[Fiji Hill]

I ate a lot of calzones at a little Italian restaurant in Grafenwöhr Germany. 40 years later and I still remember that place fondly

Within a week of arriving in Saarbrücken, Germany, where I would spend two semesters at Saarland University in 1971-1972, I had eaten at every Italian restaurant in town--and they were all run by Italians, not East Asians, Middle Easterners, or white guys of Trans-Alpine heritage, as are many Italian restaurants in Los Angeles these days.

However, calzones hadn't yet made it onto their menus. The dish I usually ordered was spaghetti Bolognese.

The first calzone I ever ate was at a pizzeria in Santa Monica, Calif. around 1980. It was called a football sandwich because of its shape.

[Dutch Boy]

We are lucky that near my current house there are several small Italian restaurants that taste like someone’s gramma runs the kitchen.

[Clemenza]

I remember when I lived in SW Florida 2014-2017, most local “Italian” restaurants were owned by Egyptians for some reason. In NY, NJ, and CT, your Italian food is cooked by Salvadorans or Hondurans even if an Italian (from Italy) is overseeing things.