Italian – Writing With My Mouth Full

Costata

206 Spring Street between Sixth Avenue and Sullivan Street
$155 for 2 people, with drinks, with tip
212/334.3320
♥ ♥ ♥

Matt wanted to buy me dinner while he was in town, so naturally I dragged him to the newest Michael White restaurant I can’t afford. It was 10pm and I was a bit worried that they wouldn’t let us in because kitchens usually close at that time. We walked in and they sat us right away. Our cocktails were pretty amazing and because we skipped on the steak (next time someone else wants to pay for dinner, promise!), the food came pretty fast.

While we waited, they brought out the fresh bread with this little guy on the table: lard in olive oil. It’s a heart attack-inducing treat that we couldn’t stop eating.

My favorite were the crudo razor clams marinated with fennel and small pieces of soppressata. At $22 for 3 pieces though, they’re hard to swallow. I would gladly eat 10 more of them if I can afford them.

The casarecci pasta al nero was to die for. I’ve had squid ink pasta before, but they’ve usually been spaghetti with the squid ink in the sauce. These look like cute little leeches–sorry to say–served with shrimp and cuttlefish with a wonderful chile kick. I’m still dreaming about this dish.

And as if we weren’t full enough, we couldn’t help but order my favorite pasta, the cavatelli, smothered in a super-rich braised oxtail stew. If I could coddle a bowl of this during rainy days with a bold glass of red wine, I would be a happy human being.

Michael White restaurants never disappoint when you want really refined Italian food. Go when you’re on someone else’s tab or celebrating a milestone because it’s definitely pricey for just a regular weeknight.

Monte’s

451 Carroll Street, Gowanus Canal, Brooklyn
$45 each for 3 people, with 2 beers, with tip
718/852.7800
♥ ♥

We needed to eat before the We Were Promised Jetpacks concert at the Bell House but Littleneck was closed and the first thing that came up on my phone that did not sound like a sticky-floor pub was Monte’s. Walking up to the restaurant, I recognized its outdoor garden the first time I visited Littleneck during the day. It was quite empty and I didn’t know if it was because it was a Tuesday night, September 11th, or if it was the Gowanus Canal neighborhood.

Notable:
1. Oysters – The Blue Point oysters were a dollar apiece on a Tuesday night
2. Pasta – The pappardelle pasta almost made me wish it was autumn already. Almost.
3. Backyard – I’m sure it gets busier some other days, but it was quite nice to be sitting outdoors on a quiet evening.
4. Service – Even though the place was empty, our waiter was always around to refill our water glasses and make sure we were doing okay.

Odd:
1. Owner – I almost didn’t notice that we were charged $28 for a dozen of the dollar oysters. When I brought it up to our waiter, he walked up to the older gentleman sitting at the bar, who I assumed is the owner, to let him know. We overheard him say in return, Well, did they notice? I bet he wasn’t going to get off his bar stool to revise our check if we didn’t notice the overcharge.

Perla

24 Minetta Lane off Sixth Avenue
$75 each for 3 people, with drinks, with tip
212/933.1824
♥ ♥

On a steamy Monday night, we were entertained by the Everybody Loves Raymond bartender lookalike at the bar.

Tastiest:
1. Fried pig’s ears – I can only cook pig’s ears Fergus Henderson style and they’re never this crispy and delicious
2. Squash blossoms – They’re usually bland and boring with goat cheese inside, but they used Caciocavallo and anchovies
3. Pasta with chanterelles and the pasta with tripe that did not taste like tripe at all

Underwhelming:
1. Braised octopus with oven-dried tomatoes – I can’t help but order octopus every time it’s on the menu, but with all their other decadent offerings, this was pretty tame.

Notable:
1. Great service at the bar – They make good Negronis
2. Splitting the primi pastas between two people

Warning:
1. $18 for half a dozen oysters! Yikes!

