Taverna, Newark, DE

My dad and my have birthdays that are only 2 days apart, so we always celebrate together. This year, we went to Taverna, a new restaurant on Main Street in Newark, DE.

For a college town, Newark lately has been getting more and more upscale and trendy. A wine bar opened in the spot of the demolished dive bar The Stone Balloon, fellow dive bar The Deer Park was renovated and reopened, there's a banh mi shop, cupcakes, and tart yogurt.

So Taverna is yet another recent addition to the Newark dining scene. It's part of a restaurant group with a handful or restaurants in Wilmington and Hockessin, Delaware, and focuses on rustic Italian, wood-fired oven, etc.

 It being shortly after graduation, and Memorial Day, the town was quiet, and we pretty much had the restaurant all to ourselves. We started out with an antipasto board - created with 3 selections of your choice. We went with prosciutto, housemade mozzarella and eggplant caponata.

We also wanted to try their homemade ricotta. This was a bit salty for my taste, but still creamy and yummy. Ricotta's one of those things though - even bad ricotta in a plastic tub from the supermarket is pretty good...

For entrees, my dad got the canelloni (stuffed inside with chicken and proscuitto) - quite good!  My mom got the chicken taverna with a caper, lemon, white wine sauce on capellini.

Redneckhunter got the neopolitan pizza, and I made him order it with an egg on top (I got that slice, of course!) 

And I ordered the roast pork and broccoli rabe sandwich, and substituted asparagus for my side of fries. It was a ton of food, and I ended up taking half of mine home as leftovers. All in all, another good addition to Newark!

Taverna
121 E Main St
Newark, DE 19711
(302) 444-4334

Salumeria Rosi, Upper West Side, NYC

Even though I used to live and work on the Upper West Side, these days I don't often find myself in that neighborhood often, so when we had a concert to go to at the Beacon Theater, even though it was Good Friday, we decided to be bad Catholics and eat at Salumeria Rosi.

Naturally we started with the chef's selection of salumi -- we got their signature parmacotto, mortadella de bologna, proscuitto (can't remember from which region), coppa, and maybe a couple more. 

Also got the cheese selection, though I tried to talk Redneckhunter out of this in favor of something from the main menu. Nothing too special here - we got a parmigianno romano, smoked provolone (our favorite of the 3), and a pecorino.

 We got 2 dishes from the main menu - sweet potato gnocchi and and Pancia -- slow cooked pork belly served with Tuscan chickpeas, blanched greens and crispy skin (which was the best part, naturally).

We had a nice cup of coffee while waiting for our friend who was meeting us, bug instead of staying for dessert, we decided to brave the cold and grab a waffle from the Wafel and Dinges cart we had spotted outside the 72nd Street subway station before the show.

Salumeria Rosi
283 Amsterdam Avenue
New York, NY

The Joe Special

I have been dreaming of an amazing sandwich we had recently at Touch of Italy in Rehoboth Beach over Memorial Day weekend.  The Joe Special was simple, yet perfect -- just prosciutto with fresh ricotta and extra virgin olive oil on semolina bread.  At Touch of Italy, they bake their own bread, and we were lucky enough to get a sandwich on a freshly baked still warm loaf.  It was probably the best thing I've eaten in a long time.

 So when I saw fresh ricotta from Salvatore Bklyn at Beecher's, I grabbed a tub with the idea of making the Joe Special at home.  Salvatore Bklyn makes their ricotta by hand in small batches daily -- the texture is dense and creamy, the flavor is of rich whole milk with a hint of lemon. It's absolutely amazing and I could have probably eaten the whole tub with a spoon. But semolina bread and cured meat was calling.

Instead of prosciutto, we already had smoked bacon at home from Pulaski Meats, the Polish butcher in the Trenton Farmer's Market, and grabbed a loaf of semolina from D'Angelo's Italian Market in Princeton, drizzled it with plenty of olive oil, and went to town with our own version of the Joe Special sandwich.

I also happily devoured ricotta with honey on toasted bread - yum...  I need to get back up to the city to get more ricotta! I'm also excited that Touch of Italy is opening a bakery in Lewes, DE where you'll be able to buy loaves of their delicious bread.  Hopefully they'll be open by the time we make it back down to the beach again later this summer. 

Trattoria Machiavelli, NYC

Guest blogger petitesoeur wanted to share her lovely meal at Trattoria Machiavelli on the Upper West Side:

Breathtaking Tulips & Expertly-made Pasta

One of the best things about New York City is that you can pretend you are somewhere else. Sitting among the 15,000 tulips ablaze in the West Side Community Garden, I'm in Holland rather than on West 89th between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues.

