Italian Cuisines
Vini Da Arturo
The chef at this tiny, Venetian trattoria prides himself on the fact that, in a city laden with fish-focused restaurants, there’s no seafood whatsoever on the menu here. Instead, chef Ernesto Ballarin focuses on vegetables, meat and pastas and boy do they do justice to pasta!! You’d be wise to order more than one. We sampled the just made Pappardelle with Radicchio. The radicchio is simmered with cream for four hours until it becomes something that mimics the texture of creamed spinach. It’s the perfect foil for the perfectly al dente ribbons of pappardelle and a simple, yet tremendously satisfying bowl of pasta. Just as good is the Spaghetti alla Siciliana, which translated to a tangle of spaghetti mingled with eggplant, tomato and mozzarella.
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Osteria Da Fiore
First things first, request the one, precious two-top, overlooking the canal when you book a reservation here. It’s the best table in the house by far (though we did drop our credit card into the canal when we paid the bill, so watch out for that!). Known as Venice’s best restaurant, Da Fiore is perhaps the most universally recommended spot in these parts. What’s all the fuss about? Perhaps it’s the simply grilled Red Mullet, which tasted like it had just been plucked from the water, smartly paired with blood orange and olives. Then again, it could be the excellent Calamarata Pasta (shaped like calamari) tossed with calamari and peas along with a spring pea puree. If you want to sample the spectrum of fish Venice has to offer, try their Fritto De Mare, a salty, crunchy mix of lightly...
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Boutique Del Gelato
You can’t go to Italy and not have gelato. Seriously, that’s like a crime or it should be anyway. If you happen to be in Venice, this is THE gelato shop to visit. This teeny, standing room only shop doesn’t look like much from the outside, but it’s peddling some crazily creamy gelato. It’s no nonsense, sadly no sampling approach to frozen treats makes it hard core, but we’ll happily put up with it because the gelato’s just that good. Over the course of four days, we sampled a bevvy of flavors, but our favorites were the Banana, Zabaglione, Straciatella, Coconut and Dark Chocolate. The only flavor they’re missing is pistachio, but we’ll forgive them and order another scoop of Dark...
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Osteria Alla Testiere
If it’s fish you’re after, this teeny tiny restaurant with just nine tables is a terrific spot to sample Venice’s seafood traditions, albeit with a contemporary and creative touch. In fact, the fish is so fresh and dependent on the market that the menu is printed daily. We sampled Scallops baked with a lovely combination of tomato, leeks and orange, and a simple but splendidly fresh Steamed Spider Crab dressed with nothing more than salt, pepper and olive oil. And there’s a bevvy of whole fish to choose from nightly. While the atmosphere is laidback, the food is thoughtful as is the wine list, which is filled with an excellent variety of local bottles and half-bottles. The seafood is also used to good measure in the pasta section, like Broccoli & Ricotta Ravioli scattered with Shrimp and fresh Tomatoes and...
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Do Forni
This spot has been around for a long time and apparently for good reason. It serves solid Venetian cuisine with an emphasis on seafood. Just take a look at the ice display as you enter the dining room. While we noticed plenty of tourists at nearby tables (not always a good sign), we also observed just as many locals (a better sign) chatting away in Italian and feasting on baked whole fish served in a salt crust and bowls upon bowls of pasta. Spend a little time with the wine list here, which is extensive and filled with interesting, local bottles. And start with an order of Venice’s terrifically fresh Scampi. Here, they’re served boiled and dabbed with just enough herbs and olive oil to flatter the shellfish without adulterating its pure flavor. The Mussel Soup is another...
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L’Osteria Di Santa Marina
This charming restaurant takes a sophisticated, often modern approach to Venetian cooking without losing the integrity of the classics. Take the Squid Dumplings, for example, which aren’t dumplings at all. (We assumes they were ravioli stuffed with squid.) Instead what arrives is a delicate arrangement of grilled squid molded into the shape of dumplings and dressed with a flavorful duo of pistachio sauce and tomato sauce. I don’t want to get ahead of myself as the house always serves an appetizing amuse bouche, like a dish of sweet white polenta crowned with a salty foil of anchovies — a simple, satisfying dish that wreaks of Italy. There’s great attention to detail at L’Osteria Di Santa Marina where they make both the bread and pasta in-house as well as all the pastries. In fact, the bread comes right from the oven...
