Saying goodbye to a piece of my childhood. The Italian Kitchen on Common Street in Lawrence will be closing on Sunday April 30^th after being in business 59 years.  They sell only 2 products, crispellis and rice balls. And as of now no one else in the area or even the U.S. makes crispellis. As a matter of fact not too many people outside of The Merrimack Valley and Sicily even know what they are.

For those of you who don’t know. A crispelli is a small piece of fried dough. They can come several ways. Plain are like a mis-shapen doughnut with or without a coating of granulated sugar. The anchovy crispelli are stuffed with a single anchovy in a 3 0r 4 inch straight piece of fried dough. The cheese is stuffed with fresh ricotta in a round ball about twice the size of a golf ball. For an Italian in The Merrimack Valley, these balls of dough are not only delicious they are a big part of our heritage.