Category Archives: Italian

Via Vai

Located right at the end of the N/Q in Astoria is an amazing Italian joint called Via Vai (translation: Coming and Going).

DSC04438

DSC04439

I was invited here for a free press dinner, but I can tell you honestly that this is some of the best Italian food around – especially the pizza. The flavors are not hidden with grated cheese or pepper on top at this place. You’re dealing with naked and natural dishes made from top quality ingredients. Everything comes to the table already nicely seasoned, and with great cooking technique there is no need for extra grated cheese or cracked pepper.

The first thing I noticed was that the staff can all speak Italian. In fact both people we met were from Italy. Valentina was from Genoa, and Manuel was from Rome. The crowd was good too; a full house by 7:30pm. Lots of neighborhood regulars were coming in, and the staff was eager to greet them. They even waved to people walking by on the streets – more neighborhood regulars that they know by name and sight. In fact the people next to us had clearly been there before, based on the conversation I overheard. They also spoke constantly about how great their pasta, shrimp and grilled veggies were. It seems like they had a great meal just like we did.

We started with some drinks: a Picus red wine, which was a nice blend of sangiovese and montepulciano. Very smooth. We also had a Staten Island hefeweizen from Flagship. It was the filtered wheat style: good flavor.

DSC04451

The first thing that our lovely waitress Valentina brought to us was this plate of warm flatbread foccacia, which was like a pizza crust that was ever-so-lightly salted. It was served with olive oil that had a garlic clove and a rosemary sprig in it. Light. Perfect. I could eat this shit all day.

DSC04452

DSC04453

Next up was a pizza, fresh from the brick oven:

DSC04479

While I’m more of a traditional margherita pizza guy, this shit was so fucking good that I could see myself having this shit at least two or three times a week. A light, airy dough is made in house and allowed to rise for 48 hours. It gets crispy, soft, fluffy and absolutely perfect in terms of texture. This particular pie was topped with a fig marmalade, prosciutto, gorgonzola, truffle oil and arugula. This was Valentina’s favorite pizza on the menu, and Manuel told us that this is how he used to eat pizza in Rome.

DSC04457

DSC04458

DSC04460

Next up was polpette (meatballs). The sauce was chunky and fresh, nicely seasoned. The balls were very soft, and made from all beef, which I like. Lots of times the pork, veal and beef mixtures can get too dense. I tend to be a picky meatball guy and I really liked these. I still like my mom’s better because she fries them in a pan first to give them a crispy crust before plopping them in the sauce – so you get crispy outside and soft inside.

DSC04463

DSC04467

Then we got to try this really interesting gnocchi special. The purple color is from the beet and ricotta based pasta dough (all pasta is made fresh in house). The sauces on top were twofold: parmesan fondue porcini mushroom. The dish was then finished with some truffle oil and crushed hazelnuts. This was unique and very different, and stunningly gorgeous to see in person. They were like pasta bubble gum balls. I didn’t really taste any beet, but the flavor was really good.

DSC04468

Last, we had some kickass desserts. The absolute best panna cotta I’ve ever had. It was insane. Realllllly smooth and creamy consistency. The texture was flawless. Not overcooked at all. It was like creme brulee but not as eggy, not too sweet.

DSC04470

Last was tiramisu. This was super light and whipped, with cocoa sprinkled on top. There were thin layers of cake between the ricotta, and there was just a light hint of coffee flavor, which I appreciated (I’m not into heavy coffee flavors in dessert).

DSC04472

DSC04476

Clean bathroom too – that is always important!

UPDATE 4/3/16

My wife and I came back here to try out their brunch/lunch options. They offer a great deal where you get two entrees/items and a dessert for $28. This is probably enough to split between two people, but my wife and I each did our own to maximize the items we wanted to try out.

Our “starters” were a spinach and egg pizza, and a spinach and asparagus crepe. The pizza was great, once again. The egg really brought home the breakfast feel, and Manuel even drizzled some truffle oil over the top to give it an earthy punch.

DSC03025 from raw

DSC03035 crop

DSC03036

The crepe was light and fluffy, and thicker than one might expect when hearing the word “crepe.” It was somewhere between an omelette and a crepe, I would say. It was covered with a light tomato sauce and filled with cheese, spinach and asparagus. Beautiful to look at, and even better to eat. This was a perfect brunch item.

DSC03039

We tried two pasta dishes for the “entrees.” First was this bucatini carbonara. Bucatini, if you don’t know, is a thick spaghetti that has a hole through the center, like a straw. The sauce was nice and creamy without being too heavy. The portion size was great for the price, and the onion, pancetta and seasonings were all top notch.

DSC03045

The other pasta dish was a rigatoni alla grecia, which was similar to the carbonara but without the creaminess. This ate much lighter, but both dishes contained perfectly cooked pasta that was just the right amount of al dente.

DSC03051

By then we were full, so we brought some of the pasta home with us, but we couldn’t pass up on the dessert. We shared the panna cotta, which we knew that we loved from our earlier visit. I had forgotten how smooth and creamy this was. Just perfect. This time the plating was a bit nicer too, with some orange slices and pistachios.

DSC03055

I highly recommend this place, especially for the pizza and pasta.

VIA VAI
31-09 23rd Ave.
New York, NY 11105

Crispo

Crispo is a gorgeous Italian joint down on 14th Street near 8th Avenue. My buddy and his girlfriend have been coming here for years. I had never heard of it, but when he told me about it, I knew we had to try it out together as a group.

