new york

week 20: piccolo angolo

in ,

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

alcohol.

in

with my 21st birthday quickly approaching,
heaven only knows the effects my legalness will have on mister blog...

{will my first drink be out of a pitcher?}

i've done my research,
checked in on some of them drinkin blogs,
and can only imagine how well a tidbit about a cocktail or three will compliment my restaurant challenge posts.

i've compiled a small list of beverages 
that i'll best be trying
once the big day arrives:

ginger in the rye
michter’s rye, angostura bitters, la fée absinthe,
ginger beer, pressed limes
bison sour
vodka, lemon, sugar, egg white, cinnamon

creole daiquiri
old new orleans three-year rum, 

chorizo-infused sombra mezcal, lime, 
pomegranate molasses, cane syrup, salt 

mother's milk
a creamy stout with a little bit of milk and chocolate.

made with coffee.

tea flower
 vodka, green tea, elderflower syrup, orange twist

lavender cosmo
blueberry lavender vodka, cranberry juice, cassis
whisknladle {la jolla}

london's burning
broker's gin, jalepeño, avocado, lime
whisknladle {la jolla}

smoked horchata
house-made horchata, herradura

reposado tequila, crema de
mezcal, cinnamon bark syrup,
dash of angostura bitters,
cinnamon stick

...

i'm really excited to drink lavender things
and ginger things
and amaretto things...

it's going to be fantastic.

i'll finally be able to have
  beer with my schnitzel,
and 
wine with my cheese.


i promise not to slur my posts.


xoxo


yeh

week 17: risotteria {and caffe vivaldi}

in , ,
{and the time i was a total diva}


i recently went to see a performance by the famed/illustrious
zoogmadon
at caffe vivaldi
in the west village {around the corner from kesté, john's pizzeria, risotteria, etc, etc, etc}


in enjoying fabulous and hilarious music,
i decided the only thing that would make my life better,
was if my tummy wasn't so growly and begging for dinner...


so i made the terrible and uneducated decision to order
what was advertised as 
"house made ravioli"


*calling something "house made" on a menu
is about as sad and ambiguous as calling something "gourmet"


 as i experienced, "house made" could very easily translate into
a dish reminiscent of canned poop.
{that i won't even waste my energy describing}




do you know how painful it is to be eating a bad meal when you are spitting distance from kesté?!


i left.


but first i subtracted twenty from the amount of minutes it took to get my food,
divided that by two,
and then deducted that amount of dollars from the proper tip amount.
i go back and forth between embarrassment and pride for tipping so little, but i'm leaning towards pride because i think i would have done a disservice to future victims otherwise.


anyways,
in a mad dash, i fled around the corner to the intersection of kesté and risotteria,
and since i've been to the former, decided on
risotteria


where i was immediately able to sit at the bar,
and within minutes,
have a bowl of piping hot,
burn-your-mouth {meaning bonus points in my book}
comforting,
gooey,
rich,
heavy,
hit-the-spot


mozzarella and pesto risotto 


oh it was heaven.


i recently learned my lesson with pesto
{to me it always seems like a really good idea until the second bite when i realize it in fact is not usually a good idea, due to oil, etc}
but when waitress recommended it, i decided to give it another chance.
and i'm so glad i did.


it was so rich and heavy that i saved some for lunch the next day.


 comforting
is the one word i'd use to describe it.
not just because it saved my evening from being culinarily awful 
but because, it was so simple and cuddly and non offensive. 


the rest of risotteria's menu looked delicious as well.
everything is gluten-free,
and it is abundant in herbivore-friendly options.


the vibe was cozy,
and the view of phileo yogurt across the street was just too tempting
{pistachio fro yo with mochi was my dessert}


risotteria,
i am forever indebted to you for saving my evening.


i have 35 restaurants to go, lovelies


xoxo




yeh



risotteria is on bleecker between 6th and 7th ave
open noon to 11pm every day
caffe vivaldi can suck it

week 16: umi no ie

in , ,

a very wise man once added the shortened form of "bourgeois"
{"bougey" {büzh-ee}}
to his everyday vocabulary so that he could more easily use it as a way of classifying eating places,
usually in the negative sense.
{ex. "even the waffles truck is a little bougey"}

this wise man {ok, we'll call him chris}
came to the city, like me, with the zagat top lists memorized and had every intention of trying all of [them bougey places] until, 
as legend has it,
he discovered 
the other places. 
the authentic,
hole-in-the-wall
make-friends-with-the-owner
no-reservations-needed
other place.

and so when chris,
our friend
jeff
{whose claim to fame is that he once made the bold, and possibly quite genius claim that jj's hot dogs is a better culinary experience than per se}
and
luke
pardon me
saw that my restaurant list was all momofuku-ed and jean george-d out, they said,

"we're going to umi no ie."
”海の家に行く”














and the rest is history...


