Ravioli Round-Up

It was recently brought to my attention how much I blog about ravioli. So, when I typed in “Ravioli” in my blog’s search, I discovered my friend was right… I am obsessed with ordering this type of dish! So, I thought I’d do a round up of my favorites over the past couple of months so if you have a hankering or an obsession like I do — then you’ll know exactly where to go for the best plate!

1. The best ravioli dish I believe that I have had while living in New York City (and I recently ate it only a couple of months ago) was from my favorite Italian restaurant, Perbacco! Perbacco is in the Lower East Side and they change their menu seasonally, so you know that the food is going to be nothing but fresh and full of flavor! This ravioli — Ravioli di Zucca con Salsiccia which is kabocha squash ravioli sauteed in brown butter sauce and italian sausage served with amaretto foam on the side — is the perfect dish if you are after something both sweet and savory!

2. What other restaurant could have the ravioli plate down… of course it’s going to be Perbacco’s sister restaurant — Gnocco! I was able to catch this ravioli dish when it was listed as a special. Honestly there isn’t a better filling for a ravioli than either pumpkin or butternut squash… and pair that with some freshly grated parmigiano reggiano cheese and I’m officially in heaven!

3. Here we go… exactly what I was just talking about. The Butternut Tortelloni with Roast Italian Chestnuts, Sage and Parmigiano from Crispo in Meatpacking is done perfectly! And you know that this will be available to you since it wasn’t on a special menu! Yum Yum Yum I just love butternut! Super sweet, savory, and in a way totally hits that spot the same way comfort food does!

4. And in fourth place is a more classic Ravioli Al Formaggio — a ravioli filled with cheese in a pink sauce. I loved how the small West Village trattoria cooked up this dish! Malatesta Trattoria doesn’t take reservations, but your 2 hour wait will be worth it — the prices are dirt cheap and you will be saying “yum” between every single bite!

5. A hot-spot where New Yorkers could spot the Kardashians while they were filming their latest season of Kourtney and Kim Take New York, the restaurant is also known as Asellina located on Park Avenue (and can be considered in the neighborhood of Murray Hill). But the chef at this restaurant put together one heck of a special featuring a truffled ravioli… can you see the truffle shavings? They weren’t cheap with the real-deal — forget truffle oil!

6. Bar Pitti was the most recent place I ordered a ravioli dish and it was the most perfect option I could have picked! The ravioli was light and fluffy and stuffed with spinach and cheese — poured over top was a tasty butter and sage sauce that had me licking my lips! It’s a no reservations and cash only type of joint so be prepared! The wait goes fast and you’ll love the pushy (/busy) Italian employees!

Asellina at The Gansevoort Park

My boyfriend and I have walked by Asellina numerous times over the past few months — at first we didn’t see much of a crowd but all of a sudden we would walk by at 9 p.m. and the place would be packed. I quickly put the pieces together — Kim Kardashian and Kourtney Kardashian were filming their current season of ‘Kourtney and Kim Take New York’ at the Gansevoort Park hotel (the hotel right above Asellina). So, my guess is their fans were piling in in hopes of getting a look of their favorite celebrity sisters. It’s a good thing people were congregating at Asellina because the food is pretty good. Whether or not you see the Kardashians, I’m sure you’ll enjoy your experience at this restaurant.

The first thing I have to tell you about this restaurant is that the service is impeccable. Our waitress was very attentive, energetic and exceptionally kind. My boyfriend and I are those types of people that always asks the waiter/waitress what they recommend, what are their favorite dishes on the menu, and what plates people typically enjoy the most.

With the help of our waitress, we started off with a couple of appetizers: The Ahi Tuna Tartare that comes with robiola cheese, black truffle and spring onions, and we also ordered the Veal Meatballs.

Asellina food at the Gansevoort Park

Veal Meatballs appetizer

The Ahi Tuna Tartare was tasty but it wasn’t anything extraordinary. I love tuna and I love to be wowed whenever I eat a new tuna tartare dish — this didn’t wow me. But the quality of the tuna was extremely fresh and the cheese added a fantastic flavor and texture to the fish.

I really enjoyed the Veal Meatballs (although I always feel guilty whenever I eat veal, can you blame me?) — they were nice and moist (exactly the way meatballs should be) and the cheese melted on top was very stringy and provided subtle but enjoyable flavoring. The red sauce it was marinated in was also very good — it was similar to a classic grandma’s red sauce, and you can never go wrong with that!

pasta dishes

Fillet filled ravioli & truffle, and a pappardelle dish

For our main plates we ordered one of the specials — ravioli stuffed with fillet in a light butter sauce topped with shavings of black truffle, and our other plate was the Pappardelle which was made with homemade sausage and porcini mushrooms. The ravioli was delicious! You can never go wrong mixing butter and truffle together. Over all the dish was very enjoyable although I do wonder what it would have tasted like if the chef added a bit of extra seasoning on the inside of the ravioli. The pappardelle on the other hand was disgusting. My boyfriend has said in the past that he doesn’t like something that he’s eating, but he’ll keep eating it because he’s hungry. This time, both me and my boyfriend put our forks down and decided we needed to send the plate back. The flavors did not go well together at all and if I was forced to take another bite, it would have been torture.

grandma red sauce

Spaghetti in a red sauce

Our waitress was so understanding and suggested that we get a spaghetti in a red sauce to replace the pappardelle. That’s exactly what we did and we loved our replacement. The pasta was perfectly cooked and the red sauce was out of this world.

Even though we had one bad order, we are excited to go back to try the pizzas and flatbread — both looked delicious and we couldn’t help but eye them down when they were ordered from near by tables.