| Author |
Message |
    
snshirsch
Citizen
Username: Snshirsch
Post Number: 87
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, September 11, 2003 - 9:56 am: |     |
Relatives are coming and would like to dine at a great NYC Italian restaurant. Any recommendations?
Thanks! |
jonnyt
Citizen
Username: Jonnyt
Post Number: 17
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, September 11, 2003 - 10:01 am: | |
Babbo or Po. Avoid little italy |
amandacat
Citizen
Username: Amandacat
Post Number: 220
Registered: 8-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, September 11, 2003 - 10:24 am: | |
Il Mulino or Da Silvano, absolutely!!!!! |
Dave Ross
Supporter
Username: Dave
Post Number: 5133
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, September 11, 2003 - 10:33 am: | |
Babbo, Po or Esca (Italian seafood). |
jonnyt
Citizen
Username: Jonnyt
Post Number: 18
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, September 11, 2003 - 11:27 am: | |
A bit further afield, Queen on Court St.in Brooklyn is good. It's a bit more old-fashioned than the ones mentioned above |
KATHLEEN WETLI
Citizen
Username: Katmic
Post Number: 9
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, September 11, 2003 - 12:50 pm: | |
GIGINO IN TRIBECA IS GREAT TOO. |
NinersMan
Citizen
Username: Ninersman
Post Number: 4
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, September 11, 2003 - 2:55 pm: | |
Esca offers all dishes a-la-carte; portions are super small; try Il Mulino, tho it will cost you, or uptown, try Trattoria Dell' Arte. |
amandacat
Citizen
Username: Amandacat
Post Number: 225
Registered: 8-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, September 11, 2003 - 3:25 pm: | |
FYI, Il Mulino is on the old fashioned/traditional side as well, versus say Mario Batali's hipper restaurants Babbo & Po, but the food is exceptional. From the 2002 Zagat Survey of NYC Restaurants:
NYC's No. 1 Italian for the 18th straight year, this "dark", "crowded" Villager serves "huge amounts" of "gutsy", "garlicky" food that's so good it "makes you feel you died and went to Sopranos heaven"; although owner/maitre d'Fernando and his family "run a tight ship", enormous popularity can mean "waiting even with reservations" - to beat the lines, go for lunch or at off-hours.
food: 27 (!), decor: 20, service: 24, cost: $68 |
viva
Citizen
Username: Viva
Post Number: 292
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, September 11, 2003 - 4:10 pm: | |
I really like Babbo
but I love Carmine's (Times Sq. or Upper West Side)
You can't compare the two, but why bother?
|
Bjp
Citizen
Username: Bjp
Post Number: 143
Registered: 10-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, September 11, 2003 - 4:55 pm: | |
Felidia. |
pizzaz
Citizen
Username: Pizzaz
Post Number: 18
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, September 11, 2003 - 5:24 pm: | |
Il Mulino has jumbo strawberries that are flown in from Israel or at least they use to. Very expensive, but....well worth it! |
Lizziecat
Citizen
Username: Lizziecat
Post Number: 32
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, September 11, 2003 - 9:23 pm: | |
Portobello, on Thompson Street in the Village. Great food, great service, reasonable prices. |
Master Plvmber
Citizen
Username: Master_plvmber
Post Number: 93
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Friday, September 12, 2003 - 6:46 am: | |
Did you have a neighborhood in mind? Casual, midrange or upscale? Anyone looking for a particular dish?
Mario Batali's places (Babbo, Lupa, Otto, etc.) are generally very good but overpriced, crowded and difficult to book. In my opinion, there are plenty of places for good Italian food that make for a better experience.
My wife and I like to stay downtown, but if we want to go a little higher, we'll eat at "i Trulli" on 27th and Park. They have a very big garden seating area and the food/wine/service are all impeccable.
Little Italy right now is a zoo with the San Gennaro Feast, but when it isn't, I go with my family to La Mela on Mulberry St. It's simple, very tasty, outside, cheap, my brother's kids can run around and you can't get more casual.
Otherwise, my favorite Italian right now might be Giorgione (owned by Giorgio DeLuca, of Dean and DeLuca).
Master_Plvmber
|
Dave Ross
Supporter
Username: Dave
Post Number: 5147
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, September 12, 2003 - 7:29 am: | |
snshirsch,
Too bad Wayne is in Italy, or he could set you up at Babbo or Esca. Last time we were at Esca, part of the dinner was perhaps politically incorrect (but they matched the wine well with it):
quote: DIGUSTING INDULGENCE:New Yorker's feast on chef Pasternak's (of Esca's) "Sea Monster." New York's Esca Serves Sea Monster for Supper Architeuthis dux or the Giant Squid, a "mysterious creature of the ocean depths, subject of ancient seafaring mythologies and superstitions, has never been seen in its natural habitat -- a thousand feet beneath the surface. Most know it only as the fictional beast that attacked Captain Nemo's submarine in the film version of Jules Verne's classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Architeuthis dux can grow to be 60 feet long (though most are 35 to 45 feet) and spends its solitary life in near total darkness. Its eye is typically as large as a human head. We only know of it because dead giant squid have washed up on beaches and been found the stomachs of sperm whales. Deep-sea fishermen occasionally snare one in their nets" Apparently patrons of Esca's have taken to this dish with "childlike glee," one commenting that "it's prehisortic!"
they grilled it, btw; quite good. |
mim
Citizen
Username: Mim
Post Number: 277
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, September 12, 2003 - 9:02 am: | |
Lattanzi |
Hank Zona
Citizen
Username: Hankzona
Post Number: 743
Registered: 3-2002
| | Posted on Friday, September 12, 2003 - 9:30 am: | |
Good call on i Trulli and La Mela. i Trulli also has an excellent Italian wine bar next door, where you can order alot of the same food and watch them make the pasta on the marble table in the back. La Mela is a very good casual Italian joint (not fine Italian dining), one of the few places in Little Italy with good food, although you have to not let the waiters take advantage of you there. They prefer to just bring food out for you and not have you order off the menu. Tell them what you want, and tell them what you dont want. Is Il Giglio still open in Tribeca? It was a relative of Il Mulino (which is primo but used to have a three week wait for a reservation) and had similar food but was easier to get a seat. And I miss Folonico. |
mem
Citizen
Username: Mem
Post Number: 1946
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, September 12, 2003 - 11:17 am: | |
Acapella
TriBeCa
1 Hudson St (Chambers St)
There's nothing like being in a BAR! |
Closed: New threads not accepted on this page