We started with a bunch of apps. For that reason, and because I knew we were also going to eat pasta and steak, I took it easy on the delicious and generously portioned table bread.

DSC02877

First, we had a sampler app trio of speck, aged goat cheese and mozzarella rice balls. The meat and cheese came with dried fig and an apricot/fennel jam. Both the speck and the cheese were great, top quality products.

DSC02883

The rice balls were addicting. You can easily catch yourself popping a bunch of these in a row without even realizing what’s going on. They were perfectly fried to a golden crisp on the outside, and the inside was both firm from the rice yet oozing with delicious melty fresh mozzarella cheese. Not heavy, salty or greasy, which is the opposite of what you sometimes get when these are done wrong.

DSC02887

The next app was a nice, simple fried calamari. This also came with fried zucchini. There was a cornmeal aspect to the breading here, which made for a nice crisp crunch. That’s fried parsley on top, too.

DSC02895

Our favorite app was this crispy pork belly topped with a melted gorgonzola-stuffed fig. Underneath the pork belly was crispy polenta, and a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

DSC02891

This was one of the most tasty apps I’ve had in a while. In fact, I think this could be an incredibly successful entree as well if just magnified in proportion. Seriously, I could eat this all day. The fat is cut with the acid, and the funk of the cheese takes the flavors off onto a ride that’s more wild than the fucking Great Space Coaster.

So after all of that, we were finally ready for some pasta. This place seems to be somewhat famous for two pasta dishes in particular: the Spaghetti Carbonara and the truffle ravioli. I know what you’re thinking. “Spaghetti Carbonara? I can get that crap at any halfway decent Italian joint.” But here’s the rub: most Italian joints fuck up their Carbonara with cream, making a dense, salty and overly-heavy pasta eating experience. Real Carbonara, from what I understand, doesn’t have any dairy, other than the cheese you grate over the top! The creaminess is achieved via egg yolk.

DSC02902

Break the yolk, mix it around a bit, and you’re ready to rock. Just sprinkle in a green veggie and some crispy pig bits. I must say, this Carbonara was divine, and like none I’ve ever really tasted before. Not only was the pasta cooked just right, but the ingredients were well-balanced, and nothing was too salty. A big problem I usually have with Carbonara is sweating like a pig while I eat, because of all the FFFFFFFFFFUCKING salt that’s usually in it…

The hand made truffle ravioli were nice and al-dente, served in a simple brown butter type sauce, and the portion was large for a very reasonable price. I was expecting like six somewhat large ravioli in the bowl, not a dozen.

DSC02909

Now to the meat. My wife and I shared the New York Strip steak, which was simply grilled and then topped with a mound of red wine reduced onions.

DSC02901

The steak was cooked perfectly to medium rare.

DSC02919

While I wasn’t a huge fan of the onions (I’m a purist), I did find myself going into them every so often out of an enjoyed curiosity. The meat itself was nice, tender and flavorful. 8/10.

The steak also came with parmesan herb fries. These were really crispy, and the parmesan acts as a cheese-funk seasoning that replaces the standard salt. Very nice.

DSC02931

Last, we had some creme brûlée, pot de creme and pistachio gelato. I didn’t snap the gelato pic for some reason, but I did pull the trigger on the cremes (the two come in one dessert order – bonus).

DSC02937

I was blown away by the quality of the food here, the service, the ambiance and decor, and the portion sizes. I’m ashamed that this place never made it onto my radar in all its years in operation. But not just that: the prices are really fair. All of the food described here, plus about two or three alcoholic drinks per person (wine, cocktails, beer, after dinner drinks), plus a round of coffee for everyone with dessert, only came to $105 per person, with tax and tip included (we had four people at the table total). I was shocked.

Needless to say, I’ll definitely be back here, because there is a lot of shit on the menu that I want to try (like the pork shank).

CRISPO
240 W 14th St
New York, NY 10011

Via Della Pace

UPDATE: This place is now CLOSED

Food promo titans Eaters Drinkers and The Creative Shake put together a great pizza tasting event at Via Della Pace Pizza, a cozy East Village joint that slings some really creative and unique pizza pies. I’m generally a traditionalist when it comes to pizza, but I was sold on these puppies.

Giovanni Bartocci and Marco Ventura co-own both Via Della Pace (another nearby restaurant) and Via Della Pace Pizza (this place).

DSC01292 VDP from jpg

With the support of his family in Italy, Giovanni Nasti, the pizza chef at VDP Pizza, has employed creative ways to get color into the dough without using a single drop of food coloring. Essentially, he has invented colored pizza dough! As such, the thrust of this event was to showcase VDP Pizza’s multi-colored dough pies, of which we tried four (black, red, green and yellow).

DSC01257 VDP

DSC01259 VDP

For black he uses squid ink. For red: beets and red wine. For green, it’s spinach. And for yellow, the key is saffron. Pretty smart, and completely natural.

DSC01296 VDP

Each colored dough has it’s own set of toppings. As you can see in the pic above, the toppings and dough components compliment and highlight one another to make for great pops of flavor.

The yellow saffron dough is topped with pomegranate seeds, guacamole and asparagus. The cheese is mozzarella. Very pretty!

DSC01285 VDP

The green spinach dough is topped with mozzarella, tomato sauce and basil. Super simple and traditional, but for the green dough. Absolutely wonderful.