And sitting at the Trattoria Machiavelli's bar, eating a perfectly-prepared Pappardelle Alla Pecora Nera while sipping on a 2009 Aglianico Del Vulture, it was easy to imagine myself have a late afternoon leisurely lunch in Rome.

Trattoria Machiavelli
519 Columbus Avenue (corner of West 85th Street)
http://machiavellinyc.com/

Piatti di Pasta Fresca Fatta a Mano
Pastas are all handmade in the traditional style by Andrea Fiano [pictured left]

Pappardelle Alla Pecora Nera
Sauteed Pappardelle with Tomato Sauce Topped with Prosciutto Crudo, Grilled Zucchini and Fresh Basil

Westside Community Garden
http://www.westsidecommunitygarden.org/

Incanto, San Francisco, CA

 If you're a regular reader of this blog, you'll know that we at TIGBG love nose-to-tail eating.  So when we had to go out to San Francisco a couple weeks ago, we made a reservation at Chris Cosentino's (www.offalgood.com) place Incanto, in the Noe Valley neighborhood.  The restaurant is on a quiet corner in a residential area, and is warm and inviting inside.  We were really looking forward to our meal because of the strong porky aroma emanating from the kitchen.

There were two appetizer specials that night, so we ordered both of them -- trotter cake with foie gras, served with a red wine reduction;  and testa (head cheese) ravioli with pig's blood in the pasta, in a sauce that had cinnamon, pumpkin seeds, pine nuts, dried fruit.  The trotter cake was the best dish we had that night.  You can't go wrong with a lobe of seared foie gras.  The cake was a bit like scrapple with more meat - chunkier (I got a nice chunk of cartilage in one bite).  I appreciated the use of grapes and wine - a nod to the local region.  The ravioli, though, were a bit disappointing -- I didn't really get any offal-ness - no satisfying funk from the head cheese or blood.  The waitress had described the sauce to us as "kind of like a mole" so that was disappointing as well.  It had none of that concentrated richness of a mole - I mean, yes, it had cinnamon, and pumpkin seeds etc., but not ground in, reduced for hours, had it been a true mole.  One thing the Top Chef judges have dunged people on was calling a dish something that it really wasn't.  If they hadn't said "mole" I wouldn't have been disappointed that it wasn't one.

Because we still had five more days in the Bay area and wanted to conserve our appetites, for our main dishes we each order a half portion from the pasta section rather than one of the larger meat dishes, though we did go all pig (after all, it is their specialty).  Redneckhunter went traditional with handkerchief pasta with pork ragu.  I went with the Corzetti, cotechino, mizuna & pangrattato.  First off, I liked that I didn't know what any of those words meant!  Here's what it was - corzetti are flat round pasta (Incanto's were imprinted with their piggy mascot), cotechino is an Italian sausage sliced thin like salami, mizuna are mustard greens, and pangrattato are breadcrumbs.

 I thought Redneckhunter's was just ok - personally I think he makes a better pork ragu (but then again we get some really delicious ground pork from the Asian market in Plainsboro).  I liked mine, the slight bitterness of the greens and the texture of the breadcrumbs were nice, and I got how they were going for similar flat and round of the sausage and pasta.

For dessert, we also ordered the special which was an ice cream float in strawberry verbena soda.  It was light and refreshing.  All in all, we had a good meal, but not one I'm going to dream about.  Though they celebrate the pig here, it's a far cry from the temple of pork indulgence of the likes of Au Pied de Cochon, by any stretch.

Incanto
1550 Church Street
Noe Valley, SF
415.641.4500

Fiola, DC

Fiola is a recently opened Italian restaurant in DC. It marks the return to the area of James Beard award winning chef Fabio Trabocchi. Despite being open only a few weeks, there is already a back and forth on the net about the food from Fiola. However, I had a pretty great dinner there this week.
I was glad to have a fellow DC foodie along so we were able to try several item from their menu. We started with two antipastos. First was Apulia buffalo mozzarella, roasted tomatoes, and a pesto of basil Genovese. While simple, the ingredients were fantastic, and the flavors particularly of the pesto were confident and delicious.
We also shared a salad of violet baby artichoke, fava beans, English peas, and mint. The peas were a puree at the bottom of the salad. This was light, beautiful and fresh tasting.

For the pasta course, we shared a spaghetti with Dungeness crab, a sauce made of sea urchin, and sprinkled with red chile flakes. This was a wonderfully complex and rich plate. The urchin sauce was creamy and coated the noodles, and the chile added a nice surprise in the mouth.

