Tag Archives: pesto

East Village, Italian, Parms, Restaurant Reviews

House of Pasta

July 22, 2025 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:

My wife and I popped in here because we heard good things. We started with some nice cocktails, and a beautiful bread basket with focaccia and basil-infused olive oil.

Then moved on to the roasted octopus and crispy artichokes.

Both of these were great, and the octopus came with a few pieces of crispy artichoke as well. We were glad that we ordered the artichoke side dish for some extra though. They were delicious! Also the cauliflower puree underneath the octopus was so flavorful. I could eat that like a dip all day!

In the middle course, we had the dinner special of truffle pappardelle with chicken milanese, as well as the fusili with red pesto and straciatella.

Both of these were expertly seasoned and beautifully plated. We really enjoyed these. The red pesto was a unique mix of walnuts and red pepper that I had never had before. The Milanese was fried super crisp and pounded super thin. Perfect.

For the main course, we had their crispy pork shoulder with fennel and arugula salad. At $22 this is an absolute steal.

The skin was perfectly crisp, covering a layer of deliciously sticky fat and tender, juicy braised pork. Amazing.

For dessert, we had their tiramisu. This was really nice as well.

We love this place, and we can’t wait to go back! We also noticed that they have some excellent buy-one get-one free deals on Uber Eats. Needless to say, we will definitely be going back and also ordering delivery.

HOUSE OF PASTA
511 E 12th St.
New York, NY 10009

Italian, Restaurant Reviews, West Village

Via Carota

July 12, 2023 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

First, check out this badass Ride & Review video HERE:

My wife wanted to check this place out for their pork and pasta dishes, and I was interested in their artichoke and rabbit dishes. We tried all of it. Here’s how it started:

Two lovely cocktails, a classic negroni and a martinez, for me.

Vitello Tonnato was on special, carpaccio style. I had to try. It was great!

We also had their grilled artichokes, which were amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever had them grilled before, but I’m a huge fan.

This stracci pesto pasta was like a pile of lasagna noodles.

Fucking fantastic! I absolutely loved it.

This pork dish was belly, roasted and then grilled, with a tangy plum BBQ sauce, of sorts. Very unique.

The fried rabbit was incredible. Perfectly seasoned, and it came with a big hunk of fried sourdough. This could easily replace chicken and waffles if served with some whipped ricotta and a spicy Calabrian chili honey.

For dessert, a perfectly executed tiramisu.

We will definitely be going back for the fried calamari/fritto misto and fried zucchini. The plates coming out looked nuts!

VIA CAROTA
51 Grove St
New York, NY 10014

Italian, Parms, Restaurant Reviews, Upper West Side

Cafe Fiorello

December 28, 2017 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

My wife and I popped in here before seeing “Darkest Hour” at Lincoln Plaza Cinemas (great flick, and too bad that the theater is closing down in a month due to high rent). The place was jam-packed at 5:45pm, but luckily my wife had a reservation locked in.

Our movie was at 6:35, so we wanted to eat quick. We ordered our drinks and pastas at the same time, and they came out within three minutes.

I had the spaghetti carbonara, which was made the right way with no cream and a runny egg.

Enjoy the yolk porn:

It was made with guanciale (pork jowl) bacon, which added nice salt content to the dish without actually using salt.

My wife had the fettuccine pesto, which had a really nice, fresh flavor to it. Delicious, though a bit garlicky.

Everything was great, but the prices were a bit steep. All in, with tax and tip, for just two drinks and two pasta dishes, we were at $95 and change. That’s pretty steep! The interesting tidbit: This was one of the fastest meals we ever had in NYC. We were in and out within 20 minutes, like a horny teenager at a whore house.

UPDATE! This veal parm a la vodka was incredible. Easily in my top dishes of 2019.