Tag Archives: italian food

Flash Deals, Italian, Non-Steakhouse Steaks, Other Cuts, Restaurant Reviews, Union Square/Flatiron

Bocca

October 2, 2016 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

For less than $79, my wife and I scored this Groupon deal for Bocca, which gave us $120 to spend. In reality we probably paid about $68 for the Groupon, since we almost never buy them unless there is an additional discount code.

Anyway this Italian joint had some pretty interesting items on the menu. Here’s what we ordered:

Salmon Crudo

This shit was really fresh and clean. It was a great way to start this incredible meal.

Grilled Octopus Crostini with Chorizo, Kalamata Olives and Chic Peas

The octopus was perfectly cooked, and when I took a bite with a little bit of everything together, the flavors really exploded. Such an awesome Mediterranean dish.

Strozzapreti with Nduja

This was amazing. If you don’t know what nduja is, its a spicy, fatty and spreadable sausage product that lots of people eat with bread in southern Italy. Here, however, the geniuses rendered it down with tomatoes into a decadent sauce. Highly recommended.

Cacio e Pepe (Spaghetti alla Chitarra in Pepper and Cheese Sauce)

This was prepared table-side, and was absolutely delicious.

It’s a really simple dish, but sometimes that’s all you need for a winning food item. It’s no wonder this dish is all the rage in NYC.

Hanger Steak with Mushrooms

This fucker was awesome. Seriously. It was cooked to a perfect medium rare, and the selection of wild mushrooms (I think Hen of the Woods and Porcini) really brought out the earthy flavors of the beef, which happened to be black angus from Creekstone Farm. 9/10.

Another thing worth mentioning is this great beer they serve.

This is right in my wheelhouse, since it’s an unfiltered, super bubbly Belgian farmhouse wheat beer.

BOCCA
39E 19th Street
New York, NY, 10003

Filet Mignon, Fusion, Italian, Japanese, Midtown East, Non-Steakhouse Steaks, Press Reviews, Restaurant Reviews, Union Square/Flatiron

Natsumi Tapas

September 28, 2016 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

When I see something that’s marketed as Japanese-Italian fusion, the first thing that comes to my mind is Super Mario Brothers, one of the best video games ever released by Nintendo.

From http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net

But now, since having this meal, the next thing that comes to mind is Natsumi Tapas. Natsumi is the latest venture by Barbara Matsumara, and it focuses on small plates for grazing and larger plates for sharing. She consulted with Italian chef Andrea Tiberi and sushi chef Hiroyuki Nagao to create a dynamic menu that gets increasingly interesting the more you look at it. I was invited in for a press meal with Jay from The Dishelin Guide, so we got to taste a lot of stuff. Here’s what we had:

First, a nice pour of sake from this very cool bottle that houses the ice inside the center without touching the sake and thereby watering it down.

This place also mixes up some really nice cocktails too, by the way, like the EMW, which is made with shiso leaf, sake and gin.

We started with this filet mignon, which was served sliced, tataki style, with a ponzu, garlic and truffle sauce. The truffle and garlic really brought an awesome fusion flavor to an otherwise Japanese flavored dish. While this wasn’t a traditional “steak” in the sense of a steakhouse cut or portion size, I’m still going to score it since it was worth discussing. 8/10. I definitely recommend this dish.

Next up was the tuna tartare martini with avocado and caviar. The orange layer at the bottom definitely had some tobiko mixed in for a nice change-up in texture. Very smart. The mango and basil pesto sauce really made this pop with unorthodox and surprisingly good flavor combinations. Also recommended.

While the flatbread wasn’t exactly the pizza dough crust that I imagined (it was more like a puffy cracker), it did pack a lot of flavor. We tried the spicy tuna caviar flatbread. It wasn’t as much of a fusion as some of the others seemed to be, like the seared salmon flatbread, but it was really delicious nonetheless. If you’ve ever had “sushi pizza” before at some other restaurants, it is somewhat similar to that, and always a crowd-pleaser.

This bowl of green tea gnocchi with asparagus and capers in a light butter sauce was absolutely perfect. Definitely my favorite item of the night, by far. While it leaned a bit more on the Italian side, it was probably one of the better gnocchi dishes I’ve had in town. The green tea flavor was very mild, but the sauce was drinkable. I highly recommend this dish when you go here. Not only was it tasty, but it was also beautiful.