For my main course, I ordered the Branzino served on a bed of olive oil crushed potato and topped with a brodetto, a stew of littleneck clams and fish. The fish was perfectly prepared- light and tender, and the "sauce" complemented it well, and had a slight kick to it as well.

My friend ordered the veal chop. This was prepared with a layer of mushrooms all wrapped in proscuitto. It was accompanied by hazelnuts and Jerusalem artichoke puree. It was a contrast to the fish course- much more rich and hearty. The veal was also perfectly cooked.






For dessert, we tried two items. I ordered the fennel gelato with blood orange on top of an olive oil semolina cake. The fennel flavor was so good. It had a licorice-like quality without the harshness. The tanginess of the blood orange and the sweetness of the cake went well with the fennel flavor.
My friend had the trifle of fresh strawberry and lemon granita. Like the other dessert, this was a wonderful combination of flavors: the sweetness of the cream, the sour flavor of the granita, and the strawberries.
We also received a trio small petit fours from the pastry chef including a chocolate chip macaroon.
Needless to say, we were stuffed by the end of the meal. I'm very hopeful for Fiola, and I look forward to returning very soon.


601 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington DC
(202)628-2888

Eataly, NYC

Some photos from a recent trip to Eataly. Word to the wise - go on a weekday... It gets super-packed on weekends.

We loved the olive oil bread we brought home - a nice sourdough flavor, great toasted with butter.
Seafood looked amazing... they've got shad roe! And sea urchin!

We got a simple sandwich of spicy coppa from Salumeria Rossi - the bread was satisfyingly chewy and delicious. Next time, though, we're going to save room for a roasted meat sandwich from the Rosticceria. That day's special was roasted lamb...



Petiteseour got a strong macchiato from the espresso bar, but we weren't feeling quite up to having dessert just yet. Again, next time...

Eataly
23th Street and 5th Avenue
New York
http://eatalyny.com

Brunch In Brooklyn : Al di là

Brunch at Park Slope's Al di là was good enough that I want to go back to try their impressive dinner menu of North Italian cuisine. We started with a very garlicky fava bean puree that I had no problem polishing off.
My friend got the banana & mascarpone cheese pancakes while I opted for a spaghetti with pancetta and chard. My plate was simple but so delicious. The pasta was wonderful, light and flavorful.

248 5th Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
(718)783-4565

Pizzeria Orso, Falls Church, VA

Pizza is all about the crust: the flavor, the textures, the char. I had some delicious pizza with amazing crust at Falls Church, VA's recently opened Pizzeria Orso.
We started with several items off their Antipasti menu.
We had some of Orso's Bruschetta made with grilled sourdough bread topped with a garlic rub, olive oil and sea salt.

Accompanying the bread we ate marinated grilled zucchini, eggplant, some smashed tomatoes and sweet onions, and really good lightly pickled Pioppini mushrooms with sweet peperonata.



We then followed with a platter of grilled chicken wings and legs, grilled ricotta salata chicken crostini topped with little onion rings, and arrosticini- grilled lamb skewers.
We tried a platter of fritture which included potato crocche (cheesy potato croquettes) and Suppli al Telefono- fried risotto balls with tomato sauce stuffed with melted buffalo mozzarella cheese. I really liked the risotto balls.

I then had a small bowl of Pappa al Pomodoro, a bread & tomato soup that reminded me a little of congee or French onion soup sans the cheese.



Finally, after all these great appetizers, we got to the pizza. Orso specializes in Neapolitan style pizza cooked in a wood burning oven. One particular thing about their crust is that the pizzaialo uses a sourdough starter to give it a very special flavor and texture.
The crust is thin, ballooning out a little at the edges with excellent char. It stays crispy with a little squish in the middle, and it is important to note that the pizzaialo does not cut the pies as it allows them to continue to cook after leaving the oven and prevents what he calls "soupiness".
It reminded me strongly of the pizza I've had at Pizzeria Mozza in LA, but it seems more like a genuine pizza crust at Orso than the "bakery" feel from the crust at Mozza. I do think I prefer Orso's because of this.
I tried several pizzas at Orso. I ordered the Romana- tomato, anchovies, capers, olives, basil, garlic w/o cheese.
The Margherita DOC with tomato, buffalo mozzarella, & basil was bona fide. Impressive was also the Vongole with grana, capers, parsley, cockles in shell, & hot pepper flakes, and the Cotto e Funghi with cream, provola, ham, mushrooms, & basil.
Orso also had an interesting choice of stuffed pies as well.
We finished dinner with to go pizza boxes and tasty cannolis. I had a pistachio.
I drove 90 min to eat here, and I would be happy to go again.

400 South Maple Avenue
Falls Church, VA
(703)226-3460