Masten Lake

285 Bedford Avenue between South 1st Street and Grand in Williamsburg, Brooklyn
718/599.5565
around $125 for 2, with 3 drinks, with tip
♥ ♥ ♥

I was talking to my friend Stacie about where we’ve both eaten lately and as we went through our list, she said, There really hasn’t been anything exciting since Momofuku Ko. I thought about this for a few seconds and I agreed. Sure, I’ve been to some good restaurants the last few months–August and Riverpark among them–but she was right: nothing has stood out. That is until I sat at the bar of Masten Lake in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

During my first visit, there was a generous piece of fresh and unadulterated mackerel served with sour tomatillos and sunchokes with a dusting of Japanese ground spices and a hint of yuzu. It made me get up and walk towards the open kitchen to ask who was cooking that night. It wasn’t a new dish, and any mortal can buy that spice from Sunrise Mart on St. Marks Place–I just haven’t had it that way before.

My second visit was a more wintry night and my companion and I split a comfortable bowl of pici with tripe. This is definitely hand-rolled, he said while pointing at the pasta with his fork. Of course, it is; an alumna of Lupa wouldn’t have it any other way, right? Its heftiness lent itself to the subtle offal taste of the tripe; the crushed tomatoes rounded the dish off. It was a little heavy on the salt, as heavy-handed as the tagliatelle with mussels during my first visit, though the burrata with the shellfish made it more palatable. There are other, shall I say, whimsical and lighter dishes to share, which change almost nightly, like the apples with sheep’s milk cheese and foie gras with smears of melon and mascarpone. You get used to sliding and passing ceramics back and forth, creating works of food art on plates and bowls. Order several wedges of cheese and a plate of thinly-sliced lardo to compliment the easy choices of wine and nicely-made cocktails.

The next time I visit, I’ll take Stacie with me and we’ll cover our palettes with smudges and smears of the day’s freshest ingredients.

Marea

240 Central Park South on 59th Street
212/582.5100
$256 for two people, with drinks, without tip
wheelchair patron may dine on street level
♥ ♥ ♥

I’m still thinking of those firm, yet pillowy, cicatelli. After Convivio and Mailiano, I think I’m convinced that when it comes to putting my money down for a great meal in New York City, handmade pasta has got to be a part of it.

The cocoon-shaped cicatelli sat on a very clean but rich seafood broth. Delicate mussels mimicked the pasta’s shape and provided the dish with the saltiness it needed. The summer squash pieces, also sliced so none of them were bigger than the pasta or the mussels, were tender. I’ve never been to Italy, but if this is the kind of dish locals eat along the coast, I might just pack up my shit and move there. If this is Chef Michael White’s creation alone, then I might just invite him to move in with me.

Decadence was the theme from the minute we sat down to eat. We started with Marea’s famous uni topped with a cellophane of melted lardo. If I have to pick a dish that would give me a happy heart attack, I think I found what would easily beat roasted pork belly. This is probably one of the reasons why Marea has just been named Best New Restaurant of 2010 by the James Beard Foundation.

We took it down a notch by breaking the richness with marinated sardines and then crudo tastings of snapper, geoduck, cuttlefish (sliced like tagliatelle), tuna, mackerel and fluke. The citrus and chili oil in all of them subtly cleaned our palates. They exhibited a different kind of decadence: controlled and unassuming.

A plate of morel mushrooms were next. Behold these mushrooms that cost an arm and a leg! I’ve never had them served to me whole, so I carefully sliced them to savor their earthy flavor in every bite.

To cap our meal, we also split the bouillabaisse. There was nothing that could have stopped me from sucking on that butterflied and seared langostine. There was also nothing that could have stopped me from slurping the seafood broth with that large soup spoon and then tilting the bowl to its side to scoop more. Even if Marea is about decadence of the sea, I think this bowl of simplicity says a lot about what seafood can become when sourced from the freshest and the best, and then handled by a pro.

We finished our martinis and old-fashioneds plus our glasses of white wine. I informed the waiter that the panna cotta with rhubarb compote sounded like the perfect ending to our inspiring meal but that there was just no room in our tummies for it. A small plate of petit fours were served while we contently sighed, and to our surprise, our waiter brought us the panna cotta anyway. Eh, there was an extra serving in the kitchen, he said with a smile. I forgot about not having that extra room: you don’t say no when you get something complementary from Michael White’s kitchen; you don’t say no when you get the chance to eat at Marea.

Related post/s:
Convivio is a sister restaurant