DSC01278 VDP

My two favorites (couldn’t choose a winner) were red and black. The red beets/wine pie is topped with gorgonzola, mozzarella, sausage, polenta and shaved black truffles. This baby was super earthy and savory. Definitely my kind of pie.

DSC01301 VDP

DSC01317 VDP

The black squid ink pie is topped with red cabbage, smoked salmon, poppy seeds, sour cream, chives, mozzarella and tomato sauce. It may sound odd, but I assure you it works in every way. The day of the event was apparently both National Pizza Day AND National Bagel & Lox Day. As such, this was a perfect mash-up of epic Jewtalian proportions. I thoroughly enjoyed this, and I highly recommend that my readers give it a try. It’s so unique and tasty!

DSC01313 VDP

DSC01319 VDP

The good people at VDP also put out some non-colored dough pies from their pizza menu. The first was the Vespasiano, which is topped with fior di latte, burrata, mixed vegetables and olives.

DSC01240 VDP

The second was similar to their Augusto pie: prosciutto, olives, arugula, mozzarella and shaved parmigiano. Absolutely delicious. A perfect balance of savory-sweet and salty.

DSC01353 VDP

This third one came out as I was about to leave for the night. It’s a shame, too, because it looks like my kind of pizza! Very traditional. Oh well. I guess that just means I will be back for more…

DSC01352 VDP

For dessert, which came out a few minutes before that last pizza, we had these extremely addicting “Zoccolette alla Nutella Fritte.” These are nutella-filled zeppoli-like creations: fried pizza dough with hazelnut chocolate spread inside. Pop these babies with some ice cream or gelato and prepare to grow a few belt sizes.

DSC01341 VDP

DSC01351 VDP

DSC01333 VDP

That about covers it. I categorize this as a type 1 pizza joint (they sell pies only – no individual slices), with a nice selection of food items aside from just the pizza. It’s a full restaurant.

VIA DELLA PACE
130 St. Marks Pl.
New York, NY 10009

Adoro Lei

I was invited here for a press event pizza party by a friend of mine who works in the food business.

DSC07725

I’m always on the hunt for good pizza, so I was psyched to try this place. But this joint is more than just pizza. They have great cocktails, a really nice menu, and a good beer selection as well.

DSC07727

DSC07864

That’s the pizza oven up top, and just underneath, you can see this dude rolling out the pizza dough with a wine bottle. That’s some old school type shit!

DSC07867 sepia

Let me guide you through this awesome meal. First, we had the “Burrata Divine,” which is a nice tasty blob of burrata cheese on top of eggplant with some grape tomatoes and arugula, drizzled with a truffle honey.

DSC07737

This was some good shit. The burrata was soft and flavorful, and the truffle honey was a nice touch of sweet against the peppery arugula.

Next up was “Chianti Kale,” a kale, spinach and shitake mushroom salad with shaved ricotta and fried salsify, tossed in a Chianti-sesame dressing. I’m usually quick to mock kale, but this was actually an awesome salad. It had depth to it from the sesame and Chianti dressing.

DSC07730

We also had the “Sous-Vide Beets.” The beets were warm and plated at the base of the dish, with arugula, frisee, candied walnuts, goat cheese and blackberries on top. This was tossed with a walnut dressing.

DSC07758

This was earthy, sweet, hearty and savory all at once. Now that I know beets are this good when cooked sous vide, I’ll definitely be throwing them in my homemade machine at the old Johnny Prime Food Research Lab.

We snacked on some grilled shishito peppers with shaved almonds while waiting for the next courses to arrive. These were lightly salted. Very nice, with a mild heat to them.

DSC07775

DSC07811

My favorite items of the night were these “Adoro Sliders,” which were essentially braised veal and pork meatballs with a tomato sauce and sheep’s milk ricotta on a slider bun.

DSC07769

The bun was soft and strong, as you would expect from any good burger. The meat was tender and juicy, just like a really good meatball. This was the perfect Italian burger. I loved it. They’re a bit pricey at three for $14, but well worth the money in terms of taste.

DSC07801 edits

Another star dish was the “Lovers’ Purses.” These were pasta dumplings filled with cheese, and served with pear, brown butter sage sauce, roasted walnuts, arugula and parmesan shavings.

DSC07744

They were dense and cooked al dente, but they weren’t heavy.

The last of the pre-pizza items was the “Espresso Tuna.”

DSC07807 edits 2

Cooked to a perfect rare / medium rare, this tuna had an espresso dry rub and was served on top of spinach and fingerling potatoes, and topped with toasted pistachio nuts and roasted red peppers. The pomegranate Thai basil reduction sauce was what really set this dish apart. The acidity was perfectly balanced against the sweet components, and despite the distinctively Asian ingredients, it really tasted like a natural Italian dish. Nicely done.

Okay so here comes the pizza. I will start with the least favorite – which is by no means “not good” – and work my way to the best. This first pie is the traditional tomato sauce and cheese style, called “Casanova” at this joint.

DSC07820

DSC07831

DSC07838

DSC07854

The flavors were good, just not as robust as some of the other items from the night. This pie was a bit limp in the center, where the sauce and cheese were heaviest, so any lack of stiffness in the crust will cause some concern.

Next up was the “Veronica” pizza. This had burrata, kale, grape tomatoes, pecorino and basil.

DSC07817

Not a bad pie, but also just not as memorable as a good traditional or a really unique specialty pie. The crust was nice and crisp, and the toppings weren’t too heavy or overpowering of one another.