We finished our savory courses with the Squarano roll; seared tuna, seared salmon, kani, avocado, scallion, pepperoncini and green tea aioli. This was pretty tasty, and nicely nestled into the fusion realm with the addition of an aioli and pepperoncini from Italian cuisine. Really, you can’t go wrong with any of their special roll selections. They all looked great.

For dessert we tried the cheese cake tempura, which was nice and crispy outside, and soft like mashed potatoes inside. It had just the right amount of sweetness, and the berry compote on the plate was the perfect way to incorporate a sauce element.

Definitely give this place a shot. It just opened in March and the place was packed to the gills when we went on a Tuesday night at 7pm. The ambiance is comfortable, not too dim, not too bright, not too loud and very spacious, which is a welcome addition to the NYC Japanese restaurant world.

NATSUMI TAPAS
323 3rd Ave
New York, NY 10010

Burgers, Italian, Restaurant Reviews, Upper West Side

Pomodoro Rosso

July 17, 2016 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

Oddly enough, my wife and I came here to try out some pasta on the recommendation of friends, but we ended up eating an American style brunch instead. We will definitely be back for a proper Italian meal, but I have to say, the American brunch was pretty good.

My wife went with the Pomodoro Sampler, which included French toast, smoked salmon with tomato and onion, fresh fruit and a poached egg on an English muffin (eggs benedict).

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Everything that I tasted from her plate was pretty good. I actually went with the Pomodoro Burger, which was a cheddar cheeseburger topped with a fried egg, bacon and grilled red onions.

This thing was pretty great! I was pleasantly surprised. I’m typically not a cheddar guy when it comes to burgers. I prefer a hard, aged cheddar for eating, but for a burger I want something that melts really well. As such, that kind of cheddar isn’t the right fit for what I want from a burger. The particular cheddar used here was mild and nicely melted across the whole patty, though, so it worked. It was served on a great toasted bun that held up nicely to biting and squeezing. The bacon was crisp and just the right thickness, too.

This fuck came with a side of truffle oil and herb French fries too, which were cooked perfectly and really had a nice truffle aroma.

It was a hot fucking day outside too, so I cooled off with a beer, and my wife had a lychee and St. Germain bellini.

Oh, and I sucked down a bloody too.

We’re looking forward to another meal here!

POMODORO ROSSO
229 Columbus Ave
New York, NY 10023

Italian, Pizza, Press Reviews, Product Reviews, Restaurant Reviews, Staten Island

Capizzi – Staten Island

May 26, 2016 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

Many of you are probably aware of my high praise for Capizzi, a pizza, light Italian fare and wine spot on 9th Avenue near the back side of the Port Authority in Hell’s Kitchen. The food is spectacular, and the service is stellar. I highly recommend it.

Well, the news here is that they recently opened a second location out on Staten Island, which has a much different menu. I figured I would take the opportunity to let my readers know about it, and highlight some of the items from that menu that owner Joe Calcagno pointed out to me.

Casarecce, their “Sicilian Mac & Cheese,” is homemade pasta with truffles, truffle oil, fresh burrata and roasted tomato – all cooked in their wood burning oven. $18 sounds like a steal for all of that high quality stuff.

Their red snapper is served with a tequila sauce (!!!) and comes with broccoli rabe and roasted potatoes for just $25.

For the lighter appetite, the $10 arugula salad with tomatoes, onions, green apples, cranberries, walnuts and goat cheese is simply tossed with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

You’re probably noticing that the portion sizes are all big. Bigger isn’t always better at some places, but Capizzi uses insanely high quality ingredients, so bigger is most definitely better here.

The best part is that you can still get all those awesome pizzas and high-end Italian meats here, just like the Hell’s Kitchen location. The Staten Island joint just has a bigger, more diverse menu.

All the pastas, raviolis, deserts, etc. are made in-house, fresh from scratch, every day. The genuine wood-burning oven (built by owner Joe Calcagno himself) is used to create some of the finest oven-roasted meat and fish dishes, along with those amazing pizzas that are reminiscent of old world Italy. Capizzi uses local fresh fish, produce and imports, with many of the ingredients arriving from Sicily on a weekly basis.

