Tag Archives: pasta

East Village, Italian, Parms, Restaurant Reviews

Maretta

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My wife and I stopped in here before dinner at Andrew Steak Society to grab a quick drink, since we were early for our reservation.

The drinks and the menu were so good, that we booked a table for the following day.

The Gibson pictured above, made with olive washed vodka, celery flavored gin and dry vermouth was perfect.

The next day we came back for a huge meal. We started with the shaved fennel and olive salad, which was a big portion and also really delicious.

My wife’s favorite were the prawns with Calabrian chili butter.

The vitello tonnato was really great, using thinly sliced veal loin and topped with caperberries.

In the middle, we had a gemelli pasta with pesto and stracciatella. This was super fresh, although it could have used some finishing salt.

The pork milanese was served on the bone, pointed super thin, and topped with a cabbage slaw and apricot mustard jam. Very nice.

We also tried one of their pizzas, which was topped with san marzano tomato, speck and arugula.

We will definitely be going back to try more stuff.

MARETTA
27 Avenue B
New York, NY 10009

Italian, Midtown East, Press Reviews, Restaurant Reviews

Fresco by Scotto

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Fresco by Scotto is a family style Italian restaurant that is owned/operated by Rosanna Scotto, host of Good Day NY and long time news anchor for Fox 5! We were so grateful to be able to meet her there too. She was a great host and super sweet.

My wife and I tried a ton of stuff when we came here. Check it out:

Slideshow here:

We started with the potato and zucchini chips with gorgonzola, and the giant “Mama Scotto’s Meatball,” which weighed about a pound! Both were amazing.

Next up was this smoked hamachi crudo, which was one of our favorite items:

We tried two pasta dishes, both gigantic and enough food for two. The rigatoni Bolognese is partially made with chicken to help keep it lighter than most other Bolognese sauces. It still packed a ton of flavor, while allowing you to really go hard and eat a lot of it.

The pasta is all made in house, and this tagliolini was one of the best I’ve had. Porcini cream sauce with truffles. Perfect.

For mains, we had the veal chop with potato gratin, and the branzino.

We actually both liked the branzino more. It was so perfectly crisp and really nicely seasoned. It was plated with zucchini, spinach and a parsnip puree.

For dessert, we tried the banana pudding, the Italian ice cream sandwiches, and the chocolate mousse cake. I think the banana pudding was my favorite here.

Service was incredible, fast, and fun. My martini came to the table in about 1 minute and 48 seconds!

The table is set with a bunch of really nice marinated olives and peppery bread sticks.

We loved our meal here. It felt like we were at home for a big Italian family holiday meal. I can’t wait to go back and try their cavatelli and porterhouse for two.

FRESCO BY SCOTTO
34 E 52nd Street
New York, NY 10022

Italian, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Parms, Restaurant Reviews

Tre

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My wife and I stopped in Tre for their weekend happy hour menu, which is a great deal and runs from 2-7pm.

We started with some cocktails, which were excellent. The espresso martini and aperol spritz were both well made.

We tried five items.

The fried calamari was dry and rubbery. Skip these.

The sautéed broccoli rabe was tasty, but at $13 it was too small of a portion size (this was from the regular menu, not the happy hour menu).

The fried artichokes were great. Nice crisp, good seasoning, tender.

I also liked the linguine al limone. For a discounted happy hour deal, this was a great buy. Lots of garlic though.

We also ordered the chicken milanese from the main menu. This was perfectly crisp, tender inside, pounded thin, and topped with a nice arugula and tomato salad.

Keep an eye out for the operating fee, which is a 4% charge added to your bill. Not sure why they don’t just raise prices instead. On the flip side, they also offer a cash discount.

Would definitely come back to try more stuff. Give this place a shot.

TRE
173 Ludlow Stree
New York, NY 10002

East Village, Italian, Parms, Restaurant Reviews

House of Pasta

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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

American, German, Italian, Parms, Restaurant Reviews, West Village

Anton’s

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First, check out my Ride & Review HERE:

This place was pretty good! We rode here in the afternoon on July 4th, so we took advantage of their hot dog special.

This was a really tasty veal dog with dijon and kraut on a sesame seed bun.

We also had their bucatini made with thick cut bacon in a sort of Amatriciana sauce.

The pasta was perfectly cooked!

Then we moved on to their chicken schnitzel.

Crispy fried, pounded flat dark meat served with a side of cucumber and baby romaine salad and a dijon relish. Awesome.

I would definitely go back here again to try more items.

ANTON’S
570 Hudson St.
New York, NY 10014

Italian, Japanese, Press Reviews, Restaurant Reviews, Union Square/Flatiron

Aqua

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First, check out my Ride & Review video, HERE:

My wife and I came here with another foodie and social media influencer couple to try out some of this new restaurant’s menu. Aqua has both Italian and Japanese menus, so you can have a full-on omakase here, or you can dine a la carte and dig into some pasta or veal Milanese.

We selected eight items from this menu, and then had two versions of their tiramisu (one classic Italian, and one Japanese):

First off, they make some really nice cocktails, which is clutch since they have a gigantic bar (the whole space is pretty massive, actually).

We started with the mushroom and truffle arancini. These were delicious bites.

The lobster bisque pizzette was really unique. I’ve never had something like that. It makes for great table bread to share as a snack.

This red prawn carpaccio was absolutely incredible. This is a must order when you go here.

These little nuggets of fried rock shrimp were really tasty. They don’t look like much, but I was hooked. I could not stop popping them.

The oxtail and truffle mafalde was perfectly cooked and seasoned, and the oxtail was super tender and savory.

Here’s a shot of their 12-piece sashimi omakase, which has all of your favorites, salmon belly being my favorite.