The big winner was the “Pietro.” This is essentially an arugula and prosciutto style dry pie, topped with marinated cherry tomatoes, basil, pecorino, shaved parmesan and truffle oil.

DSC07813

The use of truffle oil was delicate and skilled here. It wasn’t overpowering. The cheeses were perfect with the prosciutto, and despite this being bold on flavor, it never overwhelmed my palate. I’d come back for this any day. Look at us going bonkers with the photos and ooey gooey slices!

DSC07842

DSC07848

DSC07828

DSC07855

DSC07850

We also got to try some dessert. First was this nutella pizza, which was sweet dough on top and bottom, sandwiching a nice layer of nutella and topped with powdered sugar.

DSC07878

DSC07887

Be careful not to breathe in when taking a bite. That powdered sugar can be a coughing fit in the making!

There was also a really nice fried dough item called nutella fingers, which consisted of logs of fried dough served with nutella, blackberries and whipped cream. Simple and delicious. This was my favorite of the two desserts. The dough was crisp on the outside but pillow-soft on the inside, and nice and warm the whole way through.

DSC07877

All the while during the meal we were having a beer tasting. We tried six different brews. My favorite ended up being an Ommegang, with the Bluepoint Toasted right behind.

DSC07857

Get down here for some food. You will definitely go home happy!

ADORO LEI
287 Hudson St.
New York, NY 10013

Osteria del Principe

Tabelog hosted another great food event, this time at Osteria del Principe, an Italian cured meat-centric spot down by the Flatiron building.

DSC07092

DSC07117

The restaurant/store is the flagship location, and is run by Principe di San Daniele, a world class prosciutto manufacturer in Italy. So you know you’re getting top notch meats here when you eat.

DSC07133

Tabelog invited a bunch of us ass-kicking NYC food bloggers and reviewers to mix and mingle while tasting some really nice meats and wines. Here’s a menu of things we tasted:

DSC07134

As you can see from this sheet, we were asked to rate and judge the various sliced meats and wines:

DSC07121

First I created a nice cushioned base with a bite or two of freshly baked focaccia bread:

DSC07103

Here’s my second (or was it third?) plate of meat. I needed to try everything a few times to figure out my rankings.

DSC07150

I ultimately put the truffle ham in first place, followed by the 20-month prosciutto and mortadella right behind. Then the 16-month prosciutto, with the speck being at the bottom. Surprising! That truffle ham really had an amazing flavor that wasn’t overpowering. It was a cured meat.

Here are some shots of the two ham slicings. The ones with the brownish edge is the rosemary ham, and the other is the truffle ham:

DSC07136

DSC07143

This board has the speck on the left, and the mortadella on the right:

DSC07144

As you can see, there was a fancy old fashioned hand crank meat slicer set up with the 20-month prosciutto.

DSC07108

DSC07113

DSC07107

DSC07155

DSC07093

The slices were served in little paper cones:

DSC07100

DSC07116

DSC07118

DSC07123

I really couldn’t get enough of those. So good: soft, not too salty, and really nicely flavored. One of the gents from the Gotham Burger Social Club fashioned one meat cone into a lapel flower for his suit jacket. Brilliant!

DSC07163

So that was just the sliced meats that were laying around for our consumption. There was also a huge wheel of cheese that was being sliced/scraped and shoved into little brown paper bags for snacking. “Raspadura” Bella Lodi:

DSC07110

DSC07114

DSC07095

The tomato and burrata caprese salad was refreshing and light, with a great herb kick:

DSC07132

DSC07130

The prosciutto and melon was a perfect balance of sweet, savory and juicy all in one bite. These were amazing, not to mention gorgeously plated/presented:

DSC07126

DSC07125

DSC07129

This polenta was wrapped with speck and then baked until crispy. Absolutely delicious! I need to try making this at home now:

DSC07149

The grilled octopus skewers were a nice break from the pork overload. Wait.. is there even such a thing as pork overload? Anyway, they were warm and charred to a nice half-crisp texture, and accompanied by slices of grape tomato:

DSC07154

The slices of Piadina (bread portion) with porchetta inside were really awesome too. Especially when topped with some of the freshly scraped cheese. This meat item may have been the best of the day. I almost wish it was showcased differently, because I feel like it got missed by some of the other bloggers.

DSC07159

Lastly, the house-made tagliolino pasta was set in a light cream sauce and cooked with the 16-month prosciutto, then topped with a nice slice of it. Fucking amazing. The prosciutto was allowed to season the whole dish without any extras needed, other than some finely minced herbs and a little fresh pepper. So simple, yet so good.

DSC07169

DSC07165

All around awesome meal, and I was happy because it was extremely meat-centric. The wines were pretty good too, specifically the Ribolla Nera, which was a red wine that had robust flavor but was still lighter on the palette.

DSC07104

There were even some Italian cosmetic samples and creams handed out as parting gifts. I let my wife go for that. I was’t really interested.

DSC07119

OSTERIA DEL PRINCIPE
27 E. 23rd St.
New York, NY 10010

Le Cirque & Sirio Ristorante

NOTE: THIS PLACE IS NOW CLOSED

We scored a deal on a three course meal at this famed upscale NYC joint. I was happy to see that there weren’t any restrictions on the deal too: three courses, app, entree and dessert, with no limitations other than paying extra for the super expensive items.

DSC07170

First let me just say that the bread at this joint is really good quality. Those little disc looking things were delicious, and all items were warm and toasty.

