LORAN SMITH: Food for thought from New York City

NEW YORK – Throughout this energized and electrifying city, there are countless neighborhood restaurants where you will find good food with a flair for the Old Country — which allows for adventure in the menu alone. Sometimes there is even more when you come to know the proprietor.

New York is charming and stimulating, offering an amalgamation of cultures and customs, which make you want to lecture to segments of our society where productivity is not only ignored but abhorred. You only have to learn the story of Myra and Mel Bauta to be reminded once again that you can pull yourself up by your bootstraps if you underscore the work ethic and make do — never asking for help, only opportunity. Connecting with the Bautas and their Northern Italian restaurant was easy in that their youngest son, Faton, is a quarterback on the Georgia football team.

On a recent Sunday evening here, Myra treated us like we were family who had just crossed the Atlantic for the first time. She was born in Montenegro (she remembers eight family members living in one bedroom), and Mel was born in Macedonia. Separately, they came to our shores like so many, believing then and passionately confirming today that America remains the land of opportunity. They came with little more than the clothes on their back and championed the work ethic from austerity to prosperity.

Upon arrival, Mel worked three jobs. The only sleep he got was on the subway, riding from one job to another. When Myra’s brother said he was leaving Montenegro to find a better life, his widowed mother announced that she and his siblings, which included 5-year-old Myra , would be coming along. They first landed in Italy while awaiting a sponsor in the United States. One of the means of survival was that the family toiled on a carrot farm with the owner giving them carrots as a bonus for their hard labor. “You can only eat so many carrots,” Myra said, “so we traded the extras for other foods.” This barter arrangement became a means of survival.

When the sponsor connection came about, they wound up in Stamford, Conn. Her mother, Mihana, was offered welfare, but, out of deep pride, refused. “I want a job,” she said flatly. Now 87, Mihana is proud that she worked three jobs for more than 25 years to enable her family to survive.

As Mel, who was introduced to Myra by her brothers, got the restaurant under way, he began to invest in real estate, which has led to a second home in Florida. Myra still makes the 45-minute commute from New Jersey four or five days a week to oversee Trattoria Alba operations. A tall, attractive blonde with a generous smile, she says that her six kids — five boys and a girl — have kept her young. Nobody could disagree. Family values have trumped the hard times. She lives to talk about her family, often referring to her boys numerically:

No. 1 (Luman), an undergraduate of Bucknell with an MBA in accounting from Indiana. No. 2 (Lav), a Duke undergraduate with an MBA from Villanova. No. 3 (Idriz), a Villanova undergraduate with an MBA. No. 4 (Imer), a Villanova undergraduate in engineering, working for degree requirements for a master’s. No. 5 would be Faton, the Bulldog backup quarterback who will complete degree requirements with two years of eligibility left. A master’s degree in sports management while playing for the Bulldogs is on his agenda, as you might expect. All of Faton’s brothers played college football. They were offensive linemen, where there is no better place to excel when you are imbued with the work ethic.

“Don’t forget about their sister,” Myra said. “Ferdesa has a degree in nursing from Villanova and is now getting her doctorate in anesthesiology at Columbia. We are very proud of her, too.”

While this conversation was taking place, she ordered for her guests, which included Betty and Lou Perno of Athens, who have great affection for Northern Italian cuisine. Pasta, seafood, and mushroom dishes arrived promptly, accompanied by a bottle of rich Brunello. Reality is that when you enjoy a memorable meal and are entertained by the consummate hostess, departure eventually comes about. We experienced the same emotions that Shakespeare evoked when he penned his famous line from Romeo and Juliet: “Parting is such sweet sorrow.”