My mother brings out a bowl of iceberg-and-tomato-and-carrot salad, a dish of garlic bread, my sister waiting for the Good Seasons Italian dressing to separate so she can start shaking it again.
Meanwhile, set up station to bread the mozzarella: a shallow dish of flour, a shallow dish of beaten eggs and a shallow dish of bread crumbs.
But at some point in the 1970s, around the time low-carb diets and Mediterranean cooking came into vogue, a rich side dish of bread that had spent hours absorbing meat juices and fat was no longer so appealing.
In Italy, nobody "drizzles" olive oil, or puts out a dish of it to dip bread in at the start of a meal.
The French and Italian cookbooks of the 15th Century give recipes for several Catalan dishes, such as capirotada, a dish of layered meat and bread moistened with a garlicky cheese sauce.
The Can Cires speciality is 'crostas con tomato', a dish of crunchy, twice-baked croutons of bread served with fresh tomato and olive oil.
It was unassumingly elegant and absolutely delicious, somehow transcending the sum of its eggy parts, especially when eaten with a basket of crusty brown country bread, a dish of vinegary lentils laced with lardons, and a glass of crisp rosé.
Once seated, they are surrounded by tuxedoed waiters bringing good crusty peasant bread, a dish of assorted olives and flavor-packed olive oil bolstered by red-pepper flakes, garlic and rosemary.
You don't quite realize that a dish of seared jack mackerel with crisp bread crumbs, braised romaine lettuce and a runny 65-degree egg is a clever play on a Caesar salad until the flavors come together in your mouth.
The dips were served with a loaf of fresh, warm Italian bread and a dish of little olives.
The best bet for local cuisine is the Taba-J snack bar, which serves spicy seafood rougaille, pickles and farata bread, plus a dish of the day.
