Category Italian

Entries 21 Total Description

Reviews of Italian Restaurants in New York City

Masten Lake

Nov 30, ’11

285 Bedford Avenue between South 1st Street and Grand in Williamsburg, Brooklyn
718/599.5565
around $125 for 2, with 3 drinks, with tip
♥ ♥ ♥

I was talking to my friend Stacie about where we’ve both eaten lately and as we went through our list, she said, There really hasn’t been anything exciting since Momofuku Ko. I thought about this for a few seconds and I agreed. Sure, I’ve been to some good restaurants the last few months–August and Riverpark among them–but she was right: nothing has stood out. That is until I sat at the bar of Masten Lake in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

During my first visit, there was a generous piece of fresh and unadulterated mackerel served with sour tomatillos and sunchokes with a dusting of Japanese ground spices and a hint of yuzu. It made me get up and walk towards the open kitchen to ask who was cooking that night. It wasn’t a new dish, and any mortal can buy that spice from Sunrise Mart on St. Marks Place–I just haven’t had it that way before.

My second visit was a more wintry night and my companion and I split a comfortable bowl of pici with tripe. This is definitely hand-rolled, he said while pointing at the pasta with his fork. Of course, it is; an alumna of Lupa wouldn’t have it any other way, right? Its heftiness lent itself to the subtle offal taste of the tripe; the crushed tomatoes rounded the dish off. It was a little heavy on the salt, as heavy-handed as the tagliatelle with mussels during my first visit, though the burrata with the shellfish made it more palatable. There are other, shall I say, whimsical and lighter dishes to share, which change almost nightly, like the apples with sheep’s milk cheese and foie gras with smears of melon and mascarpone. You get used to sliding and passing ceramics back and forth, creating works of food art on plates and bowls. Order several wedges of cheese and a plate of thinly-sliced lardo to compliment the easy choices of wine and nicely-made cocktails.

The next time I visit, I’ll take Stacie with me and we’ll cover our palettes with smudges and smears of the day’s freshest ingredients.

Related post/s:
Masten Lake photos on Flickr
Kale and bacon salad from Lupa
Momofuku Ko in 2008

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Marea

May 12, ’10

240 Central Park South on 59th Street
212/582.5100
$256 for two people, with drinks, without tip
wheelchair patron may dine on street level
♥ ♥ ♥

I’m still thinking of those firm, yet pillowy, cicatelli. After Convivio and Mailiano, I think I’m convinced that when it comes to putting my money down for a great meal in New York City, handmade pasta has got to be a part of it.

The cocoon-shaped cicatelli sat on a very clean but rich seafood broth. Delicate mussels mimicked the pasta’s shape and provided the dish with the saltiness it needed. The summer squash pieces, also sliced so none of them were bigger than the pasta or the mussels, were tender. I’ve never been to Italy, but if this is the kind of dish locals eat along the coast, I might just pack up my shit and move there. If this is Chef Michael White’s creation alone, then I might just invite him to move in with me.

Decadence was the theme from the minute we sat down to eat. We started with Marea’s famous uni topped with a cellophane of melted lardo. If I have to pick a dish that would give me a happy heart attack, I think I found what would easily beat roasted pork belly. This is probably one of the reasons why Marea has just been named Best New Restaurant of 2010 by the James Beard Foundation.

We took it down a notch by breaking the richness with marinated sardines and then crudo tastings of snapper, geoduck, cuttlefish (sliced like tagliatelle), tuna, mackerel and fluke. The citrus and chili oil in all of them subtly cleaned our palates. They exhibited a different kind of decadence: controlled and unassuming.

A plate of morel mushrooms were next. Behold these mushrooms that cost an arm and a leg! I’ve never had them served to me whole, so I carefully sliced them to savor their earthy flavor in every bite.

To cap our meal, we also split the bouillabaisse. There was nothing that could have stopped me from sucking on that butterflied and seared langostine. There was also nothing that could have stopped me from slurping the seafood broth with that large soup spoon and then tilting the bowl to its side to scoop more. Even if Marea is about decadence of the sea, I think this bowl of simplicity says a lot about what seafood can become when sourced from the freshest and the best, and then handled by a pro.

We finished our martinis and old-fashioneds plus our glasses of white wine. I informed the waiter that the panna cotta with rhubarb compote sounded like the perfect ending to our inspiring meal but that there was just no room in our tummies for it. A small plate of petit fours were served while we contently sighed, and to our surprise, our waiter brought us the panna cotta anyway. Eh, there was an extra serving in the kitchen, he said with a smile. I forgot about not having that extra room: you don’t say no when you get something complementary from Michael White’s kitchen; you don’t say no when you get the chance to eat at Marea.

Related post/s:
Convivio is a sister restaurant

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Convivio

Jan 28, ’10

45 Tudor City Place off East 43rd Street
212/599.5045
$170 for two people, with drinks, without tip
♥ ♥ ♥

While in Colombia, we had a few unfortunate meals that involved pasta. Sure, Italy shares a lot of history with South America–the mass emigration of Italians was between 1876 to 1976 and brought a lot of them to countries like Argentina and then to Colombia–but the “Italian” meals we had didn’t quite involve a loving grandma in the kitchen. At the beach, vegetables were brought in from the nearest big city, about six hours away, so canned sauces were easier to come by. When there were fresh tomatoes, they were used with pasta that came in a box and because most of our meals weren’t cooked individually but in a big batch for the day’s guests, the concept of al dente was nonexistent.