DSC07171

We started with the grilled octopus salad and veal carpaccio. I think the winner here was the octo salad. It was a warm salad, but it had great flavor from the olive, potato and tomato mix.

DSC07173

The veal was a bit on the dry side. The anchovy paste sauce was reminiscent of a German style mustard of sorts, so this had an unexpected taste. Caperberries were great though.

DSC07174

For our entrees, we tried the mini burgers and the skirt steak. The skirt steak was probably the best preparation of skirt that I’ve had out at a restaurant. It was charred nicely on the outside, and cooked to a perfect juicy medium rare on the inside. It was sliced nicely on the bias and at a steep angle. Just expertly handled all around. This is a 9 or 10 on flavor.

DSC07175

It came with a pine nut chimichurri type sauce on top, and it sat on a bed of lentils and crispy potato logs. There was even a miniature wedge salad on the side, and some pea puree blobs to boot. Really great composed dish here. I highly recommend.

DSC07179

The mini burgers were a little bit over salted and grainy in texture. They were nicely presented, though, and the abundantly massive side of fries that came with the burgers was a really delicious and near perfect execution of the item.

DSC07176

DSC07177

DSC07182

For dessert, we did the “floating island,” which was creme anglaise with merengue and fruit. Very nice and light. This was my favorite of the two, because each bite was dynamic.

DSC07186

The chocolate soufflé was perfectly executed, uniform thoughout and rich with flavor. I think I just got bored about halfway though. It was very large. I think soufflé fans will really enjoy it.

DSC07183

UPDATE 12/10/16

So it turns out that Le Cirque sectioned off part of its space to create “Sirio Ristorante,” which is, I guess, a more affordable and more casual dining option. My wife and I picked up a flash deal which gave us each a three course meal for $42 total (before tax and tip).

Much of the menu remains the same as above. We started with octopus and baccala.

dsc06326

dsc06336

dsc06317

Both were good but the baccala needed more chips to round out the fish.

For our entrees, we went with salmon in a truffle sauce and spaghetti “frutti di mare.”

dsc06344

dsc06341

dsc06346

The salmon was the big winner here, as it was perfectly cooked and had a great black truffle flavor. The pasta was a bit bland, and the sauce didn’t deliver. Some pieces of seafood were overcooked, while others were undercooked.

For dessert, we went with the creme brûlée and Crepes Suzette.

The crepes were fun. They tasted like a boozed up creamsicle.

dsc06355

Ice cream on top for the win:

dsc06364-edit

The creme brûlée was perfectly done, and I was smiling when I saw the recipe hiding underneath the deliciousness.

dsc06358

dsc06359

dsc06373

RESTAURANT WEEK UPDATE 8/4/17

My wife got us a comped meal for restaurant week due to her photo skills on Instagram.

We started with the endive salad, garganelli pasta primavera and tuna tartare (they brought an extra for us). All were really great, but I think the tartare was the best, followed by the pasta. The tartare had a really nice curry accent to it that popped.

For entrees we tried the branzino and steak. The branzino had a great crispy skin on it, and was nicely cooked.

The steak didn’t come sliced, but it was a small filet of strip loin with fries and a Bernaise sauce. Pretty decent. 7/10.

For dessert, we had the chocolate fondant and another creme brûlée. It was essentially chocolate ganache and chocolate cake covered with a chocolate shell.

LE CIRQUE & SIRIO RISTORANTE
151 E. 58th St.
New York, NY 10065

Cara Mia

My wife and I have walked by this place many times. So when I saw a Groupon that offered $25 for $50 worth of food, I jumped on it. Not only that, but I also used a coupon code on top of the deal, so it was technically even cheaper by at least $5.

Our first appetizer was a fennel, endive and pancetta salad. It wasn’t really dressed with anything. Still tasty, but I think some added citrus would have made it better – orange in particular.

20150614_155311

For our second appetizer we had the roasted calamari and mushrooms. This was really delicious, and both this and the previous app were large portion sizes. With the squid roasted instead of sautéed or fried, it made a big difference in the depth of flavor. That great roasted garlic was present without being too overpowering, and the rings of calamari were perfectly cooked. They had a good, tender snap to them without any chewiness whatsoever. The mushrooms were porcini and portobello, lightly cooked off with butter. The addition of lemon really made this dish pop with brightness.

20150614_155323

Our first pasta was a pappardelle with mushrooms in garlic and olive oil. This was very similar to the app above, with porcini and portobello mushrooms, but here the sauce was olive oil instead of butter and lemon. I actually thought the app had a more robust flavor. The pasta was perfectly cooked, however.

20150614_161601

Our second pasta was supposed to be strozzopreti (long, thinner cavatelli shape) but we were served cavatelli. This came with braised wild boar. It was delicious; heavy, but super flavorful. I wonder if this cavatelli was truly made in-house, as the menu suggested… They were all very uniform, and I noticed the tell-tale doughy, pillowy one that often shows up in quantities of one or two per pack of the store-bought cavatelli that my mom always used. Not a big deal, still delicious, and my favorite kind of pasta to boot… but it could just be that the restaurant ran out of strozzopreti and decided to run over to the nearby grocery story for some substitute cavatelli or something.

20150614_161605

Anyway, we ate every last bite of these fucking things. Everything was delicious, so we will probably be back to try some more stuff.

CARA MIA
654 9th Ave.
New York, NY 10036

Ornella Trattoria

Meet Giuseppe Viterale, a meat man after my own heart.

