Corsino's

Corsino’s is an old-school Italian place with parking problems and location problems. The food is definitely good, but just as definitely not great. The neighborhood is a little threatening. A few people have been shot near Corsino’s over the years – some made it and some didn’t. Yet Corsino’s is still there, and we hope, not going anywhere.

Many family-owned joints moved east, following the money, or so they thought. Most of these smarties got picked off by the franchises, the chains, the themed-out, high-concept “casual dining” establishments with absentee owners, absentee flavor, absentee service and absentee senses of community. Corsino’s? Hell, no. Corsino’s stayed put in a mostly run-down neighborhood, convenient to the diverse downtown crowd, serving Italian comfort food, and their signature dish for the past several decades is the “Dago Salad.” No PC bullshit at Corsino's, you can bet your ass on that.

Anyway, as a return visitor I knew better than to park in front of Corsino’s next-door neighbor, the Capital City Sharpening Shop. CCSS will have you towed or slit your throat. Or both, I guess. So I parked across Court Street next to some nutty-looking End-Time Prophecy Church with burglar bars on the windows. Crossing the street I was comforted by the two State Trooper cars parked in front of Corsino’s. Once inside, I let my eyes adjust to the dimly lit interior and then found the LITG group sitting at the table right next to the Troopers. I sat down with the fellas, confident that none of us would get whacked.

Our waiter, obviously a Bama fan, laid a decent Auburn joke on us. I don’t remember the whole joke but the punch line was “Officer, I’m just trying to help this goat get over this fence!” The waiter gambled and won! Lunch in the Gump is usually about a 50-50 Auburn/Alabama mix, but today it was 100% Bama! The usual 20% minimum LITG tip shot up to between 25% and 30%.

We knew most everybody in the restaurant -- lawyers, realtors, cops, bankers, professors, more lawyers, pharmaceutical reps (hubba hubba), lobbyists, broke asses, captains of industry and others. Yet nobody was schmoozing. I guess we will all schmooze next time we meet at the Capital City Club – today is just lunch without pomposity.

Our local District Attorney came in with a crew of investigators, deputies, flunkies, etc. Seems they were all packing heat (note to self… before returning to Corsino’s, renew the carry permit). Between this crowd and the Troopers we felt real safe. We chatted with them on the way out. The DA commented to one of the Gumpers, “Didn’t I just see your picture somewhere?”

“I hope to God not in your office,” he replied.*

Anyway, we paid the check, thanked everybody, spoke to a number of friends and acquaintances still there, then left.

Outside, we ran into a few more friends coming into Corsino’s. We chatted for a decent interval, and then dutifully gave up our parking spaces.

Oh, almost forgot. The lunch was real good.
* Editor’s note: the DA had seen our Gumper (a known socialite) in the “Whirl” section of the Montgomery Independent. He is not wanted.