Tag Archives: gnocchi

Pepolino in TriBeCa

Who doesn’t love to venture to a well-known highly rated Zagat Italian restaurant? I hadn’t had a chance to stalk the menu before heading down to TriBeCa — so I had no clue what type of restaurant we were heading to. All I knew was it was Italian… Perfect!

When I walked into the restaurant we were greeted with a friendly “Buonasera” — many of those working at the restaurant seemed Italian. Their accents were perfection and if I closed my eyes, ate the food and listened to the wait staff talk in their native tongue, I would have felt like I was back in Florence.

A preview of what we ate for dinner at Pepolino

A preview of what we ate for dinner at Pepolino

While the ambiance was casual and comfortable — the space tucks in as many tables as they can on multiple floors. But who cares how cramped you are, as long as you have good food, company and conversation!

I am only going to share with you my favorite plates of the night. Off of the antipasta section of the menu I was encouraged to try the Cozze Al Burro which is steamed mussels out of the shell in butter, garlic and parsley with toasted bread. I was hesitant about this dish because it has been a while since I have enjoyed mussels. But, I always will try things again — and I sure am happy I did because this was probably my favorite dish! One scoop of the creamy mussels, butter, garlic and parsley combo placed on top of the crispy toast was to-die-for. I could help but think of my father and his favorite flavors and I know this is something he would enjoy very much! Being full of garlic, it’s hard not to love!

garlic mussels and parsley dip

Another favorite starter was actually off of the specials menu. An Italian-style crepe stuffed with cheese and mushrooms was a great plate to hit the savory spot I was craving so much. The crepe itself you can hardly see — it was truly covered in a hefty portion of stringy mozzarella cheese. Baked to perfection, this plate should be on their permanent menu!

mushroom and cheese crepe

For our pasta dishes, I was pleasantly surprised to discover a different type of gnocchi. My experience with the potato dumplings, if that’s what you want to call them, have always been delicious but they are also very heavy in your stomach. Pepolino makes their gnocchi from spinach and ricotta rather than potato. Because of this change in ingredients, the Malfatti Burro e Salvia dish, was both fluffy and light. The spinach and ricotta gnocchi was covered in a butter and sage sauce — two beautiful ingredients I don’t think I could ever get sick of! What the plate needed though was a solid amount of parmigiano reggiano cheese grated on top … which was exactly what I asked for after taking my first bite! Perfection!

gnocchi made from spinach and ricotta

Okay, now I am going to share with you the biggest curve ball I have ever experienced in a restaurant! The final dish I ordered is called “Spaghetti Chitarra.” The description for this plate reads as:

Homemade square spaghetti with fresh tomato and basil

Okay. So, what would you think that dish is going to look like? Without even discussing it until the plate arrived, I thought it was legit SQUARE pasta, kind of like lasagna noodles except in the shape of a square. I was also expecting a red sauce since we saw the words “tomato” and “basil” in the description.

After further researching, why the heck didn’t I get “square” pasta  I learned a few things:

  1. I am an idiot because it flat out says “spaghetti” in the description so we are going to get some sort of spaghetti noodles
  2. Chitarra is the Italian word for guitar — duhhh, that’s why my spaghetti noodles looked like guitar strings!
  3. And after searching around I couldn’t figure out why we didn’t have a red sauce like we thought we would have. I can’t find any specific sauce that is automatically assumed to be paired with Chitarra spaghetti.

This plate just caused major confusion… but in the end I enjoyed it! The edges of the Chitarra allowed the noodles to hold on to the cheese and butter in the dish — now, that’s my kind of pasta!

Overall I enjoyed Pepolino: the service was great, the restaurant was fun & comfortable and the wine list was perfecto! In all honesty though, Perbacco is still number one in my book!

L’Apicio in the LES

I am a bit embarrassed to admit how behind I am on posting this — but, better late than never! 2012 flew by so fast AND I have a feeling that 2013 is going to be an amazing year in so many ways! So, what was my final dinner of 2012? ITALIAN, of course!

So here we go … my final meal of 2012 was a great one! I headed downtown to the Lower East Side for dinner at L’Apicio — the sister restaurant to L’Artusi. It opened only a couple of months ago and we have been excited to head on down to the LES to get a taste of the menu.

L’Apicio’s menu is set up the same way as L’Artusi’s — reasonable sized plates that you share with those you are dining with. Italian cuisine and tapas style… what could be better than this?

When it comes to tapas, I will admit that I go a bit crazy ordering. It first usually starts out with me and my foodie partner-in-crime looking over the menu, eying down what we have to have then we come together to share our choices, we narrow it down to a handful of plates then we confuse ourselves by asking the server what he/she prefers on the menu. Usually we end up picking a plate or two that the server prefers, then we both pick plates we both want, then we decide on one final dish that looks good.