This eight-piece roll had salmon and scallop, which was nice.

And finally, the yuzu shiso marinated lamb chops. These were awesome. After the red prawn carpaccio, this was probably my favorite item.

For dessert, we tried the classic tiramisu and the matcha/green team tiramisu. I think we all agreed that the classic version was better. I didn’t snap any photos of that, so you’ll just have to watch the video to see them!

AQUA
902 Broadway
New York, NY 10010

East Village, Italian, Non-Steakhouse Steaks, Other Cuts, Restaurant Reviews

Foul Witch

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First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:

I finally got over to Foul Witch, named for the strange character in David Lynch’s “Mulholland Drive” (one of my all time favorite movies). I had heard good things about this place, as it’s a sister restaurant to the popular pizza joint Roberta’s.

Like Roberta’s, they offer an item called Fire & Ice. This is basically the same thing at Foul Witch, but instead of being toppings on a pizza, it is a bunch of deliciousness on a plate. Stracciatella cheese, fresh pepper, extra virgin olive oil, and a Calabrian chili paste spread.

Absolutely delicious, especially when stuffed into their sesame focaccia with cultured butter as a makeshift sandwich (I didn’t snap a pic of that mashup).

We also did a side of their Sorana beans with salsa verde, which ate like cannelini beans with an avocado mousse on top. Very nice.

In the middle, we housed two pastas and their Dutch Baby.

The Dutch Baby is a cross between a pop-over and Yorkshire pudding, topped with duck liver mousse and apple. As tasty as it was pretty.

The first pasta was turnip and poppyseed caramelle. This was nice, but the broth had a little bit of a burnt, bitter flavor (likely from the turnip). Otherwise very unique.

The second pasta was Pici al Peposo, which is like extra thick spaghetti served with a peppery meat, horseradish and Parmigiano cheese. We sort of identified the meat as short rib, but traditionally this dish is made with either stewed short rib or shank. This was really nice, although a bit heavy.

Finally, we finished with their wagyu chuck steak.

This was perfectly cooked, super tender, juicy, flavorful, well-seasoned and just over all delightful. 9/10. It was served with a Bearnaise sauce and various types of allium (onions, garlic, chives, shallots, leeks, etc).

We would have tried a dessert, but the charcoal grilling going on in the kitchen set off the smoke alarms, and it just became unbearable to stay any longer. FDNY showed up. Haha! In any case, I would definitely go back to try more things here.

FOUL WITCH
15 Avenue A
New York, NY 10009

American, Charleston, Restaurant Reviews

Lowland Tavern

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This newly opened Charleston joint converts an old downtown townhouse into an elegant bar and restaurant space that serves up some modern American cuisine.

We started with some lighter bites, the tuna crudo (more like poke), and a celery salad.

Both were really nice and fresh, but the celery salad stole the show, of all things.

For entrees, we had a pasta dish consisting of a bolognese style sauce with shells, and grilled triggerfish with collards in broth.

Between these, the fish was the slight winner for me. While the flavor of the pasta sauce was delicious, the pasta itself was overcooked and a little mushy for my liking. The fish was a nice leaner style, tighter muscle flesh type of white fish. It reminded me of chicken breast!

For dessert, we had the banoffee pie, which was an absolute stunner, and easily the best dessert of the trip.

I would definitely go back here on future trips to Charleston, especially for the gorgeous bar in back.

LOWLAND TAVERN
36 George St
Charleston, SC 29401

East Village, Italian, Lower East Side/Chinatown

Fiaschetteria Pistoia

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First, check out my ass-kicking RIDE & REVIEW video for this restaurant HERE:

This place, whose name translates to Pistoia Wine Shop (Pistoia is a town in Tuscany), has some really amazing food.

We started with the guancia (pork cheek) and Tonno del Chianti (pork that tastes like tuna). Both were hands-down incredible.

Even their bread is a delicious mix of focaccia and country style.

Next we dove into some pasta. On was a special tagliatelle with sausage. Very good, although just a hint salty.

The other was a duck pappardelle which was lights out!

We finished the meal with the most perfect panna cotta I’ve ever had. Seriously.

FIASCETTERIA PISTOIA
647 E 11th Street
New York, NY 10009

Italian, Nolita/Soho, Restaurant Reviews

Roscioli NYC

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What a waste of money. I was really excited about this place, but everything was so overpriced and underwhelming that I’m not sure I’d ever go back, not even to the upstairs salumeria (when it opens next month).

Roscioli is a famous eatery in Rome, which my wife and I loved when we went nearly 10 years ago. The NYC location just didn’t meet expectations. As you can see above, it was a fixed menu with additions available for a starter and wine pairings. The meal begins with a watered down negroni of sorts, and some nice bread.

The first course of panzanella and burrata was the best of the meal. Bread soaked in tomato and onion juice with cheese. Can’t really go wrong.

The added tuna appetizer for $28 was a total rip. It tasted like mediocre poke; occasionally stringy, cheap fish. Skip.

Then there was a blob of glue-like risotto. Meh.

The pasta was good, as expected (carbonara). But for the price and portion size I can think of a dozen other places off the top of my head that are just as good if not better.

The meatball sucked. Mushy, no character. I’ve had better free samples as Costco.

Then there were two hunks of slightly rubbery cheese with a delicious aged balsamic. I was hoping for that crunchy crystallized texture from the cheese. Nada.

And finally, runner up for best part of the meal (tied with the pasta), a humble tiramisu. I love this shit, but at $150 a head all-in (no wine pairings, and with tax and tip) they need to step up their game.

Over all, this place is a pass for me. It’s too bad Motz’s burger joint wasn’t open yet next door. I would have followed up a bad meal with a good one.

ROSCIOLI NYC
43 MacDougal St
New York, NY 10012