Joe also developed his own olive oil and started a company called Bel Evo, which is produces his all natural and chemical free olive oil, which is unlike many mass-produced olive oils being sold out there.

Bel Evo is a blend of high quality extra virgin olive oils and vegetable oils with a great, bold olive taste, with a deep green color and a thick luxurious consistency that makes it a great option for all chefs and restaurateurs. It fits nicely with salads, pastas and pizzas, and with its high smoke point, it’s ideal for sauteing in a pan.

As a little boy, Calcagno’s grandmother introduced him to the freshest and finest Italian food available, when accompanying her on her rounds of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. Together they visited the best shops for freshly butchered chicken, sausage, just-baked bread, pastries, vegetables, ravioli and everything else needed for a traditional Italian Sunday dinner (God, how I miss those). He also helped out in the family garden, growing tomatoes, eggplant and peppers to be canned, and wrapping fig trees for the winter (a feat of willpower, patience and strength).

Today Joe owns a few of his own Italian restaurants, keeping his family’s tradition alive. Capizzi, the restaurants’ namesake, is a small town in Sicily (a province of Mesina) where Joe’s parents and grandparents grew up. His restaurants are a tribute to them and to a time when things were simple, with fresh-made meals that were constructed with a sense of pride.

CAPIZZI
4126 Hylan Blvd
Staten Island, NY 10308

Italian, Restaurant Reviews, Upper West Side

Parm

May 21, 2016 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

My wife and I stopped in here on a Friday night for a quick meal at the bar. We heard great things but never had a chance to try before.

We ordered three items: meatballs, fried calamari with shishito peppers, and the Randy Levine sandwich, which came with fries.

First, let’s start with the weirdly named item: the Randy Levine. It’s a sandwich made of pork belly, plum sauce, Chinese mustard, half-sour pickles and garlic bread. It’s named after something that the president of the Yankees had once eaten in the Catskills.

Unfortunately the “slow cooked” pork belly was a bit too chewy. I attribute that to fat content that was not cooked long enough at low temperatures to get good and soft. Also the glaze on it tasted a bit bitter and burnt. Bummer.

The fries that came with it, however, were excellent. They’re called “Italian fries” because they’re tossed with herbs and parmesan cheese, I suspect. Nicely cooked and crisp, golden brown.

The meatballs were great, and I’m a stickler for these fucks. Nothing beats mom’s meatballs. Since these came off as the soft, long-cooked stewed kind, I did find it odd that the center looked medium rare. That had me concerned about whether they used veal or pork in the mix. In any case, no tummy aches from raw meat, and the flavors were great – even the red sauce. It was light and flavorful. Still though: the best way to make a meatball is to fry them in a pan first, get a crispy coating on the outside that locks in the juices, and then slow cook in the sauce on low for a while.

The star of the meal for my wife (for me it was the meatballs) was the fried calamari with shishito peppers. They had a great crispy crust, a good ratio of rings to tentacles, and the peppers offered a great pop of flavor to mix things up.

All in the bill came to $85 with tax and tip, which also included a beer and a glass of wine. A bit pricey, but at least three of the four items we ate were tasty.

PARM
235 Columbus Ave
New York, NY 10023

Italian, Nolita/Soho, Non-Steakhouse Steaks, Pizza, Restaurant Reviews, Rib Eye

Pasquale Jones

May 4, 2016 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

The Charlie Bird restaurant team recently opened this joint, and since opening it has gotten a lot of hype and attention from the food fanatic community. Namely, for the pizza and the pasta.

My wife and I came here with a crew of other food instagrammers so that we could try a lot of stuff and snap a bunch of pretty pictures.

The menu isn’t too extensive, which I liked. It listed a bunch of eye catching stuff that I wanted to try. I was also happy to see escarole make an appearance here in the greens section (though I didn’t get to try it out).