We started with a delicious cheese plate — my guess is the restaurant changes this cheese menu based on what they are able to order / what is fresh. I would suggest ordering 2-4 different types of cheese to start. They go beautifully with wine as well!

hamachi

Then, we ordered a couple of appetizers — but there is one specific plate I have to rave about. The Hamachi was out of this world! Hamachi is also called yellowtail (click here for more info). This dish was made with apple, jalapeno, and chives. All of these ingredients made each bite full of fresh and vivid flavors. The funny part about ordering the Hamachi is that I was hesitant about eating it — I wasn’t too sure about the description on the menu but boy am I happy I gave it a try! It might be my new raw obsession!

cauliflower ravioli

Another dinner favorite was the Mezzalune — ravioli stuffed with cauliflower and topped with pinenuts and capers. The capers added the perfect amount of salt, the pinenuts made the ravioli texture unique and the cauliflower made me feel like I was eating something healthy! The plate was small and something I wish I could have devoured all on my own. If I went back and had to order only one plate — this would be it! Who would have thought how flavorful a cauliflower ravioli would be!?

beefy gnocchi

Another great order — the Osso Bucco Ragu Gnocchi. Gnocchi is already a very filling food, and paired with hearty meat you are bound for a food-coma. It’s also very easy to screw up cooking gnocchi and the chef at L’Apicio cooked this plate perfectly.

maple squash

And, last but not least, the perfect side dish — the Delicata Squash. The squash was made with hazelnuts, sage and maple. All of these sweet flavors made the vegetable taste like candy. It’s the perfect side dish to order when you are eating such savory main dishes. This is also an inspirational side dish that I would like to recreate at home!

We also ordered polenta but it was not something we enjoyed. I believe the consistency of polenta is either loved or hated — and in a nutshell, it’s something I really don’t like. But, if you do like polenta, the restaurant gives you a few beautiful options to choose from!
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Perbacco, East Village Italian Cuisine

I’ve mentioned this restaurant many times in other posts. I’m in love with the food here and if there was a Perbacco in Chelsea… well, I’d be in major trouble!

My good friend Alexandra introduced me to Perbacco’s sister restaurant, Gnocco when I first moved to the city. Her father is friends with the owner and we got an amazing education on the food at his restaurants. (See my post on Gnocco for more details!) I’ve been to Perbacco many times — with my boyfriend, with my mother, with family, and this past weekend I took some friends from out of town to experience the most delectable Italian food that they will ever experience outside of Italy. (Actually, I think it was better than the majority of meals I had on my recent trip to Italy.) And my friends agreed, the food is outstanding! They are from Boston and they mentioned how much business a restaurant like Perbacco would get if they opened in the Boston area.

My friend Amanda & I outside of Perbacco.

My friend, Amanda, and I reconnected after several years apart. We used to play together as kids when I lived in New Hampshire. Now, as adults we’re keeping in touch once again! At dinner one of her birthday parties from when she was a kid came up. I chuckled and asked if it was the one when she had a magician perform. Her mom laughed and we all remembered that Amanda ruined the magic for all of the kids because she knew the trick involving a hidden rabbit in a hat. Oops! (But also very funny!)

The fluffiest gnocchi I have ever had!

While laughing about the past and catching up on all of the most recent happenings in our lives, we devoured our appetizers, side dishes and entrees. Honestly, I could have kept eating and eating all night long. I strongly believe that if the food is outstanding you will eat it all, even if you aren’t that hungry. There has never been a time I have ever left any of my food on my plate at Perbacco. And some times I wish that I could have leftovers so I could keep enjoying the food the next day. Nope, it never happens. And I never eat pork, but when I am eating at this Italian restaurant I forget about my no pork rule and I pig out.

I went with a safe dish, the gnocchi, and my mother ordered the 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. Which in other words means a taste of heaven. My poor mother couldn’t keep my fork away from her plate. Even though the gnocchi was insanely fluffy and full of flavor, I couldn’t help but move over to the sweet ravioli on my mother’s plate. Lesson learned, mom… eat faster next time!

Sweet and filling ravioli from Perbacco.

I always order something different when I come here because the menu often has seasonal dishes. I love that I can expect some of the classics to always be there, but I also look forward to some new surprises. Last winter I had probably the most delicious risotto I have ever tasted — maybe it will return to the menu this winter, or maybe another unexpected dish will be created!

Tasting Menu At East Village Restaurant, Hearth

restaurant_kitchen

The kitchen at Hearth.

First of all, when my boyfriend and I arrived the hostess asked us if we wanted to wait an extra 20 minutes and then be seated at a bar that over looks the kitchen. Why not, neither of us have ever snooped over a professional kitchen while stuffing our faces. The restaurant only has 4 of these “seats” so we felt lucky enough to snack two of them!
We had such a difficult time deciding what to order, we were starving, so we went for it — we went with the tasting menu. We decided we would leave it up to the chef to choose our dishes, our only request was, “no pork.”
I apologize for not taking photos of every dish, by the time I remember that I should take a picture, the dish was torn apart and almost completely eaten (I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — the hardest thing for a food blogger/me is to remember to take a picture before I eat the food).
But I have included a few photos below.
Over all the food was delish… The only thing my boyfriend and I did not like was the meat dish called Washugyu Beef Cheeks. What is Washugyu beef? The chef explained to us that it is exceptionally fatty, very flavorful (but it’s not a melt-in-your-mouth sort of texture), and it is also a delicacy in Asia. This beef comes from cows that are fed a very strict diet — a diet that includes some of the most outrageous things to help the cows get nice and fat.
We had so many delicious dishes, having this one plate that we didn’t like was NOT a big deal at all (I think we gobbled down 7 out of 8 dishes).
hearth_food

The gnocchi side dish, must order if you go!

