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“Sorella”

Occasion:	Cuisine:	Area:	Cost:	Rating:
Night Out	Italian	Lower East Side	Moderate	Great

votives on the tables and the cool light of delicate chandeliers made from clear bulbs the size of golf balls.

Hearst’s menu is divided between Qualcosina, “A Little Something,” or small plates that are akin to appetizers or primi piati, and Stasera Abbiamo or “Tonight We Have,” a trifecta of daily specials whose price (all under $30) also includes your choice of one Qualcosina. You can either choose to have a traditional first and second course meal, or do as I have done the past few visits and mix it up, ordering several small plates, one entrée and a side dish or two. The good thing is, the food is consistently great, and you will not be sorry if you happen to have a little too much food in front of you. It will get eaten, I promise.

Pastas are a strong suit. While I hate to play favorites, the risotto steeped in cauliflower puree, laced with ribbons of caramelized onions, bits of smoky bacon and just enough creamy robiola cheese ($13) deserves being singled out. My friend Diana went nuts over this, and practically finished the entire plate on her own, so I had to move fast to get just a few precious mouthfuls. It’s sort of the rice version of an Alsatian tart. It’s marvelous.

Agnolotti al Sugo di Arrosto ($14) is also remarkable: postage stamp sized envelopes of pasta are stuffed until they’re dangerously swollen with braised pork and beef and bedded down in a brown butter sauce topped with shaved parmesan and fried sage. There’s also a delicate dish of pearl-sized, light-as-air gnocchi ($13) served in a rather unusual combination of diced pears, brown butter and chives. If you’re not a fan of subtlety this may not be the right pasta for you, but it worked for me. While it might have benefited from a little spark of flavor—toasted pine nuts, orange zest, or maybe just a fresh shaving of aged Parmesan—its gentle sweetness was actually bold in its own way. Hearst’s tajarin—an egg noodle pasta cut into fine ribbons that’s indigenous to Piedmont—is also excellent, served in a beautifully fragrant lamb ragu punctuated with pistachios, and dressed in a dollop of fresh ricotta and toss of fresh mint ($12).

Hearst is also delving into a few dishes that you might expect to see on a menu by a chef like Ryan Skeen or Zak Pelaccio. To wit, her duck fat English muffin bread smothered with a wildly unhealthy (but ... [more, click below]

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Posted: March 8, 2009

Other restaurants in Lower East Side :
+ Mojo   + WD-50   + Schiller's Liquor Bar   + Azul Bistro   + Barrio Chino   + 71 Clinton Fresh Food-- Closed   + Little Giant   + Kuma Inn   + Falai   + The Stanton Social   + The Tides   + Thor   + The Orchard   + El Bocadito-- CLOSED   + Bondi Road   + Rayuela   + Suba   + Bun (boone)   + Sorella   + The Fat Hippo   + Pulino's   

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