DSC04947

After putting his architecture career to the side, Giuseppe came to the US from Italy, sight unseen. He diligently worked his way up through the restaurant industry, all the way from bus boy, to waiter, to manager, and, eventually, to owner of his own restaurant, Ornella, which is romantically named after his wife of 25 years and staffed with his sons.

DSC04913

But that’s not where it ends. Giuseppe owns a pig farm in the Catskills where he spends lots of time working on and perfecting new recipes, and curing his own meats. SAY WHAT!?!??

Ornella Meats 4

For the last few years, he’s been making his own prosciutto, fresh sausages, cured sausages, nduja sausages and other delicious meat items that end up on the seasonal and special menus at Ornella. As you can imagine, the result is a restaurant that is very meat-centric, fresh, dynamic and locally sourced. Shit, he even has a pretty impressive steak menu and hosts a steak night on Mondays for $15… FIFTEEN DOLLARS!!!

But this isn’t just a place for meat eaters either. There’s a sizable vegetarian selection, and the menu boasts an array of authentic Italian dishes. There’s even some unique items like duck meatballs and sanguinaccio (a chocolate blood pudding dessert), inventive sauces like pistachio pesto sauce and orange brandy sauce, and interesting pasta dishes made from hemp, buckwheat and chestnut flour – all made fresh in house.

ornella-hemp pasta

They’ve even recently added a pizza selection for the delivery menu:

DSC04914

The joint has even been featured on ABC’s Eyewitness News:

My wife and I stopped in for a complimentary press dinner after Giuseppe reached out to me and let me know about his gem of a restaurant in Astoria.

DSC04920

DSC04919

Giuseppe has an incredibly magnetic personality. He is overflowing with information and a desire to impart his knowledge of food history, his food philosophy and his ideas about food culture onto everyone around him. He has actually even considered hosting classes for this very reason. But what exactly is his philosophy? That food, what we eat, how we eat it, and the quality and history of our dishes, is central to everything; our humanity, our health and well being, our economy, our interpersonal relations, and our understanding of one another. And he’s right. The kitchen is the center of any home. The table is where we congregate as a family and actually interact with one another. In a living room, we simply stare at the television. All peoples with rich cultures have rich food cultures, he explained. One thing that crosses cultural, visual, and audio-linguistic barriers is our common need and desire for food. Food brings people together.

Another interesting aspect of Giuseppe’s philosophy was what he referred to as “slow food.” With everything becoming expensive and factory-commercialized, with the proliferation of fast food joints and instant gratification meals, he was drawn to start making his own products and spend real time making dishes as opposed to just buying products and preparing them for diners. This is how the pig farm started. Giuseppe found that he could either buy nduja sausage for $80, which wasn’t that good to begin with and was very difficult to find in the form he wanted due to embargoes and other impediments, or he could make his own and control every aspect of the flavor, just how he wanted. He explained that he could actually verify where an animal came from and what it ate while living, unlike what is happening now with “prosciutto di Parma.” He could ensure the quality, the spice level, and the firmness or texture of whatever he was making. He could take different parts of the animal and cook them each in their correct way in order to utilize the entirety of the animal without wasting the undesirable parts. So many places only cook the items that are quick and easy to move off the line in a kitchen. “Slow food” is more respectful to the product and the environment, he explained.

His passion and respect for food shines through his dishes, as does his inviting, innovative and creative personality. He has applied his background in architecture to his food endeavors. “In order to have a strong building, you first need to build a good foundation,” he said. Quality ingredients, strong, basic cooking techniques… “Then you can build up, you can build flavors.” Well if cooking is architecture, then Giuseppe is Frank Lloyd Wright, and his food is the Guggenheim. Not only is he great with the foundations, but he is wildly creative as he builds up from there.

Here’s what we tried:

First there were the massively poured goblet of Montepulciano wine. Very smooth yet robust and flavorful. A perfect red for meat eating. I had read about the large glasses of wine served here online. This was a treat, and they certainly live up to their reputation of BIG wine pours.

DSC04918

The bread was a nice rustic style, crisp and flakey on the crust and soft and savory on the inside.

DSC04921

Giuseppe sat with us and explained the two different types of sausages we were about to try, both of which were homemade at the farm upstate.

DSC04924

First was the nduja, which is a Calabrian-originated product that is somewhat similar to French andouille, only soft like a pate, as well as spicy. It was spread across a nice slice of farm house bread. The main ingredients are pork belly and red peppers. Simple and delicious.

DSC04925

I’ve never had anything like this before, where it can be spread across bread like butter or pate. It was absolutely amazing. The spice level was mild to medium, so it didn’t ruin your taste buds for the rest of the meal.

Next was the hard, dried sausage. This was aged and cured perfectly. It would make for a really amazing thin-sliced charcuterie plate, but it is equally great to just gnaw on like jerky. It had a wonderful natural flavor. You knew you were eating something that was made with care.

DSC04928

We had the pleasure of trying the famous duck meatballs for our appetizer. In the center was a blend of mild cheeses like mozzarella and ricotta, so as not to take away any attention from the duck.

DSC04932

The orange brandy sauce was a classic pairing with the duck, yet presented in an innovative Italian way in the form of a meatball. Those are raisins you see garnishing the plate as well.

Next up was probably my favorite of the savory courses. Pork chop, pounded flat, lightly breaded and fried, and rolled up / stuffed with mushroom, spinach and cheese, dressed in a marsala wine sauce with mushrooms and served  with absolutely perfectly executed cavatelli.