We tried three starters: pane carasau, cuttlefish and sugar snap peas. All were good, but slightly small in terms of portion size for the price point. While this is a “no tipping” restaurant and one should expect higher pricing, I felt that they went a bit too far. Based on my accounting of things, I’d say they are charging about 40-50% more per item. If you figure a 20% tip into the math, then you’re still overpaying by 20-30%, depending on the particular item in question. So while the idea of a no tipping restaurant may seem great, the real loser is the customer, who can no longer adjust their tip downward for low food quality or poor service. Our waiter was kind of a dick, and I wasn’t super impressed with the food either. As such, I felt like I over-paid for several aspects of the meal.

The pane carasau is essentially what you might get for free in a bread basket at a high end Italian joint. It was really just thin, crispy bread chips with a small dollop of delicious, warm honey and black pepper ricotta. $9.

The cuttlefish was steep at $18 for this plate:

The pickled peppers on top were a nice hit of heat, and it was cooked nicely in terms of texture, with only a slight bit of it being, perhaps, a bit overcooked and chewy. It tasted clean, though, and the charcoal grilling method added a nice earthy ash flavor to it.

The snap pea dish with watercress and cream was probably the best of the three, but, again, extremely overpriced at $17.

The peas carried a nice sweetness, but I was hoping for more cream.

Now for the pizza (category 1: full pies only, no slices available). We tried two pies: little neck clam and the special pizza of the day, which was a morel mushroom and cheese pie. The clam pie had good flavor, but it felt a little sparse on the actual clams and toppings. That means the diner feels ripped off when paying $24 for six small slices. That’s a hell of a profit margin when you think about how cheap it is to make this shit!

The morel pizza could have used more toppings a bit closer to the edge of the crust. That wasted real estate also translates to the feeling of being ripped off when the bill comes. This was, however, the better of the two pies, in my opinion. The morels had a meaty quality to them, and a good amount of earthiness.

On the pasta angle, we went with the baby goat pappardelle. This was a delicious dish. The meat was very tender, and the pasta was well dressed with sauce. The texture of the pasta was just right. While the portion size felt a little bit small for $23, I didn’t mind as much because it was top notch quality.

For the meats, we tried two dishes: pork shank for two, and dry aged rib eye for two. Let’s start with the pork.

This was delicious. While a bit small for two, the price of $48 wasn’t too bad. Well, I mean, when you compare it to the outstanding crackling pork shank with firecracker apple sauce at Maloney & Porcelli, which only costs $36 and can feed two people with extra to bring home, then, yeah, it’s way overpriced here. But given all else on the menu, I felt this was probably the best bargain. The flavors were outstanding and it had hints of sausage spice from the fennel and rosemary. This is a must-order if you decide to come here.

You can pass on the rib eye, however. It definitely delivered on the dry-aged flavor, but it was very small for two people to share at $125. If I had to guess, I’d say this was about 22oz on the bone. Maybe 24oz. For that size steak at a steakhouse, you pay between $50 and $60. So here, I would have expected to pay about $75 to account for the tip being included. At $125, we are looking at a massive fucking mark-up.

Contrast this with the best rib eye in Manhattan over at Osteria Morini, just around the corner, which offers a steak that’s more than twice the size of this thing at 52oz, with 120 days of dry-aging flavor, and accompanied by two generously-sized sides for just $145. Uhh… no brainer. Anyway, this steak had a bit of chew to it. Not as tender as we had hoped and expected from dry-aging.

It was cooked perfectly to medium rare, and it had a great crust on the outside. The crispy meat surrounding the bone was excellent as well. However there was no rib cap to speak of. Perhaps it was butchered off for some other use. 7/10.

The steak came with this nice roasted onion:

And something came with this side of citrus-dressed arugula:

But the highlight of the night, aside from the pork shank, was seeing Michael J. Fox and Dennis Leary in the dining room, eating together with their wives.

To sum up: skip this place unless you are focused on the pork shank. If that’s not your thing, then stick with the pizza and pasta, but I, personally, would still go elsewhere for those even though both were pretty tasty.

PASQUALE JONES
187 Mulberry St
New York, NY 10012

Education

Pasta Shapes

April 12, 2016 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

The world of pasta is bonkers. There are tons of shapes and sizes, some common, others rare. This page will be your source for knowing as many of the variations of pasta that I can think of or find online. Below is an alphabetical listing of the different styles of pasta along with a photo of each. If you know of one that’s missing, please feel free to share it with me.

