Hagan Blount, The Wandering Foodie, chatting with Irene DeBenedittis.

“There’s nowhere like Queens,” fellow blogger Hagan Blount, told me recently over lunch at Leo’s Latticini. Blount had invited me as part of 93 Plates, wherein he ate three meals a day for 31 days straight with “New York City’s best and brightest independent food writers.” I’m as susceptible to flattery and free Italian food as the next person, but I had mixed emotions about participating in Plate 80 at Leo’s, also known as Mama’s of Corona. Just before meeting Blount I had consumed a prelunch of dumplings and rice cakes at Flushing’s Lu Xiang Yuan with my pal Suzanne Parker, and was starting to feel full. I also felt bad I had never gotten to know Nancy "Mama" DeBenedittis before she passed away late last year.

Irene DeBenedittis plopped two slabs of snow white fresh mozzarella down on the counter. As I chewed on my creamy slice of dairy heaven, she turned to a customer who had greeted her moments before with a “Hiya beautiful.”

“We lost Mom, you know,” she told him. “I love that lady,” he said of Nancy DeBenedittis, the matriarch and owner of Mama’s. “She never left this corner, she had all her priest friends. All the cops and all the firemen would come to her,” Irene said of Mama who liked to hold court at a table in the front of the shop. “They didn’t really come here to see you, they just wanted to see your mother,” he responded wistfully.

“This is my favorite, I love the bakery,” Irene said, ushering us into Mama’s Backyard, the neighboring pastry shop. It’s named for an outdoor café situated at the rear. Talk turned to the DeBenedittis family’s catering operations at Citi Field. “We were a little nervous about going into a big venture, we thought it was going to be crazy, but it worked out OK,” Irene said as Blount and I looked longingly at our respective meals, which consisted of a gargantuan foil-wrapped meatball sub with fresh mozzarella and a small Italian wedding soup.

“Am I giving you a headache? Because I’m a chiacchierone, I love to talk,” Irene said just before we dug in. “When you’re done, leave a little space for cappuccino,” she added walking away. I hadn’t heard the word chiacchierone, since my own mother passed away. It means "chatterbox" and suits the charmingly loquacious Irene perfectly.

Mama's untoasted, overstuffed meatball sub.

Mama’s meatball sub was so overstuffed, the semolina loaf could barely contain its contents. As I unwrapped the sandwich, one meaty orb rolled out from under its blanket of fresh mozz. When we first dug in we were both pretty quiet, save for one-word comments like “awesome” and “amazing.” It was my first experience with Mama’s meatball sub, but it surely will not be the last. Rather than being toasted like a typical meatball parmigiana hero, the meatballs were simply tucked inside the bread and then layered with fresh cheese. I much prefer this approach. “No question, the best meatball sub I’ve ever had,” Blount said enthusiastically as he attacked the second half. I saved mine for later since I wanted to try the Italian wedding soup, plus by then my previous meal was catching up with me.

Minestra maritata, aka Italian wedding soup.

Not only was it the first time I ever had Mama’s meatball sub, it was also the first time I had their Italian wedding soup, or anybody else’s. Tiny meatballs spiked with Romano cheese bobbed in the broth along with pleasantly chewy pearls of pasta and bits of escarole. Despite the name, Italian wedding soup has nothing to with nuptials. Minestra maritata refers to the harmonious pairing of greens and meat in broth.

Now that’s a cappuccino worth saving room for.

As we sipped cappuccino, Blount told me about the nine Queens restaurants he visited for 93 Plates. His favorite was Danny Brown Wine Bar and Kitchen located in Forest Hills, not far from World’s Fare headquarters. It’s a top-flight white-tablecloth establishment with a great wine list. Highlights included steak au poivre with potatoes au gratin and skate with brown butter over truffled cauliflower. Blount’s runner-up falls at the other end of the price-atmosphere spectrum. The cheap flavorful food at Elmhurst’s Taste Good Malaysian knocked his socks off. You’re right, Hagan, there really is no place quite like Queens.

Leo's Latticini (Mama's of Corona), 46-02 104th St., Corona, 718-898-6069

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