Cafe Falai

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265 Lafayette Street, off Prince
917/338.6207
$50 for two, BYOB for now, with tip
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I remember loving Falai when I visited two years ago. A panetteria has opened down the block since then, and now a cafe on the west side. Cafe Falai is BYOB and closes at 8pm while they wait for their liquor license. The waiter entertained me while I waited for my two dining companions. They were so late he lent me his cell phone so that I can play Boggle. He told me he had only been working there for three days, but as soon as my group showed up, it seemed it was his first stint as a waiter, ever.

The menu is not much different from the original Falai. Our beautiful bowl of caramelized onions came with a dot of yolk. Before we finished raving about how it looked, the waiter grabbed a spoon, stirred the yolk and scooped up the onions to distribute in our small bowls. He left and returned with a small pot of consommé and poured the broth in our bowls and then left again to take everything away. Our delicate onion soup looked abused. It looked like we were eating chunky tea, but the waiter obviously thought he was giving us extra love. Fortunately, he left us mostly to ourselves the rest of the night. (We tried to laugh with him when he burped while giving us our check.) The breaded and fried mozarella was incredibly light and the balsamic dressing over the frisé was exceptional. I was just a tad disappointed that it came with only five small golden beets. The pappardelle with mushrooms was good, served with buttered sauce and sage. The branzino was perfectly cooked. Its crisp skin gave way to the tender white meat. I loved that it soaked in soupy pesto with mini Brussel sprouts and grape tomatoes. The veal meatballs were less adventurous, however, and the octopus, I thought, was undersalted and too soft. Because chef Iacopo Falai was a pastry chef at Le Cirque 2000 back in the days, we didn’t want to skip the cafe’s dessert offerings. We ordered a citrus tart which I loved because of its gingery taste, but my companions preferred the light and flaky apple pastry. I would like to go back for their baked goods and cup of illy coffee the next time I visit. I just hope that the waiter is not there before dinner service.

Related post/s:
Iacopo Falai’s first restaurant

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Il Buco

Filed under East Village, Italian, Mediterranean · Print This Post

47 Bond Street between Lafayette and Bowery
212/533.1932
$180 for four people with a bottle of wine, without tip
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We wanted to eat at Il Buco ever since we walked by one night and took a peek inside. Candles were lit that made the ambiance romantic and rustic at the same time. We just knew that it would be a nice place to sit, eat and drink wine with good company. Four of us finally booked a table one cold, winter night to do exactly just that. We could only get a 6pm table with a week’s notice, so we took it. Unfortunately, we were seated right next to the entrance of the wine cellar. Cozy it wasn’t. It looked like they were conducting a field trip down the basement. Guests kept walking in and stepping back out and I kept interrupting our table’s conversation by pushing the door closed to keep the draft from coming in. Our waitress never made a move to transfer us to an unoccupied table even though the restaurant was not completely full before 8pm. We had to ask the bus boy for more bread and olive oil because our waitress kept forgetting us. But since the bus boy only came by to take our plates away, we never had enough.

The menu is Mediterranean, a cuisine that I can enjoy any time, with some Italian specialities. But nothing in the menu made my heart palpitate. The special of the night was braised oxtails on mashed potatoes which I make at home for less than $30. An appetizer portion of baby eels were ordered, only to be canceled when our waitress informed us that it was going to cost us $75.

We ended up ordering the octopus with Umbrian chickpeas and parsley, the bass with fresh pomegranate, lime, red chili and cilantro, the cod with fennel, lemon and red onion with mint salsa verde, the fennel-crusted sashimi-grade tuna and the beef carpaccio. The small plates were at least $12 each. They were all delicious but a little hard on the wallet. We also decided to order full plates of the pappardelle with black trumpet mushrooms and the gnocchi. The pasta servings were so small. I can’t imagine getting them as half orders.

Il Buco is like waking up startled in the middle of a beautiful dream.

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