Acini di Pepe (“Pearls” are larger versions of this)
www.finecooking.com
Agnolotti
www.williams-sonoma.com
Alfabeto (alphabet)
www.123rf.com
Anelli
www.tickledfig.co.uk
Anellini (smaller version of Anelli)
Anelloni (larger version of Anelli)
Barbina
www.baccirenzo.it
Bavette / Bavettine
www.sorrentoexpress.com
Bigoli
Bucatini or Perciatelli
www.seriouseats.com
Calamarata / Calamaretti
www.breadloveanddreams.com
Campanelle
www.laganafoods.com
Cannelloni
www.blog.ortensiablu.com
Cappelletti
Capelli del Prete
www.ilcorvopasta.wordpress.com
Capellini (Angel Hair)
www.recipegirl.com
Capunti
www.elizabethminchilliinrome.com
Caramelle
www.pastificiofontana.it
Casarecce
www.pastaigragnanesi.it
Casoncelli or Casonsèi
www.itineraribrescia.it
Casunziei
food.hoggardwagner.org
Cavatelli
www.italianfoodforever.com
Cavatappi or Cellentanni
www.pickycook.com
Cencioni
www.edelices.co.uk
Chifferi
www.pastazara.it
Chitarra (usually a type of pasta “alla Chitarra,” which is the type of machine used to cut the pasta. “Spaghetti alla Chitarra” are squared rather than rounded)
www.tomsworkbench.com
Ciriole
www.foodsubs.com
Conchiglie (Shells)
www.theculinaryexchange.com
Conchigliette (small shells)
Conchiglioni (large shells, stuffable)
Corallini
www.mennucci.it
Corzetti or Croxetti
www.americanfoodroots.com
Creste di Galli
www.pastosa.com
Ditalini / Ditali
www.pasta-recipes-by-italians.com
Elicoidali
www.pastaigragnanesi.it
Fagioloni
www.allrecipes.com
Fagottini
Farfalle (Bowtie)
www.wikipedia.org
Farfalline (small bowties)
Farfalloni (large bowties)
Fedelini
www.justcooking.in
Fettuccine
www.wellbeing.com.au
Fettuce / Fettucelle (shorter Fettuccine)
Fideo
www.azucarandspice.com
Fideua (Spanish)
www.mercadocalabajio.com
Filini
www.justcooking.in
Fiorentine
www.clovegarden.com
Fiori
www.kixcereal.com
Foglie d’Ulivo
www.bridgepugliausa.it
Fregula
www.wikipedia.org
Funghini
www.bellybytes.com
Fusilli
www.discusscooking.com
Fusilli Bucati
www.wikipedia.org
Garganelli
www.cuisinivity.com
Gemelli
www.prettyyummyfoods.com
Gigli
www.bbcgoodfood.com
Gnocci
Gnudi
www.seriouseats.com
Gramigna
www.paolafabbri.wordpress.com
Grattini / Grattoni
Lagane
www.lucianopignataro.it
Lanterne
www.gourmetimportshop.com
Lasagna
www.livestrong.com
Lasagnette
blog.westonproducts.com
Lasagnotte (longer Lasagna)
Linguettine (shorter Linguine)
Linguine
www.wikipedia.org
Lumache
www.ilcorvopasta.wordpress.com
Lumaconi (larger Lumache, stuffable)
Maccheroncelli
Maccheroni / Macaroni (typically Elbows)
www.webstaurantstore.com
Maccheroni alla Molinara
www.justcooking.in
Mafalda
www.ilcorvopasta.wordpress.com
Mafaldine (smaller Mafalda)
Maltagliati
www.fromthebartolinikitchens.com
Mandala