The best dish overall was the pasta. The restaurant makes homemade pasta so everything is fresh! I’m a bit embarrassed to admit this but I think the pasta we had was the Canestri Alla Norma — it was green, fragrant, rich, and every bite was like eating cake. I had one bite left on my plate (literally, one) that I just couldn’t eat because I was getting so full, so I sadly surrendered and let my boyfriend scoop up the last forkful of spaghetti.
In addition to our tasting menu items, we ordered the gnocchi as a side dish and this was the best decision we made. The light and fluffy potato gnocchi was made perfectly! Gnocchi has to be cooked the right way otherwise it turns out to be a disaster! This Gnocchi melted in our mouths and I later found out that this side is a favorite by the restaurant’s regulars.
shortcake_dessert

Hearth's Blueberry Shortcake with a hint of lime. See the fluffy biscuit?

By the time our dessert arrived I didn’t think I could eat anything else … but I was wrong. I have a sweet tooth but I typically will only have a couple of bites of the dessert and leave it up to my boyfriend to finish the plate. Not tonight. Not only does the restaurant make their own pasta, but they also make their own ice cream. We had the blueberry shortcake — it didn’t exactly seem like a cake but more like a biscuit. Just like gnocchi, if you make a biscuit incorrectly … catastrophe. But the dessert chef at Hearth was a genius. The light and fluffy biscuit was divine and the homemade blueberry ice cream was so scrumptious I’ve never eaten a dessert quite like this. There was also a hint of lime that added a unique taste to the sweets. Bravo to the chefs.
By the way, during the entire meal the head chef came over to tell us what each dish we were eating was. It was such a pleasure to watch the chefs at Hearth cook dinner — I can’t wait to go back for round two!

How Are People Finding My Blog?

I do have to say that it is always fascinating to see how people are finding my website. Many people end up clicking through my posts on CayDigestsNY because google directs them to me. Personally, I love being able to see what people are googling (aka the words that bring them to my site) and I can see these all through this really cool setting in my blog’s CMS (the backend of the site where I will upload the posts and photographs). I wanted to make some comments on some of the search terms that people google’ed which then led them to clicking on my blog:

1. Someone searched “Are candy Nerds bad for you?” I’d like to answer this question for whoever googled this. Nerds will not give you cancer. But they will give you cavities. This type of candy will get stuck in your teeth and sit there for an extended period of time if you do not brush your teeth. Overall, was this person searching to see if Nerds could give you a heart attack? Hmm, well I don’t think you should worry that much because I’ve consumed at least 2,000 little boxes of Nerds in my lifetime. I can count about 25 of them were from the past two weeks (I know, I have a sweet tooth).

2. Someone googled “who makes the baseball glove from the ice cream trucks” and to be honest I hate to be the one to deliver the bad news… but I think the ice cream bizz stopped making this. I walk by ice cream trucks at least a dozen times a day and I never see this option on the menu! So sad, but true. So if there are any readers that know if this ice cream is still being made in factories please write-in and let everyone know!

3. Another person googled “overcooked gnocchi” and they ended up making their way to my blog. They were probably looking for details on how to cook gnocchi because they searched for this around dinner time. Whoever was possibly trying to cook gnocchi, I hope it turned out well. Gnocchi is one of my favorite dishes (stay tuned for an upcoming post that will include photos of the best gnocchi I have yet to try) and even though is manages to make its way to many menus it isn’t always cooked properly. People may think that if you overcook gnocchi it will be soft and mushy, but it actually is the opposite. You can tell when a chef has left the gnocchi in the pot for too long because it’s more like a hard perogie. Ick.

4. Someone googled “Caylas joint Harrisburg.” Sorry everyone, but I don’t have my own “joint” or “restaurant” in Harrisburg PA. After spending a variety of summer time jobs in high school working in the food bizz, I hope to never have to go through that experience ever again.

5. There is a variety of searched every day about Nutella, such as: “huge nutella jar,” “biggest jar of nutella,” “giant nutella jar,” “industrial size nutella,” “largest nutella,” … and so on and so on… I am very happy to know that there are loads of Nutella fans out there, because it’s the best!

Stay-tuned for more posts next week! I have an exciting restaurant I am looking forward to telling you all about (plus, there’s some great photos that go along with it)!!!! If you aren’t already following me on twitter, hop to it! I update my twitter daily and I put notices up about new blog posts as soon as they are put up!