DSC04934

DSC04939

Cavatelli is my favorite kind of pasta, so for me to rave about it here means a little something extra. I loved it – every last bite.

Next was some “slow food” braised beef short rib, on the bone, and served with gnocchi. This was topped with a reduction of the braising liquids, which was essentially carrots, celery, onion and a little bit of tomato.

DSC04935

Despite the fact that I am not a huge fan of gnocchi to begin with (too starchy and often gummy for me), I really did enjoy this dish. The beef was tender and fell off the bone, and the sauce was impressive. When I heard “reduction of the braising liquid” I was expecting something very salty. This was actually kind of light for a beef sauce. Impressive.

Last, but certainly not least, was the absolute star of the show for both my wife and I. You can’t get it anywhere else in the world, as a matter of fact. Only in Astoria at this small restaurant. This is the sanguinaccio. It is a raviolo made from a mixture of chestnut and regular flour, fried up like an empanada but stuffed with a 50/50 mixture of pigs blood and chocolate, to make a blood pudding that’s been spiced with cinnamon, clove, orange peel and sugar. If I had to guess, 90% of people would cringe at the description of this, but all you need to do is take one fucking bite and you will have your entire world turned on its head.

DSC04944

This is definitely a bucket dish: a dish to put on your bucket list, something you must try before you die. And I’m not the only one who thinks this way. This dish (as well as another made by Giuseppe), was featured in the book “1000 Foods to Eat Before You Die,” written by famous New York Times food critic Mimi Sheraton.

DSC04945

I really can’t say enough good things about that dessert. It was amazing, and I’m generally not a sweets guy, and certainly not a chocolate guy. I’ve never seen blood served in a dessert manner. I’d had my fair share of blood sausages, congealed blood cubes like gelatin in asian soups, etc. But never like this in dessert. Amazing. I’ll definitely be back here soon, and I hope you make your way there as well. Go and experience this rare dish, and fall in love with all the other great innovations that Giuseppe has to offer. He’s truly a talented man.

ORNELLA TRATTORIA
29-17 23rd Ave.
Astoria, NY 11105

Circo

Circo is a circus themed restaurant in midtown.

DSC04766

I’d heard they served up a good burger. After scanning the menu there were a few other things that I wanted to try as well, like the braised beef cheek and sun dried tomato octopus. And that’s exactly what I tried.

DSC04765_2

Oh shit, wait… that’s not the sun dried octopus. That’s some awesome octopus statue. Here’s the sun dried tomato octopus:

DSC04768

It was definitely tasty and cooked correctly. Meaty and fulfilling, like Lexington Steele, I would imagine. I just didn’t get an incredible amount of sun dried tomato flavor.

I tried a bite of my friend’s order, which was the braised beef cheek. It was delicious, and if I go back, I’ll definitely be ordering that. It was big, saucy and tender. Since I didn’t grab a photo of that, I will give you a photo of this Moretti beer that I drank:

DSC04764_2

Okay so on to my burger. At $24 I was expecting a bit more from this, but it was pretty good. It came with cheddar cheese and grilled onions.

DSC04772

Instead of grilled onions, maybe fried onions would work better, to give it a little bit of texture. It did come with onion rings, which were mighty crisp, so I suppose one could stack this fucker up even higher to get that needed crunch. In any case the lettuce was fresh and crispy (romaine).

The toppings were neatly placed on the side, which included two slices of red onion, some romaine lettuce, two slices of tomato and a pair of gherkins. I think slices of actual pickle would have been the better bet, but hey. The bun was good. Not potato, but strong enough to take some abuse. The patty was cooked nicely. I think it just needed a little salt.

DSC04775

The fries were super crispy. Almost too crispy at times, as were the two onion rings, but I did enjoy them.

DSC04769

UPDATE 3/1/17

I came back here for a press dinner and tried a bunch of stuff.

Shrimp croquettes were amazing. Soft, savory, filled with seafoody greatness.

Pizzas are very thin and crisp. If that is your style, then you are very happy ordering these babies.

Nothing beats a plate of meat.

Far be it for me to say something nice about a salad, but this Caesar was excellent.

Mixed seafood plate:

The big stars of the show, though, were these pasta dishes. Bolognese, carbonara, confit duck ragu and clams.

Of these, I think the pappardelle with duck confit and the chitarra carbonara were the best.

Oh and some sage ravioli too – these were tasty.

Circo is also rolling out some cheese wheel cacio e pepe pastas in the coming weeks, so be on the lookout for shit like this:

A buddy of mine tried the skirt steak. It was cooked nicely, seasoned well and had a good crisp on the outside. However it was served too cold. I give it a 7/10.

I shared a 30oz, 28-day dry aged Creekstone Farms t-bone steak with another friend. We ordered medium rare but it came out medium well to fully well done.

There was very little crust on this, although it was seasoned correctly. I was able to taste that dry-aged goodness here and there, but ultimately they ruined the steak, as the over-cooking rendered the texture dry and grainy. Another pair ordered the steak too, and it was also overcooked – just not as egregiously as ours. 5/10.

Another friend tried the lamb chops. These were tasty as well, but also similarly overcooked, unfortunately.

I guess the kitchen needs a little refresher on how to properly cook red meat proteins. But those pasta dishes are amazing.

On the side, we tried creamed spinach, asparagus, mushrooms and potatoes. All were good.