www.wikipedia.org
Manicotti
www.thegourmandmom.com
Marille
subbacultcha.nl
Marziani (see Radiatori)
Matriciani
www.pastacheese.com
Maultasche
Mezzani
www.dianescookbooks.wordpress.com
Mezze Penne (short Penne)
Mezzelune
www.languorino.it
Mezzi Bombardoni
www.pastadimartino.com
Midolline
www.amazon.it
Mostaccioli or Penne Mostaccioli
www.pagasa.com.mx
Occhi di Lupo
Occhi di Pernice
www.fabianelli.it
Orecchiette
www.susanrecipes.blogspot.com
Orzo
www.inharvest.com
Paccheri
www.almagourmet.com
Pappardelle
www.pastaigragnanesi.it
Passatelli
/www.pastagiacomini.com
Pasta al Ceppo (Cinnamon stick shape)
www.foodsubs.com
Pastina
www.melissasloveoffood.com
Pelmeni (russian meat dumplings)
www.wikipedia.org
Penne
www.food.com
Penne Rigate (ridged Penne)
Pennette (small Penne)
Pennoni (large Penne)
Pici
www.oliviersandco.com
Pillus
www.prolocouta.it
Pipe
www.fanzhongsheng.en.ec21.com
Pipe Rigate (ridged Pipe, as seen above)
Pipette (small Pipe)
Pizzoccheri (buckwheat flour in the mix)
www.buzzle.com
Puntine
www.fabianelli.it
Quadrefiore
www.cucinadellacucina.com
Quadrettini
www.uovafarinaemattarello.com
Radiatori
www.pinchmysalt.com
Ravioli
www.sambusak.com
Reginette
www.pastadimartino.com
Riccioli
www.foodfornet.com
Ricciolini
www.recipetips.com
Ricciutelle
www.moldrek.com
Rigatoncini (smaller or short cut Rigatoni)
Rigatoni
www.freefoodphotos.com
Risi
www.wisegeek.com
Rocchetti
www.rainbowgr.com
Rotelle
www.great-chicago-italian-recipes.com
Rotini
www.intersectusa.com
Ruote (large Rotelle)
Sacchettini, Sacchettoni or Sacchetti
www.perfectpastaonline.com
Sagnarelli
www.ilcorvopasta.wordpress.com
Sagne ‘Ncannulate
www.lorecchietta.com
Scialatelli or Scialatielli
www.globeholidays.net
Seme di Melone
www.suzannecarreiro.com
Sorprese
www.pastificiopassilongo.it
Spaghetti
www.sheknows.com
Spaghettini (short Spaghetti)
Spaghettoni (long Spaghetti)
www.demedici.com
Spatzle (German free-form)
www.esvc000243.wic020tu.server-web.com
Spirali
www.loveforolive.com
Spiralini (small Spirali)
Stelle
www.dreamstime.com
Stelline (small Stelle)
Stortini (see Pipe)
Stringozzi
www.herbivoracious.com
Strozzapreti or Spaccatelli
Tagliatelle
www.pastafreshco.com
Taglierini
www.terreumbre.net
Testaroli
www.globeholidays.net
Torchio
www.moldrek.com
Tortellini
Tortelloni (large Tortellini)
Tortiglioni (spiral ridges Ziti)
www.somesundrytales.wordpress.com
Trenne / Trennette (triangular Penne)
www.reluctantgourmet.com
Tripoline / Tripolini
www.foodfornet.com
Trofie
www.foodandstyle.com
Tubini
www.foodfornet.com
Tufoli
www.amazon.it
Vermicelli
www.asiantrader.biz
Vermicelloni (thicker Vermicelli)
Ziti
www.tablespoon.com
Ziti Rigate (ridged Ziti)
Zitoni (long Ziti)
www.scordo.com

