Residents of any community would be elated to have a short drive to a bakery that mastered the art of making quality crafted artisan breads. Within a 10-minute walk from our apartment on Cleveland Place in the North End, we had three. We even knew their baking schedules and timed purchases just as they were harvesting our favorite type from their coal or wood fired ovens. Is there anything more comforting than piping hot bread baked to perfection especially on a nippy New England night? All three are still there making great bread.
Parziale's Bakery is on 80 Prince Street. Bova's Bakery is virtually next door at the intersection of Prince and Salem Streets. Bova's also is kitty corner to where the Roma Pharmacy was located where I worked their soda fountain and counters in my early teens.
Boschetto Bakery was further up, 134 Salem Street. Many Sundays, me and my friend Bruno would deliver Boschetto's bread to restaurants in the Back Bay section of Boston. Our only reward was having access to his Ford for a couple of hours, mostly spent checking out neighboring college co-eds. We were about 17.
Parziale's website almost brought me to tears reading their menu of breads that are still available; scala, bastone, round Tuscan, spucadella and "spukie" twins, braided and knotted rolls.
Most afternoons, mom would send me to buy bread. We were partial to Boschetto's crispy bastone and the lighter scala on occasion. Bostone only cost 27 cents. We always had bread with dinner and enough left over to have in our lunch bag the next day. Mom would also make homemade bread crumbs with any remaining bread.
I never realized Italian lunches were very different until I attended Boston Technical High School. It was well outside our neighborhood and students were from all the different sections and cultures throughout Boston. I watched as other students unraveled their lunches. Many were made with peanut butter and jelly, skimpy portions of baloney and cheese, tuna or egg salad, or an unrecognizable meat sandwich between slices of white Wonder bread.
If leftovers from dinner could fit between thick slices of Italian bread, it passed mom's lunch test. There weren't any boundaries! Typical lunches included whole stuffed peppers; four-inch-thick sandwiches of eggplant parmigiana or stuffed squid, meatballs, sausages and braciole. Only their size was consistent. They were always massive and obviously delicious. I felt bad for all the other students. In retrospect, weren't we the poor kids from the North End? Go figure!