if i could be anything else, i'd be italian.
i mean,
i realize i'm pretty lucky-
getting matzoh ball soup from one side
and some pretty pimp dumplings from the other-
but, boy, if i could have a third half
i'd want it to be italian so that i could eat like i did at
every day.
i found myself dining once again with the kings of unbougey
who convinced me that
before babbo,
and before sd26,
i would be eating at this adorable family-run west village restaurant
for a meal that my imaginary italian grandmother would have cooked.
we began with:
some of the freshest caprese salad i've ever had the pleasure of meeting
stuffed mushrooms that made me reconsider my prejudice against 'shrooms
melon topped with piles of fierce prosciutto
and...
mussels.
...the voice in the back of my mind says, "molly, you are a mostly-food blogger, you must try the mussels!"
{oh wait, that voice is real and it's jeff's}
before i recount my broken virginity to shell fish,
i'd like you all to notice the background of this picture.
{molly gets introduced to the act of "photo-bombing"}
the mussel
was fine.
weirdest of all was how it looked.
but the taste was great,
the texture like a fresh gummy bear,
and the juices at the bottom of the plate-- delicious!
...
all of our main courses ended up being a giant hunk of meat- in one form or another:
chicken rollatini
stuffed with ricotta and prosciutto
topped with 'shrooms.
pork bracciola
veal ossobucco
...and some other forms of meaty outrageousness {some fried, some in sauce form}
it was seriously the most amount of meat i've ever seen on one table.
if we would have combined our powers,
we might have been able to construct a baby giraffe.
a round of musical forks commenced,
and i was a happy camper.
though, i really wanted to hog all of my ossobucco to myself,
as it was amazing.
it came with a baby fork in the middle of the bone to dig out the marrow,
and in chris' words, it was:
a castle of deliciousness
with marrow that was like
gamey butter.
dessert seemed like a terrible idea.
but with nutella cheesecake on the menu,
we really didn't have a choice.
jared got this cute little ball of ice cream,
luke and chris got amaretto tiramisu,
i got the original tiramisu,
and jeff got this ricotta cheesecake that i still daydream about.
it didn't have that tangy cheesecake taste that i once overdosed on,
rather,
it was more light and cakey.
i felt like violet beauregarde after the whole ordeal.
just roll me through the village, why don't you.
it was entirely worth it though.
and i am willing to do it again...
but, mi amore, i've got 32 more restaurants to go!
xoxo
yeh
piccolo angolo is located on hudson and jane street in the west village