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Costata – Reviewed
How sweet it is! I bet that’s what Michael White is thinking right about now. How many chefs get to return to the very same space where they were once a young chef struggling to make a name for himself and come back as an owner with a legion of successful restaurants to show for himself? That about sums up the story of Costata. Anyone remember Fiamma, BR Guest’s upscale Italian, located in a townhouse on Spring Street just off Sixth Avenue? Michael White got his start in Fiamma’s kitchen. Over a dozen restaurants and eleven years later, White has returned to the former Fiamma space with an Italian steakhouse all his own called Costata, which means rib eye in Italian.
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Restaurant Spotting: Antica Pesa
Brooklyn’s own Berry Street is a somewhat unlikely location for the first stateside outpost of Antica Pesa, a 90-year-old restaurant situated in a former Vatican tollhouse in Trastevere. Because instead of being perfectly suited to shabby chic hipsters, the sleek new restaurant seems destined to follow in the path of its predecessor, becoming an out-of-the-way haven for the rich, famous and jet set (an image search yields twenty pictures of Madonna, Ashton Kutcher and Thomas Hardy, juxtaposed with delicately swirled plates of Cacio e Pepe).
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A New & Improved Nick And Toni’s in the Hamptons for 2013
It’s one thing for a Hamptons restaurant to draw crowds during the height of the summer season. But the 25-year-old Nick and Toni’s is a veritable institution year round, attracting both local, loyal clientele, and a steady stream of celebrities as varied as Bill Clinton, Mick Jagger, Steven Spielberg and Martha Stewart.
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Carbone
Rarely do you come across a buzzy, new restaurant that peddles in Veal Parmesan, Linguine with Clams, and Lobster Fra Diavolo. It sounds almost like a contradiction in terms, but Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi have made an art of Red Sauce Italian, and by doing so, have made Italian-American cooking hot. It all started with Torrisi Italian Specialties, which by day, was nothing more than a sandwich shop, albeit an excellent one, wheeling and dealing in Eggplant Parm, Heroes, Lasagna and the like. Come nighttime, this Soho shop morphed into a restaurant with one of the most exciting (and affordable) tasting menus in the city. Then came the more casual Parm and their newest venture, Carbone, is like something straight out of Little Italy… only with much better food. I used to love going to Little Italy with my parents when I was young. My brother, sister and I would pile into the car and travel into the city from our home in New Jersey all in the name of Veal Parmesan, Shrimp Francese, Gnocchi and Rainbow Cookies. We’d end the evening at Ferraro’s for espresso and scoops of gelati. When I moved into the city post-college, I returned to Little Italy for dinner, but the neighborhood seemed to be shrinking and the restaurants sadly deteriorating.
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The Marrow – Reviewed
There is marrow on the menu at Harold Dieterle’s new West Village eatery, of course. It comes roasted and topped with sea urchin, teeny nibbles of fried potatoes, a few wisps of baby celery greens, and a drizzle of meyer lemon aioli. Looking for a light bite? Consider eating elsewhere. But if you’re looking for some heart-warming (or stopping) cooking to cozy up to this winter, The Marrow has quite a few terrific options.
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Restaurant Openings to Look Forward to in 2013
For food writers, each year generally ends with a flurry of restaurant “Best Of” listicles, chronicling the highs and lows of eateries both old and new. But as soon as the calendar reads January 2nd, we hit the reset button, turning our attention towards a brand new crop of impending openings. From Michael White’s eagerly anticipated double header in Manhattan (The Butterfly and Ristorante Morini), to Andy Ricker’s continued expansion of his Pok Pok empire in Brooklyn (Whiskey Soda Lounge), it’s already shaping up to be a banner year for the New York restaurant scene. And who knows? A few of them just might make our “Best Of” lists at the close of 2013.
