I was about seven, eating warm pizzelle fresh from the iron of Mrs. Fonger, the very Italian mother of my very favorite baby sitter, Pauline Fonger. We'd just been to Mass at St. Marguerite's Catholic church in Tooele, and the whole day was a joyfully exotic experience to my sister and me, two little Mormon girls of British pioneer stock.
Those pizzelle were the most beautiful cookies we'd ever seen, lacy and delicate and crisp, and eating them in Mrs. Fonger's cheerful kitchen felt like a welcome, warm and comfortable.
That's pretty much how my husband and I felt on the recent weekend night that we hauled a passel of kids over to the Sandy Colosimo's, a branch of a family-owned sausage producer that's operated in Magna since 1923.
Eating at Colosimo's is like eating in a clean, spacious Italian grocery store — and a little like Mrs. Fonger's kitchen in its welcoming exotica. Don't be surprised if an owner or two comes out to make sure you're enjoying your meal.
My husband looked over the selections for a sausage sandwich — there's hot and mild Italian, kielbasa, Polish, chorizo and Cajun, to name a few — and picked the bratwurst. Being a Midwesterner of German extraction, he's something of a brat connoisseur, and this was an especially tasty version, garlicky and running with meaty juices at each bite. The brat was nicely complemented by sauteed bell peppers and onions and melty, thin-sliced provolone on a hoagie roll.
I had the meatball sandwich, a bit of a surprise. The hot, deeply flavored and slightly spicy "meatballs" arrived in a sausage casing, which turns out to be very nice after you get used to it, as it holds the whole sandwich together. The firm hoagie roll and generous lashings of mozzarella helped, as well.
As an appetizer, we tried the sausage sampler plate, three half-sausages with peppers, onions and cheese. I loved everything: the rich linguisa with a breath of sweetness, the chunky-textured mild Italian and the kick of the spicy Italian. I had the spicy one all to myself, but my husband and daughter made quick work of the others.
We also tried the ravioli, big plump discs of pasta with a silky cheese filling topped with a simple herbed tomato sauce.
There's a nice kids' menu at Colosimo's that covers the kid-favorite bases in just a few selections. Our kids liked the pasta formaggio, otherwise known as mac and cheese, with its firm-tender noodles and creamy cheese sauce, and the formaggio tostado, a dark-toasted grilled cheese.
We also caved to their demands and bought them a couple of packs of Dippin' Dots, those little frozen beads that turn into surprisingly decent ice cream when you eat them. If your kids have been bugging you for some ever since trying them at that Wiggles concert, now you've got a regular supplier.
The pizzelle I bought were from the grocery side of the place. There are several fresh desserts of the cake and cookie variety available each day, but I couldn't resist the pizzelle. They were great, too, both by themselves and stuck into a dish of ice cream.
Soup, salad and antipasto $3.50-$8.50; pasta $4.99-$7.99; hot sandwiches $5.95-$6.95; cold sandwiches $5.95; kids' meals $3.49-$3.89; desserts variable
Colosimo's Sausage
Rating: ***
Where: 8745 S. 700 East #1, Sandy
Hours: Monday-Wednesday, 9 a.m.-8 p.m.; Thursday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-9 p.m.; Closed Sunday
Payment: Cash, credit cards
Reservations: None
Phone: 565-1265
Stacey Kratz is a free-lance writer who reviews restaurants for the Deseret Morning News. E-mail: skratz@desnews.com