So this review might be a bit unfair because I had such high expectations for this place and while the food wasn't terrible, it just didn't floor me like the two other restaurants by Jody Williams and Rita Sodi (Buvette and I Sodi). I Sodi is absolutely one of my favorite Italian restaurants in the city and often gets over-shadowed behind the big names such as Babbo and L'Artusi, but it is one of the best in the city. So when they opened another Italian restaurant nearby, I was all for it.
Lav and I met up around 6:30 on a Friday and we were one of the last people to get seated at a two top - after that the place definitely filled up and people were waiting a while at the bar. The menu has several appetizers, lots of veggie small plates, a few pastas and then a few secondi dishes. We opted to start with the cauliflower gratin ($10) and the cabbage salad ($10) to start and I got the pappardelle pasta with ragu ($19) and Lav got the squash ($10) and pickled beets for her main ($10). While this was an Italian restaurant, I was surprised that they only had 4 pastas on the menu and that they were all a bit on the heavy side - gnocchi with gorgonzola and a few others that I can't remember now - but I was surprised that there wasn't at least one lighter pasta dish on the menu.
The 2 starters came out and I really enjoyed them. The cauliflower gratin is pretty the same as the one they have at Buvette - it's rich, creamy and cheesy - what's not to like about that combination. For some good counterbalance, the shredded cabbage was light yet tangy and served up with some toasted farro and served with shaved parmesan cheese. While these weren't particularly innovative dishes, they got the meal off to a good start.
My pappardelle looked and smelled good and it generally tasted pretty good too. But the noodles were kind of stuck together and at some point I forgot that I was eating a pappardelle pasta and thought I was having a ravioli because the pasta was sticking into square pockets in between the ragu. The dish was not bad but I remember eating at I Sodi and thinking to myself that I was having an out of body eating experience. and I wasn't getting that vibe here. Lav had a similar experience with her dishes - she liked them but wasn't really blown away by them - especially the squash dish that had a giant piece of smoked cheese on top of it. We were hoping to redeem our meal with dessert - unfortunately I made the mistake of ordering the olive oil panna cotta ($8) - I actually didn't mind it because it had a nice dash of sea salt on the top but it was essentially olive oil pudding which isn't what you think of when you order Italian dessert. To be fair, the dessert was exactly as advertised, I just wasn't thinking straight when I was ordering the dessert. We saw a waiter walk by with some sweet chocolate looking dessert and asked what it was and he said it was the hazelnut semifreddo ($8) and immediately ordered one of those. It was a much better dessert - a smooth chocolate base with a light fluffy creme fraiche top and toasted hazelnuts sprinkled on the inside. This was clearly the best dessert to have and in fairness to the waitress she did say that this was her favorite dessert but I just wasn't sold on it because I'm not a huge hazelnut fan but this one worked well.
Overall, the meal was good but based on all the hype and expectation, it didn't really rise to the occasion and stand out from its predecessors. Plus based on how much I spent on dinner, I felt like I could have gotten a better meal somewhere else for less. But I should note that they make a mean Old Fashion ($14), it was probably one of the best Old Fashions I've had in a while. Total bill: $96/pp with tax, tip and drinks
Photo Credit: Yelp
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