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“Dell'Anima”

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

ombardi, where rice is cooked separately from a mix of sausage, salami, and onions and then tossed together in the pan, and fried up and garnished with cheese. Indeed it tastes wok-fried and quite fabulous. You’ll want to take it home in a little Chinese to-go container and eat with chopsticks the next day for lunch.

The pizzoccheri is also native to Lombardi, from a town called Valtellina in the Alps, and these wide rough-cut noodles are similar to tagliatelle, but made with a hearty buckwheat flour and traditionally tossed with cabbage, garlic, butter, and cheese. In this case, the noodles are tossed with brussel sprouts, potatoes, sage, and garlic and handfuls of shredded (and soon melting) fontina cheese. In a different form, it could be the world’s greatest casserole (it’s served that way at Morandi), but here it’s lighter and just an honest earthy expression of flavors. I’d say it was my favorite dish but it might be tied with that Italian fried rice, er, risotto.

At this point, the conversation at our table was on a rather funny pendulum, swinging back and forth between reception halls, dresses, caterers, to Bolognese sauce, fried rice risotto and pizzoccheri pasta, which I thought was quite fitting for the first discussions of my wedding. It continued that way through the secondi—the chicken al Diavolo with roasted autumn squash and chicken sugo ($19), and a poached halibut with caramelized and candied fennel. The fish was opal in color, like the inside of a pearl’s shell, and was silky and sweet and beautifully perfumed with fennel. This was truly a magnificent dish. The chicken was a bit more clumsy in comparison, a pan-fried bird swimming in an in-your-face spicy and greasy red sauce. It wasn’t as refined as the fish, but still, a good juicy bird.

Instead of dessert, we had more wine. And I think maybe some more proseco, too. Yes, definitely more bubbly because there were quite a few toasts and more ridiculousness. Honestly, I never thought I’d be this person, but I sort of lost my mind for a period of time last week. I couldn’t focus, and I was transformed into a giddy, silly, 12-year old girl. I guess that’s okay. It’s fun to be this happy. Don’t worry, I won’t be turning into some annoyingly overly-happy person, I’m still a girl from Queens after all. And for all the wonder and thrill of becoming engaged, I’ve al ... [more, click below]

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Posted: December 3, 2007

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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