Fausto comes to us from the people who brought us L'Artusi, so I had pretty high expectations for this place. The decor was a bit dull but the food is anything but. While I have been to several old school red sauce place with Will and Aarti, places like Fausto remind me that there is also really great new age Italian restaurants in the city that deserve our attention as well.
The hostess and waiter were super kind and accommodating - we were over 15 mins late because of the subway but they let Lav sit first before I got there which was great. The waiter went over the menu with us and I loved that he had strong opinions about the dishes. We started with the shredded chicory ($14) and the heirloom root vegetables ($15) to start and I got the orecchiette ($21) and Lav got the buckwheat rigatoni ($20). The pasta prices were surprisingly reasonable especially given the quality and portion size but I'll get to that later. They also had a ton of other appetizers that I wanted to try like the arancini, meatballs and crudo but there is only so much 2 people can share at one time. I'll be honest and say that I wasn't immediately blown away by the appetizers but they weren't bad either. My opinion is probably skewed a bit since neither of these dishes would have been my first choice in appetizers but I've never been a huge fan of chicory or carrots which is what the root vegetables were.
But the pastas were a whole other story. They were freaking amazing. I usually prefer a pasta with lots of sauce but the waiter told me that the orecchiette was delicious and I'm glad I took his advance because it was simple yet incredible. It came with fennel braised pork, wilted greens and parmesan cheese. It was a very healthy and generous portion size which is quite unusual for fancy Italian places like this but I felt like I was getting an actual meal vs. just a few bites of pasta. The pork was moist and delicious and the flavors were fantastic - I didn't miss the red sauce at all. Lav's rigatoni was also superb - it was actually a baked dish with brussels sprouts, yukon potatoes and fontina cheese. Since it was baked the cheese was oozing but not in a gross way but in a yummy way. The dish was a bit on the heavy side but it was hearty and wonderful. We were both in love with our pasta dishes. As usual, we saved room for dessert but surprisingly they didn't have any chocolate dishes on the menu. It was actually a pretty small selection and we opted for the lemon ricotta cake ($10). If you like lemon cakes, then you'll love this one. It was similar to a very moist sponge cake but the absolute best part of it was the whipped creme fraiche. I am a sucker for anything that has homemade whipped creme fraiche and this dish was no exception.
Overall, I was super thrilled with my meal and experience here. It reminded me of why it still pays to go out to a nice Italian restaurant even though pasta is one of the easiest dishes to make at home. The pastas all tasted fresh and homemade here which makes a huge difference and everything was simple but perfectly executed. It's too bad that I don't live in this part of Brooklyn anymore otherwise, I would definitely make this a staple to my rotation. Total bill: $78/pp with tax and tip and drinks
Photo Credit: Yelp
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