Burgers, Flash Deals, Full Points for Flavor, Italian, Nolita/Soho, Non-Steakhouse Steaks, NY Strip, Parms, Press Reviews, Restaurant Reviews, Rib Eye

Osteria Morini

April 7, 2016 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

Morini has a new burger and I tried this strip steak too. BOTH INCREDIBLE!

My wife was recently browsing around the Instagram foodporn landscape when she came across this image of a massive rib eye:

osteria morini — Photo Credit: Osteria Morini: @OsteriaMorini on Instagram

I was immediately intrigued when she shared it with me, but I kind of just put it on the mental list of places that I needed to try. Like any fool who is just looking at photos and not actually READING captions, I missed the integral part of what was going on and why my thoughtful wife sent it to me:

“BIG news. Literally. Tonight only we are serving 120 day dry aged Tomahawk Steak. It’s on a first come basis and there are only 7, so call to reserve yours now.”

120 fucking days?!?? Wow. So a few days go by and I get this frantic text from my wife: “GET YOUR CAMERA AND MEET ME AT OSTERIA MORINI TONIGHT AT 6PM!”

I responded. “Okay. Why, what’s going on?” Then she proceeded to explain to me the details of what I had glanced over a few days earlier. She’s a very patient person. I do this often, apparently. But my mouth dropped. She had secured us one of the seven 52oz, 120-day dry-aged Pat Lafrieda/Creekstone Farms rib eyes just a week or two in advance of our 7-year wedding anniversary. They only offer them on the first Wednesday of every month, so scheduling is limited. Anyway, I ran home and got my camera, because we were about to celebrate with the best steak we’d ever eaten.

The steak is not trimmed of any excess fat, and the bone is left with all the meat still attached prior to cooking, as you can see in the Instagram photo above. This is ideal when dry-aging, because eventually you have to trim off the outer bark and you inevitably lose some meat when that happens. Better that it be fat and gristle than your spinalis dorsi. Even still, this particular cut is still left with tons of surrounding meat and tenderized fat. Ours came out to the table pre-sliced, beautifully plated and ready for gorging:

Everything is edible on this. Even the fat breaks down into a really delicious beef jelly after that much time aging.

The cap was truly something to behold. Packed with tons of flavor and so fucking tender. As for the eye (longissimus dorsi), just take a look at this perfectly cooked masterpiece of a slice:

I half expected something so funky and nutty that it would almost be unrecognizable as steak, and more akin to blue cheese. But it was mild and pleasant, not so robust that it became odd tasting, like what can happen with some long aging processes. This was just right. I was smiling the entire time. This is the best steak I’ve ever eaten. 10/10, and still a 10/10 on a second visit years later.

But let’s not brush aside the other great Italian cuisine going on here at Osteria Morini. The bar has a great selection of Italian-inspired cocktails that are really unique and interesting.

The atmosphere is home-ish and comfortable. It’s warm and inviting, with lots of wood tones.

By 8:30pm the lights had dimmed significantly and the place was wall-to-wall jammed. The food is so great, it is no wonder why. But when you take the stellar service into consideration, a packed house becomes a no-brainer. GM Phillip Buttacavoli made us feel very much at home, and all employees from servers, to kitchen staff, to bartenders were really helpful, pleasant and nice.

The foccacia table bread was warm, toasty and nicely seasoned.

We started with the stracci pasta: long, wide ribbons of egg-forward pasta with a braised wild mushroom sauce and rosemary oil.

Perfectly cooked, and delicious through and through. The other pasta dishes all sounded great too. I will definitely be back to survey more of those selections.

The steak, which was a very fair $145, came with our choice of two sides as well. We went with the parmigiano roasted asparagus and the parmigiano fingerling potatoes.

The asparagus reminded me of the kind my mother used to make. Very simply cooked but with parmigiano over the top to add in some salt and flavor. And the potatoes were perfectly crunchy and nicely seasoned all around.

For dessert, we tried the gianduja budino: a baked chocolate and hazelnut custard with candied hazelnuts, brown butter and salted chocolate cake crumbles.

I loved it. It had just the right amount of sweet and savory to strike a great balance. They even gave us some complimentary glasses of saffron and cardamom amaro to go with the dessert.

We ended up using a great Gilt City deal on this meal. My wife paid something like $145 for $200 worth of credit to apply to the bill at pretty much any Altamarea Group restaurant (except for Marea). That left us with a little bit to cover at the end.

What a fantastic meal. I can’t wait to go back!

UPDATE 8/1/18

Had a bunch of pasta dishes, which were all excellent:

Octopus was really tender, and had a nice char on the outside.

Incredible “White Label Burger.” Custom Pat LaFrieda beef blend with tomato, speck aioli, and fontina cheese with sides of parmesan and parsley onion rings and fonduta.

And crispy breaded veal wrapped in prosciutto and covered with truffle cream sauce.