Dessert was nice too. Cannolis, bread pudding, apple tart and bombolini. Also all good.

CIRCO
120 W. 55th St.
New York, NY 10019

Marea

After seven months of living on top of this restaurant and pining for a bite of the cuisine within, my wife and I finally got a chance to check it out.

DSC03661

I had heard insane things about this joint: “Best restaurant in the city;” “Best Italian food in the country,” and so on. The place has been awarded two Michelin stars, and with a four-course price fix menu at $99/pp, it was a no-brainer that we’d hit this place up.

First off, excellent fucking martini – one of the best in town actually, garnished with three perfectly soft Castelvetrano olives.

DSC03655

And amazing table breads like fresh olive or black pepper focaccia:

DSC03658

DSC03662

First was an amuse of smoked fish on a sesame cracker. This was a nice bite:

DSC03657

My wife started with six oysters, one of each available variety; two from Massachusetts, two from Washington, one from Rhode Island, and one from Virginia. She preferred the two from Massachusetts. They were served with a balsamic mignonette that cut the fishy flavor of the west coast jammies, and the other sauce was a bright citrus motherfucker that I liked a lot.

DSC03665

I had the grilled octopus with smoked potatoes. This was really nice and soft, with a great char flavor, though I HAVE had better grilled octopus around town.

DSC03667

For the pasta dishes, we tried the red wine braised octopus fusilli with bone marrow. This was a little heavy, but full of flavor. The octopus wasn’t up to snuff in this dish, which was depressing, but the pasta itself was perfect.

DSC03672

The winner of the pasta dishes was this gramigna (small, extra long, curly, elbow style pasta) with wild boar sausage and savoy cabbage. It was lighter than you might expect, perfectly dressed, perfectly seasoned, and absolutely fucking delicious – especially with the addition of some bread crumb crunchy shits on top. I could eat vats of this, and THIS ALONE is why I can get behind their two star Michelin rating. Amazing plate of pasta.

DSC03675

For the entrees we had duck breast and steak. Let’s start with them duck titties.

DSC03678

The duck was served with a crispy polenta, which was nice but lacked a little flavor. The greens were overly tart, as if overdone to cook the bitterness out of the broccoli rabe (which was a little overcooked anyhow). The duck itself was nicely cooked, but after digging into my steak for a bit I really couldn’t take the iron-rich, blood-riddled, gamey flavor of the duck for too long. It was good and everything, nice crispy skin, etc. I just couldn’t go there, because I was busy with this:

DSC03679

It was cooked nicely to medium rare.

DSC03684

This is a sirloin, 50-day dry-aged, served with braised romaine lettuce and a fucking wonderfully fatty bone marrow panzanella bread. I sometimes dislike the grain and texture of this cut, but I really didn’t have any other choice for beef. I’ve had better strip or sirloin preparations elsewhere, and I suspect this cut was not from the “NY-Strip” side of a proper porterhouse. Perhaps it was from the T-bone area, which is less desirable (hence the 50-day dry-aging, to give it a boost). In any case, I ate all of it, so there’s that.

Dessert was nice, but there was some unexpected tartness in my wife’s panna cotta (from the green apple, not the roasted pineapple sorbet). Despite the tartness, this was still the better of the two desserts that we sampled, in my opinion.

DSC03694

I had the lemon tort, with which I totally expected the tartness. It had a cheesecake texture, and I loved how the ginger, citrus, and cinnamon gelato cut the lemon flavor.

DSC03689

When the bill came, there was a small amuse of candies to try. A passion fruit marshmallow, a tart white chocolate sort of thingy (which I didn’t like), and a white grape granulated sugar gelatin (also very tart). Actually, I wasn’t really a fan of any of these, now that I think about it.

DSC03696

In sum, we will definitely be coming back to try some more stuff, particularly the fish items, which, maybe, we should have gone with on this first visit. We’ll definitely sample more pasta dishes as well. Some of those things must really shine, and I suppose that’s why they received two Michelin stars. Otherwise I’m sort of baffled.

UPDATE: 6/25/16

My wife and I cashed in some OpenTable rewards points to the tune of $70, which we used toward dinner here. This time we stuck strictly to pasta and fish, with the exception of dessert.

First, we had this lovely crab meat paccheri pasta, which was the big winner for the night. The sauce was a rich butter and tomato concoction that I went wild for.

DSC05173

This tagliolini with clams and calamari was nicely executed as well, with a texture and shape that was similar to ramen. Other than that it was a classic riff on a white clam sauce dish. Very nice.

DSC05176

For the fish courses, we had halibut and monk fish, both roasted. The halibut was served on a bet of sautéed spinach and topped with shaved water chestnuts and an olive. The fish itself was just slightly overcooked, but I didn’t mind because the spinach and water chestnuts added that moisture back in.

DSC05180

The monk fish was similar in texture to catfish. Nice and hearty, with a snap that almost resembles lobster meat. This was served with beans, trumpet mushrooms and hazelnuts. While I liked this a lot, my wife wasn’t a huge fan of the flavors. We both liked the halibut better in any case.

DSC05182

For dessert we had blueberry doughnuts, or bombolini. These were absolutely delicious. They were stuffed with blueberry filling, and dusted with blueberry sugar. They came with lemon curd and honey for dipping. Only downside is that this order, which came with five “munchkin” or “doughnut hole” sized doughnuts, was a pricey $14.

DSC05187

MAREA
240 Central Park S.
New York, NY 10019