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“Bocca Lupo”

Occasion:	Cuisine:	Area:	Cost:	Rating:
Night Out	Italian	Brooklyn	Cheap Eats	Good

re were seven of us, we pretty did that for the entire menu, which offers an ‘inotecca-like selection of crowd-pleasing antipasti and salads, bruschetta, panini and daily pasta specials.

We started with a pair of oversized  platters of Italian meats ($12) and cheeses ($11) garnished with apples, nuts and slices of crusty country bread. Perfect fuel for contemplating our dinner order, which we decided must include several orders of the veal and porcini meatballs. I would have gone for an order of my very own, but I didn’t want to appear piggish or rude (even though I can be both when it comes to meatballs). Tufo’s meatballs ($11) are petite in stature, more like the size of Spain’s albondigas, and they are remarkably tender and light thanks to a dose of ricotta; grana padano, and Pecorino cheese give them a jolt of flavor. They are seared off and doused in sweet and fresh tomato sauce and piled onto a bread platform, not unlike an open-faced mini-meatball hero. Don’t leave that tomato-sauce-soaked bread behind. It’s a diamond in the rough.

Roasted artichokes ($8) come with a lemony aioli dotted with toasted hazelnuts, a beautiful combination that plays textures and flavors off eachother: the earthy nuttiness loves the slightly acidic bite of the ‘chokes. A lovely mound of sharp and spicy baby arugula leaves ($7) are showered with bits of gorgonzola and toasted spiced walnuts. Kate, who works in cookbook publishing, made the excellent call of ordering the marinated white anchovies ($7). The little silver fish are clean, bright and pickled lightly, like herring, in a shaved fennel and dill salad. These also begged for a double order for the table and one more for just me.

But some dishes were more miss than hit. A bruschetta topped with roasted eggplant puree and ricotta salata ($2.50) could have used better seasoning, and a tramezzini—think Italian tea sandwiches on white bread with the crusts cut off—of mortadella, pickled sweet onion and Pecorino ($7) was forgettable. But the bruschetta piled with sausage, fennel and caramelized cipollini onions ($2.50) was amazing, and the panini were possibly the best I have had. I am not sure what they do them, but the bread is not smashed down to thin sheets of paper. The sandwiches are toasty and hot, and marked on the grill, and the bread (from Il Forno in the Bronx) stays full and fluffy, which makes them two-handers, stuff ... [more, click below]

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Posted: December 18, 2006

Other restaurants in Brooklyn :
+ Chickenbone Cafe-- Closed   + Pier 116-- Closed   + Chestnut   + Lunch at Peter Luger's   + 360   + Palo Santo   + The Good Fork   + Porchetta-- Closed Now   + Bocca Lupo   + Flatbush Farm   + DuMont Burger   + Dressler   + Farm on Adderley   + The Grocery   + Saul   + Black Mountain Wine House   + The General Greene   + Char No. 4   + James   + Chestnut   + No. 7   + Vinegar Hill House   + Motorino   + Buttermilk Channel   + Buttermilk Channel   + Vutera   + Watty & Meg    + Prime Meats   + Aqualis Grill   + Jack the Horse Tavern   + Roman's   + Fatty 'Cue   + Thistle Hill Tavern   + Broken English   + Trix, by Dara Pollak   + An Ode to New Orleans in Williamsburg: Maison Premiere, By Dara Pollak   + Brooklyn Wok Shop by Dara Pollak   + Arthur on Smith   + La Vara   + Gran Electrica   + Pok Pok Ny   + Ganso    + Reynard   

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