{if chris and luke and jeff made a cd of percussion trio music this might be the cover.}

ok 
so let's talk about food.

uminoie is japanese.
it is not sushi a go go or whatevs,
ゴゴカレもでわない
it is not bring your prom date to benihana,
but rather, 
it is the japanese equivalent to your jewish mother's matzoh ball soup and the challah bread {holla!} she baked fresh to dunk in it, and, of course, the brisket. 

it's comforting and it's home style...


and these udon noodles are what "homegirl's grandmother taught her to make when she was seven." thanks, chris

...

now since we literally ordered every single menu item,
i'll discuss the highlights.

first to come out was the
shiokara
塩辛
squid marinated in its own liver sauce.
{this is not an april fools' joke}

when my first instinct was to run the other way,
i was immediately harassed by jeff 
who informed me that,
because i have a {mostly} food blog,
i will be trying everything that they order
and i will not have a choice.

and he was right. 

and so on the count of three
i ate squid.
いか食べた
and it was reminiscent of a gummi bear that had been sitting out for a day,
with the flavor of licorice,
and then a strong little punch at the end.
enjoyable indeed,
albeit a little scary. 


next up was
eihire
エイ鰭
dried fin of manta ray, served with mayo

chris is convinced that, 
whereas americans use pretzels and chips simply as a vehicle with which to eat salt,
manta ray fins are an excuse for japanese people to eat mayonnaise. 
because apparently 
mayonnaise:chris::mustard:molly
マヨネーズ：クリス：：辛子：森
i imagine that if i were a 14 year old japanese boy,
washing up on the beach after an afternoon of surfing,
i would reach for these instead of doritos. 
森＝モリー、ごめん はは
they had the consistency of fruit leather,
and the taste of salt, a hint of fishiness,
and a glob of mayo. 
yum!!


another fave
was
karaage
空揚げ
fried chicken

{thankfully/sneakily jeff got two orders...}

there's not much to say about it,
(超おいしい！）
except that, if my memory serves me right,
i'm pretty sure this sparked a conversation on the kfc double down. 

these two photos are further evidence that the japanese really enjoy their omelets.
as a youth,
my protocol for going to a sushi restaurant was ordering about 50 pieces of tamago.
loved the stuff.
but these omelets just took it a few steps further:

the top had bitter melon,
tofu,
and bonito flakes

and the bottom had eel
{yes, another food virginity broken}

...if you've never had bitter melon,
i highly suggest that you forget about the fact that it's called "melon,"
maybe rename it to "bitter weird carroty thing,"
or something,
and then try it.
there's really nothing like it.

another source of tastiness was 
meatballs + eggs
didn't dare ask what kind of meat these were made out of,
but they were very similar to their italian counterpart.

luke, jeff,
some
"divine"© jeff irving
egg rolls
春巻き

...and the pièce de résistance...
pork belly.

let's get a close up on the top left, shall we?


i assure you two things:

1. my obsession with this dish was not just because it was served with hot mustard
2. this sad little glob was not the limit to my mustard intake,
because, thankfully, friends don't let friend deprive of mustard
{not pictured: xtra side of mustard}

i mean,
this pork belly,
while it looks like a total mess,
was one of the tastiest,
juiciest,
dissolve-in-your-mouth
pieces of meat i've ever bitten in to
{keep it appropriate, boys}

it was like meat,
in marshmallow form.

i couldn't get enough of it.
except for when i accidentally ate a whole chunk of fat.
but that's besides the point.
the point is,
it was delicious,
and one of the main roles in why 
this meal was one of the most satisfying meals i've ever had ever ever ever ever ever
おにぎりワイワイする！

{the plum rice balls helped too}
(おにぎりワイワイする）


キープボットルです
did i mention we sat on the floor with our shoes off?
and that in the back,
there is this shelf where customers who don't finish their bottle of shochu can label it and store it for next time?
and that this place is open late?!
{an ode to restaurants that are open late, part 2 perhaps...}


this place is the greatest.
it's probably one of new york's best kept secrets.
no joke,
if most of you readers didn't hail from other states and australia and england,
i might not have even posted about umi no ie. 
ニューヨーク大好き
 if this post gets into the wrong hands,
we may all be in trouble,
so keep it on the down low, people,
and go here as soon as you can.

...36 to go...


xoxo


yeh



and a special thanks to chris for adding the japanese characters!!!

umi no ie is located in the east village, at e. 3rd and 1st ave
open m-th 7pm to 1am, f-sat 7pm to 2am, sun 7pm to 12am