Madison Originals Magazine Madison Originals Magazine May 2014 | Page 20

Lobster Ravioli with
Tomato-Vodka Cream Sauce

Porta Salad

on the old Greenbush neighborhood
recipes. Ed learned to cook Italian from
Roy and Rose McCormick, his original
restaurant partners. “Roy and Rose were
great cooks and spent a lot of time with
me. My family is Irish, so all I knew was
pretty much meat and potatoes.”
Today, as one of Madison’s most
experienced restaurant owners, Ed still
remembers where he came from. He
started out as a busboy and worked his
way up to the kitchen at Paisan’s, which
the McCormicks owned. When he was
hired as the manager at the new Porta
Bella in 1968, he was “the new guy on
the block.” Today, he gives his staff dayto-day autonomy, but is always available
for advice and questions. One of his
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main roles is to bring back new recipes
from Italy and work with the chefs to
incorporate them into Porta Bella’s menu.
One newer dish is Pumpkin Ravioli with
Gorgonzola Sauce. A regional favorite of
Mantova, the pumpkin-stuffed ravioli is
topped with a creamy Gorgonzola sauce
and walnuts. It continues to be both a
staff and customer favorite. Another
Mantova regional dish offered at Porta
Bella is Bigoli with Bolognese. Bigoli,
extruded pasta in the form of a long and
thick tube, is topped with a spicy tomato
sauce of Italian sausage, ground beef,
mushrooms, green peppers, and onions.
Other traditional dishes include Chicken
Parmesan, Lasagna, Veal Parmesan, and