Back in New York, I searched for that pasta lovingly massaged by big hands covered in flour and I found it at Convivio. We had no business spending any more money after our two-week trip, but I couldn’t resist Convivio’s $62 Sunday night prix fixe menu. Unlike most prix fixes in the city, their 4-course menu included a pasta and a dessert without skipping a separate main course. I opted to start with the yellow fin carpaccio drizzled in olive oil and sprinkled with finely chopped scallions and pistachios. I wanted to start light before my preferred pasta dish: saffron gnocchetti with crab and uni.

Did you just read that? Saffron gnocchetti with crab and sea urchin! I am not exaggerating here when I tell you that the combination made me roll my eyes back in ecstasy several times. Sea and earth have never smelled and tasted this heavenly together. The pasta was soft; full, yet springy at each bite. It was pasta at its best. At first, I thought the half portion would not be enough, but it was actually the right amount for such a rich dish. It left me wanting some more and yet I was completely satisfied. I think if I had a whole serving, I wouldn’t have cherished each spoonful as much as I did.

I could not say no to the duck breast. Duck is my new lamb. Done perfectly with Swiss chard alla Romana and spaghetti squash, it was the most beautiful wintery dish without being too heavy. Thankfully I was with someone who picked the lamb chops that tasted so carnivorously good with escarole and white beans. The last time I had lamb that tasted like it was just running an hour ago was at Per Se–that’s saying a lot for a most generous option on a prix fixe menu.

For dessert, it was a battle between the vanilla panna cotta with huckleberries and lemon sorbet or a trio of “freshly-spun” gelato (peach, mango, lemon the night of our visit). I am wont to order only one dessert and split it between me and my companions, if I order at all, but both were so irresistible that we shared them during our last few minutes in the restaurant.

If every homecoming meal was Convivio style, I would gladly suffer through a bad meal or two abroad just to remind me that sometimes you don’t have to go too far to enjoy a meal that’s full of heart–grandma or no grandma.

Related post/s:
I forgot to use my camera at Convivio, so just take a look at my Per Se photos

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Travertine

Nov 4, ’09

19 Kenmare Street off Bowery
212/966.1810
about $85 for two, with two glasses of wine, without tip
♥ ♥

Is it always like this? I had to ask the restaurant manager. He gave me a smirk; he knew exactly what I meant. No, this is the weekend. It’s usually more quiet on a weeknight. I was glad to hear that because I really liked the food at Travertine but I don’t need to eat next to guys with perfectly sculpted five o’clock shadows while a DJ spins Michael Jackson mixes on the side. When I eat, especially if I’m sitting at the bar, I would like to be able to talk to the bartender without screaming and without getting shoved to the side by drunk ladies who take photos of themselves for their Facebook pages.

The beef carpaccio was delicious. The meat was beautifully cut with marbling that formed like snowflakes under a microscope. Beets and micro-greens were sparsely distributed to complement the crumbles of Stilton. The bone marrow aioli brought the two dishes together. The duck breast was very well-seasoned and perfectly cooked. The roasted plums had a hint of lavender that penetrated the thick red wine drizzled all over it. I asked the bartender for the menu again because I couldn’t figure out where that different taste to the plums was coming from.

At Travertine, desserts were not afterthoughts. The basil gelato was to die for, served with a dark chocolate topped with crushed hazelnuts and cocoa nibs. If I had more room, the panna cotta with figs would have been the next candidate.

I’ll heed the manager’s advice next time and visit on a weeknight. I hope the food would be of the same caliber when there is no hoopla.

Related post/s:
A more casual meal awaits at Cafe El Portal
More pretty people at Cafe Select

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Montenapo Italian Restaurant

Oct 14, ’09

250 West 41st Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues
212/764.7663
if we paid, about $125 for two, with two glasses of wine, without tip
♥ ♥

I was invited by Montenapo to a tasting last week. I jumped at the chance because I think the restaurant scene in the midtown west area could use some help. Wait, what restaurant scene?

With Montenapo and Inakaya, both located in the New York Times building, no one has to subject themselves to the Times Square franchises anymore, nor do they have to eat mediocre food on Eighth Avenue before heading out to the theater. Unlike most of the city’s restaurants, you can enjoy your meal in a spacious atrium surrounded by glass windows. Ask to be seated next to the Renzo Piano-designed birch tree indoor garden for a view far away from outside traffic. Visit after 9pm and you can have a more intimate dinner without the suits.

We started with the buffalo strip loin carpaccio served with black peppercorn and Parmesan cheese. The celery sauce and mustard on the side helped cut the rawness of the meat. To sample their pasta selection, we opted for the tris and tried the pappardelle with lamb ragout, the ravioli with beef cheeks and the fettuccine with shiitake and oyster mushrooms plus some very fragrant morels. Unfortunately, the entire table must order the tris so we had more pasta than we could handle. We didn’t have enough room for the ossobuco served atop a saffron risotto, but it did serve well as leftover lunch the next day.

But of course, we managed to squeeze in desserts with our coffee and Mighty Leaf tea: tiramisu with a sliver of gold flake, blueberry cheesecake, mousse and strawberries served with a brush of chocolate sauce. At Montenapo, managing partner Jozef Juck and his staff were very generous and attentive. Throughout our time there, we felt like we were indulging ourselves in another city far away from home in the best sense possible.

Related post/s:
Inakaya is in the same building

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