I Ate on Restaurant Row and Lived to Tell the Tale
Probably the most ambitious Sicilian menu we have. Opened by the Bocca di Bacco family who are from Sicily. Service almost entirely Latin American, and chef is Israeli, with stints at Osteria Morini and Marea. Heather Pelletier, also with Osteria Morini, and Momofuku Milk Bar helped open the place about a year ago, but not involved much these days.
My negroni was poor. The street food snacks (Pannelle, Crocche, Arancino) were excellent. The pastas were good. Leaning on the sweeter side, but enjoyable nonetheless. The creamy Busiate was the better of the three. The Con le Sarde was good, while the rabbit Pappardelle was a bit one note but fine. The Couscous (Trapani specialty) was top notch. The fresh seafood worked really well with that broth, especially the scallops. And the pistachio lava cake was a solid finisher. All considering, especially the location, an enjoyable meal on the sidewalk among tourists, and other bridge and tunnellers (like us).
For better or for worse, the location, and the lack of Italians on the staff, means they may not get any attention from NY media. Super easy to reserve as a result, and due to the size of the place. There are some other advantages with eating at a place like this, as opposed to downtown. For starters you are not the oldest person in the room, and you can have a conversation. And you are not charged $8 for the excellent bread, initially at least
Note, if you have nothing else to do and decide to read the post linked above, I apologize in advance. Lets just say, I got a little bored with the usual format
