So clearly I've been on an incredible Italian food kick since I've been back from Italy. I've been to I Sodi and Roberta's in the past 3 days and now, yesterday I had Italian food again at Antica Pesa. I had wanted to go here even before I went to Italy since I had heard that the only other location of Antica Pesa was in Rome and incredibly delicious. Plus I had heard that Madonna had just had dinner here a few weeks ago and I'm such a sucker for for things like this.
I have to start off by saying that if I could, I would give this place 10 forks for service. My friend Nancy was running late from work, so I settled in nicely in front of the fireplace and had a cocktail. The bartender was so sweet and kept checking on me and asking me if I needed anything while I waited. As I waited, I noticed how incredibly out of place this place is in Williamsburg. The decor is much more suited for a Meatpacking or Midtown crowd. In fact, when I looked around the other diners seemed very un-Brooklyn and much more uppity Manhattan. The furniture is very mod, Mad Men-esque and to me a bit old fashioned. When Nancy finally arrived for dinner, I tried to pay the bartender for my cocktail and he kindly refused my payment and said that I was so patient for waiting for such a long time that I deserved a free drink. Awww.
I was starving when we sat down, so we quickly ordered the crudo e bufala croccane ($17) which is fresh mozzarella wrapped in filo dough and then served with a side of prosciutto. Then we decided to split the chitarra alla carbonara ($16) and the gnocchi di castagne ($20). To layer on my love for the service here, when they served the appetizer, they split it exactly in two and put it on each of our plates and then took the empty appetizer plate away. Genius! The dish was delicious but honestly I didn't think that it needed the filo dough. The cheese in itself was wet and super fresh tasting and I didn't think the dough added much to the dish except some flakiness. The prosciutto was thinly sliced, soft in texture and had a great balance of fat and meat to it. You can never go wrong with a meat and cheese plate. I was very excited to try the pasta since that was my favorite part of all my meals in Italy but unfortunately the pasta here did not measure up. The upside of the pastas here is that the portion sizes are much bigger than your typical high end of Italian places in the city. They are a legitimate meal and won't leave you hungry at all. The carbonara was served with guanciale (pork jowl) and black pepper. I liked the actual pasta used here but I thought the guanciale was way salty and too dry for me. I know it's very similar to bacon, which I love but for some reason I just didn't love the guanciale here. The overall dish was just too heavy and rich for me and it was a real challenge to finish it. The gnocchi was served with lamb ragu and bitter greens and the pasta was made from chesnut flour. You could tell that it was made with a different kind of flour because the texture of the pasta seemed too mushy and soft. I know gnocchi isn't a hard pasta but this pasta was too limp for me. But I did enjoy the lamb ragu flavor and it was much stronger and more powerful than the carbonara dish. While I'm usually not a huge stickler for presentation, I did find the brown shapeless presentation of this dish to be a bit underwhelming and frankly a bit unappealing. By the time Nancy and I finished the pasta dishes, we had zero room for dessert which was a shame because there were some very tasty sounding sweets.
All in all, I found the service to be impeccable and some of the best I've experienced anywhere but I've had better food at other Italian places (especially in Italy). I wouldn't write this place off because I think there's a lot of potential but with so many other great Italian places in the city and in Brooklyn, this wouldn't be my first choice. Total bill: $97 with tax/tip for two.
Photo Credit: Yelp
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