a free pizza to go with your beer?!

Tell me something is free, and I am there in a heartbeat. Free happy hour? Please. Free bike tour through Manhattan? I’m already spinning. Free food? Um, have you met me?! According to this NY Times article, all you need to do to get free food in New York City is buy a beer. Make mine a wine, and it’s just music to my ears!

While visiting Florence last Thanksgiving, I couldn’t help but fall in love with appertivo, an Italian tradition in which you buy a drink and enjoy a buffet of fresh pasta, cheese, salad and the like as you imbibe. It’s sort of the Italian version of Happy Hour. Of course, since the bar was in Italy, the food was more than mouthwatering, but the skinny Europeans didn’t overindulge. As I dined with two fellow Stonehill students, we certainly went up for seconds. Ok. Thirds, too. And all I bought was a bellini! Ok. Two. I thought that this concept would never work in our country of obesity and over-eating, but apparently, the idea has traveled across the pond and into some of New York’s most frequented watering holes. A free pizza to go along with a post-work brew? Good thing it’s Thursday. Cheers!