This little Italian joint opened up down by us on East Broadway, and we were excited to try it out. The cocktails are all great, and the bar is stacked with lots of amari.
We tried three starters: the endive salad, the prawns and the fried artichoke. These were all fantastic; seriously one better than the next. These items are every day kind of items. They’re that good!
This smoked lamb ragu pappardelle was BONKERS!!! The pasta ate sort of like hand pulled noodles. A bit broken up in parts, but I would eat this by the bucket load. Amazing.
The dry aged duck was a bit of a let down. Not terrible by any means, but it was over seasoned, the skin was not crisp enough, and the flesh was a bit tough in parts. A 6/10. Maybe 7 on a good day. One half/slice was definitely better than the other.
This “crespelle” was sort of like a vegetable lasagna, and it was absolutely delicious. I was shocked at how much I liked this, considering it was utterly meatless.
For dessert we shared the midnight cake, which was definitely more like a mousse than a cake. We loved it. That little blob of white is creme fresche.
I would definitely go back, especially for those starters and the pasta dishes. They have a t-bone on the menu, so I’ll eventually have to try that as well.
UPDATE 7/20/2023
I had the steak!
This is an easy 9/10 and it is in the running for a best bite of 2023. The age was perfect on it, super tender on the filet side, nice texture on the strip side with no connective tissue (a center cut). Beautiful.
Bad Roman is a brand new Italian concept launched by the folks from the Quality Branded restaurant group (Quality Meats, Quality Eats, Smith & Wollensky, Don Angie, etc.).
The restaurant takes over the space formerly held by Landmarc inside The Shops at the Time Warner Center in Columbus Circle.
They’re serving up really nice, innovative cocktails in a chic, eclectically decorated bar.
The menu is decidedly Roman in it’s inspiration, with pasta dishes that feature cacio e pepe and alla gricia stylings. The pasta shapes are also slightly off the beaten path, with garganelli, cappalletti and mafaldine in the mix. We went with the cappelletti bistecca, which was filled with what tasted like tender short rib and topped with a delicious 20yr balsamic.
For starters, we tried the chilled artichoke. It was simply steamed and served with two sauces; a cream sauce and an Italian inspired chimichurri of sorts. A very light starter.
The real stars of our starters were these porchetta style baby back ribs. They had great texture and bite, and the flavors were nicely balanced between savory, sweet and acidic/bitter. We loved these.
For the main courses here, you won’t find a heavy steak selection like at other Quality Branded restaurants. The main reason is that there’s competition inside the Time Warner Center with Porter House Bar & Grill. Bad Roman limits their steak selection to only the filet (mind you, it can be prepared four different ways). But Bad Roman does really well with their other meat selections, like a pork shoulder chop, a veal milanese, and this massive veal shank osso buco with hand ripped and pinch-folded pappardelle pasta.
At $125, this is meant for two people (possibly even four if everyone were to get their own starter). This was a special, so if it interests you in any way, book your table now before it gets swapped out for something new!
Desserts were fun as well, with a deconstructed cannoli (like chips and dip), as well as a lemon cheesecake inside of a chocolate lemon shaped shell!
I will definitely be going back here to try more of the menu. Congratulations to Quality Branded on this new opening, and congratulations to my buddy Gaetano, who is running the joint. I met him way back when I first started reviewing steakhouses, probably in 2012 or 2013, at Quality Italian. He’s come a long way, and he’s done such great things for the restaurant group. I’m a proud fan!
UPDATE!
After a second visit, I can safely say this place deserves all the hype it gets. The pastas are all great, especially the shrimp garganelli (not pictured).
The veal Milanese is great.
As is the veal chop.
Even the fries are unique and tasty, dusted with the same porchetta spice that’s on the ribs.
The pork shoulder was just okay, but I love that it came with escarole.
We tried a shitload of starters too, all of which are great. I think the crowd favorite was the garlic babka though.
This time for dessert we tried the tiramisu ice cream cake and the sticky toffee panettone. The cake was a little too hard (needed to thaw more), and the panettone could do without the candied rinds on top. Otherwise great. And I loved that house made sambuca!
BAD ROMAN
Third Floor
10 Columbus Cir.
New York, NY 10019
This little spot on the lower east side specializes in what can best be described as Italian hot pockets or stuffed pita bread. The bread itself is actually pretty unique. It’s a toasty triangle of puffy yet crispy goodness, and inside is filled with something delicious – in this case, oxtail and tomato:
I also tried their chic pea salad, which is a pass. The peas were a little undercooked. Otherwise, fun spot. The fig negroni is great.
Il Monello is a newly opened Italian joint by some of the same folks behind Tuscany Steakhouse and Il Tinello. My wife and I came here with two other couples, so we got to try a lot of the menu! Take a look:
Beautiful little bar in the entryway. I enjoyed their negroni.
Starters: fried calamari, carpaccio, “cozze” mussels, bianco salad, and Il Monello salad.
Pasta Dishes: Orecchiette with broccoli rabe and sausage, bucatini cacio e pepe, and lobster ravioli.
Entrees: porterhouse for two (9/10), potato crusted sea bass, and Il Monello Chicken (the crowd favorite).
Mixed dessert platter:
Everything we had was delicious. For their third day being open, there was not one hang-up with the food or the service. These guys are professionals! They know a thing or two about opening and running a restaurant. This one was a few years in the making too, since COVID and then licensing and inspection processes caused them some delays. I can’t wait to go back and try more, especially the eggplant parm, the veal milanese, and any of their daily/weekly specials.
My buddy Benny from Greenwich Steakhouse opened up a second location of the Italian joint Il Tinello. Benny is second from the right in this picture, next to me. Ask for him when you go, and tell him I sent you!