OSTERIA MORINI
218 Lafayette Street
New York, NY 10012

Recipes

Homemade Pasta

February 15, 2016 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

Making fresh pasta is easy as hell. First make a volcano well out of flour. Then add two egg yolks and one whole egg. Start to “scramble” the eggs within the flour well, adding a little bit of flour from the well into the eggs as you beat them. Add a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of olive oil, and keep going.

Once the dough starts to thicken and stick to the fork pretty heavily, you can switch off to mixing with your hands (make sure they’re clean first, you filthy bastard). Knead the dough with your fingers and hands, picking up some flour here and there to keep it from sticking to your hands too much. Knead some more. Eventually you’ll get a nice dough that snaps back a little bit when you squish it in your hands. That means you’re done. Coat with a little bit of olive oil and refrigerate in plastic wrap (or freeze to use at a later date).

After about a half hour in the fridge, my wife and I rolled the dough out into log shapes, or snakes, and then cut them into a rustic cavatelli style pasta, using the prongs of a fork to get a little bit of texture onto the pasta. That texture helps the sauce cling to the pasta better.

You can watch the whole process come together below:

Fresh pasta cooks up much quicker than boxed pasta. Fettuccine, for example, takes only about two minutes. The kind we made here is a bit thicker, so it’ll take longer to cook through.

My wife made a kickass carbonara for them, using minced pancetta, peas, heavy cream and various cheeses. This shit was delicious.

Recipes

Spaghetti Pie

December 13, 2015 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

This shit was a staple in my household when I was growing up. It’s really easy to make, and it’s something not many people have eaten. My mom used to make it with just the cheese, spices, eggs and spaghetti, but I decided to take it to the next level with some other shit. Here’s how it goes:

SHIT YOU NEED (Mom’s Way)

1 Pound of Spaghetti
1 Dozen Eggs
6oz Grated Parmesan cheese
Basic Seasonings (salt, pepper, garlic powder, oregano, crushed red pepper, etc)
Half Stick of Butter

SHIT YOU MAY WANT TO ADD (My Way)

1 Bag of Baby Spinach
8oz Imitation Crab Meat (or the real deal if it’s in the budget)
6oz Mozzarella Cheese

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Smear the half stick of butter all over the inside of a pyrex pan. Whatever extra you have can be melted and added into the bowl in the next step.

3. Crack your eggs into a bowl and whisk together with the grated parmesan cheese and seasonings until thoroughly mixed.

4. Boil your spaghetti, then strain (or leftovers are fine, too).

5. Cook the baby spinach, then strain or squeeze dry (optional).

6. Pull apart the crab meat and chop or dice coarsely (optional).

7. Coarsely chop or dice the mozzarella cheese (optional).

8. Add spaghetti (and the other optional ingredients) into the egg and grated cheese bowl, and mix with your (clean) hands until everything is evenly distributed.

9. Pour the mixture into the buttered pyrex pan and spread it around so it is flat and evenly distributed.

10. Bake until you see butter bubbles coming up from the bottom of the pyrex, or until you can poke it with a toothpick and not have any slime or ooze come up when you remove the toothpick. Typically the edges will start to get some brown happening when it is finished, and the top of the pie will start to develop some dry, crispy, semi-burnt spaghetti bits.

Eggs cook pretty quickly, and that’s really all that needs to get cooked at this point. They’re probably halfway cooked anyway since the hot spaghetti likely hit the egg and started the cooking process already before the pyrex went into the oven. I’m thinking this is usually around 30-45 minutes for me, but I honestly never look at the time. It’s all eyeballs for me.

Once it’s finished cooking, take it out of the oven and let it set/rest for a while before cutting into squares/cubes.

In the meantime, you can make a nice dipping sauce out of some canned or jarred tomatoes, if you have them sitting around collecting dust. I like to use a small can of Contadina tomato sauce, hit it in a small sauté pan with some olive oil, spices, herbs and a bit of chili paste or chili flakes. You can pour it on top of your piece of pie, or dip into it with each bite.

Some people eat by hand, and others use a fork and knife.

It really all depends on the density and consistency of the final product. If you want a more dense pie, use fewer eggs and add in all of the goodies I suggested. If you want a fluffier pie, use more eggs and fewer extras.

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carnivore connoisseur