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The Marrow
There is Marrow on the menu at Harold Dieterle’s new West Village eatery, of course. It comes roasted and topped with sea urchin, teeny nibbles of fried potatoes, a few wisps of micro celery greens, and a drizzle of meyer lemon aioli. Looking for a light bite? Consider eating elsewhere. But if you’re looking for some heart-warming (or stopping) cooking to cozy up to this winter, The Marrow has quite a few terrific options. Perhaps you’d be interested in the hand-cut Fettucini with Pork and Sage Sausage or the Pan-Fried Duck Schnitzel with Quark Spaetzle, Stewed Wolfberries and a Cucumber-Potato Salad? And just what are Fettucini and Schnitzel doing on the same menu? Dieterle’s newest venture was uniquely inspired by both his Italian and German roots, so expect the food to follow suit. That means dishes as dichotomous as...
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Rosemary’s Minestra Di Stagione
This charming West Village trattoria was buzzing even before it opened its doors this past summer, and the excitement about this place hasn’t dissipated since. With a menu featuring a mix of classic and inventive Italian dishes, including Zucchini Crudo, Octopus Salami, and various homemade pastas, you’re guaranteed to find something delicious to fill you up. We love the Minestra Di Stagione.
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Perla
Chef Michael Toscano exercises his gift for nose-to-tail cooking at Gabe Stulman’s rustic Italian bistro, Perla. You can find seldom-seen cuts running through his selection of antipasti (Crispy Testa and Pigs Ear with grilled onions and cannellini beans, Veal Tongue with crispy capers, Tokyo turnips, and tonnato sauce), as well as primi (Garganelli with tripe and prosciutto, Pappardelle with cockscomb stew), although oddly, not necessarily in his hearty assortment of secondi. No matter, Lamb Breast with radicchio and sunchokes, Quail with cauliflower and brown butter sugo, and Saba Glazed Duck with pickled golden raisins and quince are every bit as interesting (and...
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Frankies 570
An early seating at this rustic Italian bistro will set you back $85 for four courses, but you won’t be worrying about the price once you feast your eyes on a salad of Chilled Maine Lobster, Black Ink Fusilli, Slow Roasted Lamb Loin, and a Kabocha Squash Torta. Choices double later in the evening, as does the price (well, almost). $125 buys a Crudo of Nantucket Bay Scallop or Braised Artichoke Salad, Grilled Quail, and Creamy Burrata with Chanterelles, plus wine pairings, cocktails, and...
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Eataly
Mario Batali’s massive Italian emporium may seem like an odd place to spend the New Year, but we’re talking about an extravagant buffet at the rooftop restaurant Birreria, not a midnight toast as you shop the aisles for sheep’s milk cheese and pancetta. A $175 ticket includes an all-you-can eat feast of Italian specialties, along with wine, cask beer, top shelf cocktails, and dessert with digestives and...
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i Trulli
This rustic, Apulian restaurant will spread their shellfish celebration over not just one, but ten days this year, offering a four-course feast menu from December 17th to the 24th. You might just want to schedule a repeat visit to try all of the under-the-sea options, as there are four different antipasti, primi, and secondi to choose from. Why not order the Fritto Misto, Tonnarelli with Octopus Ragu, and Monkfish Osso Bucco one day, and the Wood-oven Roasted Oysters, Fregola with Clams and Saffron, and Swordfish with Bottarga and Breadcrumbs the...
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Hearth
Marco Canora’s four-course holiday menu at Hearth reads like a greatest hits list of Feast of the Seven Fishes favorites. Clams Oreganata with Roasted Red Pepper, Lemon Zest, and Parsley? Check. Shrimp and Mussel Cacciucco, the classic fish stew from Tuscany? Check. A simple fried fish (in this case, flounder), with a spritz of lemon and aioli? Check. The all-important air-dried salt cod called baccala, reimagined here as a pungent topper for crusty crostini? You better believe...
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Lupa Osteria Romana
It’s no surprise that noted Italian-American restaurateurs Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich pull out all the stops at Lupa for their annual Christmas Eve feast. There are, in fact, more than seven fishes presented over a span of seven courses, including Amberjack (served crudo-style with giardiniera), Lobster (folded into a risotto), Arctic Char (accented with winter truffle), and even Eel (topped with crispy...
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