The menu and ambiance here are a little different from the original location. It feels like a more lively restaurant with a younger crowd. It was packed both at the bar and at the tables on a Wednesday night.
The bartender AJ has a nine year pedigree at Benjamin Prime, and he mixes up some excellent cocktails. Ask him about his mezcal negroni and “new fashioned” drinks.
Don’t skip on this meat martini waterfall thing. Great selection of olives, cheeses and peppers to go with the hand cut prosciutto.
Table bread service comes with an eggplant and tomato dip, and nice freshly made bruschetta.
We started with the special oysters Rockefeller, which were awesome. Nice crispy pancetta on top!
We followed these with baked clams oreganata and beef carpaccio.
For a mid course, we tried three pastas. The favorite of the table was probably this orecchiette with broccoli rabe and sausage. Just like mom makes.
These crab ravioli on special were incredible as well. They had a nice robust, clean crab flavor. Not too heavy with a light creamy pesto sauce.
The tagliolini with seafood is PACKED with chopped scallops, mussels, and shrimp. Great stuff.
For our mains, we tried two veal dishes. The first was a delicious glazed rib chop.
So tender and perfectly cooked to medium rare inside.
We also had the bone-in veal parm that was on special.
This was massive! Definitely something to share with your date.
For dessert, we tried the creme brulee, Italian cheesecake, tira misu and panna cotta. I think my favorite was either the tira misu or the panna cotta.
Great meal with a great old friend. I’m happy for the success of his new venture here at Il Tinello. I’ll definitely be back again soon!
Ainslie Bowery is a newly opened Italian joint that has a huge selection of beer.
The place is enormous inside. So big, that I really don’t know how they’re going to stay in business if they aren’t packed out every day.
Anyway, I was excited to try this new spot by us, so my wife and I went last weekend. We started with the rosemary wings and salt and pepper ribs. Both were really great. I preferred the ribs but my wife liked he wings better.
For our middle course, we split the “diavola” pizza. Spicy salami and kalamata black olives on top of fresh mozzarella and a nice tomato sauce. This was a bit too salty, but otherwise good. As you can see, one side of the pie took a little more heat than the other.
The pasta dishes were very good here. We tried the orecchiette with broccoli rabe and sausage, as well as the pork ragu pappardelle. We both preferred the orecchiette.
For dessert, tiramisu. This was nice. It’s rare for one of these to stand out among so many others in town, but it was perfect.
I was recently invited into this place for a media dinner, complimentary in exchange for posting content on Instagram. Here’s what we had:
The Good
Perfect espresso martini. And I mean perfect!
Awesome pappardelle with porcini mushrooms. Pictured here is a half portion size. They split the dish even though I asked them not to.
Octopus with chic pea puree. This was on the upper side of okay, just about at the good level.
The Bad & The Ugly
Complimentary plate of cheese and meats. Meh.
Steak Tartare. This needed salt/seasoning. I also didn’t like the burrata cream on the bottom, but the sun dried tomato was a nice, unique topper. It was ugly though, and I had to add some crumbled parm from the plate above to give it a pop of flavor.
The porterhouse was overcooked, under seasoned, dry, and tasted as if it was a plate of leftovers that was re-heated in a toaster oven. If you’ve ever done that, you know exactly what I mean. It was noted as being dry-aged, but I didn’t taste it. There was little to no char on it either. 4/10.
We skipped dessert since it was starting to get late. The service was slow toward the end of the meal (busy overcooking the steak, perhaps). I kid. The restaurant did get pretty full and busy later on. The restaurant is in the back of a Hyatt hotel lobby, which is weird. I wonder if that’s where they serve the complimentary breakfast in the morning.
I probably won’t go back, but if I did, I would definitely stick to the pasta selections and the wine/cocktails.
RAMERINO ITALIAN PRIME
16 E 39th St
New York, NY 10016
Misi is an Italian joint in Williamsburg that serves up some great pasta and an even better porterhouse steak.
Cocktails are really nice, like this negroni sour:
For starters, we did the whipped ricotta with roasted peppers, and the baby artichokes. Both were light and refreshing, but if I had to choose a favorite it would be the artichokes.
Next up was the pasta. We did a lamb ragu citarra as well as a brown butter tortelli stuffed with spinach and ricotta. Normally, I would gravitate toward that lamb ragu, but the tortelli were the winner between the two excellent pastas.
The dry aged porterhouse was awesome.
It was cooked to a nice medium rare and dusted with fennel pollen and rosemary.
The seasoning on it was definitely in the cumin/curry wheelhouse, which was a really nice change of pace.
It came with a side of giganto beans that were really bright and flavorful. Perfectly cooked.
But this steak was an easy 8/10, and I would definitely come back again to try more of the menu.
My wife and I came here with another couple to try out the amazing food that Il Corso is known for. This place definitely lived up to its reputation!
We started with some stuffed, fried olives, fried zucchini, and beef carpaccio. All of these were excellent, but I think if I had to choose a favorite, I’d go with the zucchini. Crazy! Next time I will try the Fritto Misto, which also has squid and shrimp.
My wife had the paccheri with pistachio cream sauce and crumbled sausage. Amazing! Easily a top five pasta dish for me.
I had the veal cutlet Milanese.
Added some nice fresh shaved parm on top:
It was perfect. Super crisp outside, tender and juicy inside. Ate every last bit of it!
And for dessert, Nutella pie, lemon bomb cake, and flan. All delicious, but I think the flan “took the cake.”
I can’t wait to go back here and the the lamb ragu pappardelle, and so many other dishes.
