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“Morandi”


  Occasion: Cuisine: Area: Cost: Rating:
  Night Out Italian West Village Moderate Great

accurately fried pork and Parmesan balls with a bit of green olive stuffed in them than stuffed olives, but no matter. They are possibly the most delicious fried food I’ve encountered in my life—a golden crust filled with a hot, briny, salty, porky, cheesy middle. Hello? Is there anything better? There are five balls in the little terra cotta bowl. We eat four. We stare at the last one longingly. But we refrain from eating it, and allow the busser to remove it from the table. We’re practically teary-eyed.

Grilled radicchio with smoked scamorza cheese ($9) comes next, and while it’s good—the radicchio is nicely charred and shimmering with olive oil, and the melted cheese is seriously smoky, so much so that it tastes like it just came off a barbecue—we’re clearly still thinking about those fried stuffed olives.

We give up the radicchio (we manage to leave behind one stem and a tiniest bit of cheese) in preparation for the arrival of our pasta course. Jody offers pasta in two parts—pasta fresca (fresh house made pasta) and pastascuitta (dry pasta). We decide on a bowl of housemade cappellaci ($19) —large, plump triangular dumplings filled up with gorgonzola and fresh ricotta, then pinched at the ends and sauced in butter, olive oil, walnuts and radicchio. The dish is amazingly light considering the amount of cheese and butter it contains, but the radicchio cuts the richness with a sharp bite. As much as we want to finish it off, we abide by our promise and leave one lonely cappellaci on the plate. As the bowl is removed, our attention goes to the table next to us. They’ve ordered the pizzoccheri al forno—a bubbly breadcrumb topped casserole of buckwheat pasta baked with cabbage, speck and bitto cheese ($19). It smells so good we can taste it. I have food envy. Craig does too. We wonder, if we promise to leave some over, if we vow to only have a bite or two, if they’ll let us try it. Turns out we don’t bother our neighbors for a bite, but we think about ordering one for us to share. Maybe for dessert.

We lean back into the banquette, and get cozy. We finish off our first half-carafe of wine and order another from our waiter Aaron who marks the table with a big steak knife for the veal chop we’re waiting on. In a few moments he’s back with another straw-bottomed half-carafe of red wine. They’re the sort squat pot-bellied Chianti b ... [more, click below]

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Other restaurants in West Village :
+ Jefferson-- Closed   + La Palapa Rockola   + Sumile   + Babbo   + Tasca   + AOC Bedford   + Home   + The Spotted Pig   + Barbuto   + Numero 26   + Mas   + August   + Alta   + Cru   + Blue Mill Tavern-- Closed   + Employees Only   + Lassi   + Metropol--Closed   + Turks and Frogs   + Bellavitae   + Yumcha-- CLOSED   + Gusto: SEE EARLIER REVIEW; THIS CHEF HAS LEFT GUSTO   + Perry Street   + Home   + Ditch Plains   + The Little Owl   + Cafe Condesa   + Cafe Cluny   + Gusto   + The Waverly Inn   + Morandi   + P*ONG   + Perilla   + Soto   + Market Table   + Centro Vinoteca   + Barfry   + Dell'Anima   + Bar Blanc   + Smith's   + Commerce   + Elettaria   + Bar Q   + Cabrito   + 10 Downing   + Minetta Tavern   + Braeburn   + Scuderia, by guest reviewer Kathleen Squires   + Bar Blanc Bistro by Guest Reviewer Kathleen Squires   + Joseph Leonard   + Bar Henry, by Guest Reviewer Kathleen Squires   + Kin Shop   + Monument Lane   + Wong   + Bin on Bleecker, by Dara Pollak   + Ristorante Rafele   + Cole's Greenwich Village by Guest Reviewer Claire Jaffe   


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