I had been to the other Dante at Genuine in Little Italy and loved it but after visiting the original West Village location, I'm definitely more in love with this even place if it is way louder. My friend Dan was in town and since we both move negronis, there is no other place I would take someone to enjoy a wide variety of negroni options than Dante. The only downside to this location is that they don't have the self serve negroni fountain like the one in Little Italy does. But regardless, they have the same line up of fantastic cocktails, and they have happy hour from 3-6pm, so I would definitely get there as early as possible or just make a reservation.
It was completely jammed when we got there at 6:30pm but it's a super fun and lively atmosphere. After having several negronis, it was that time where we either needed to eat or be extremely drunk. So we did the adult thing and ordered food. Even though they are mostly known for their cocktails and bar vibe, they actually have a great menu that's much more sophisticated than just bar food. It's mostly Italian food - yhey have flatbreads, homemade pastas, secondi dishes and great sides. The problem when you're 3 drinks deep is that you want to order everything on the menu but we refrained and started with the octopus appetizer ($13), orecchiette ($19) and the chicken parm ($23).
The octopus was cut up into small pieces and served on hummus and topped with radish, chive and chili flakes. It was a nice light dish but the octopus was cut up a bit too much for me that it was hard to tell what it was. I prefer my octopus to be in one long piece so that you can really chew on it. It was an interesting pairing with the hummus and not one that I would have thought of before. The orecchiette pasta was a nice sized pasta dish and amazing. It was served with fennel, pork sausage, broccoli rabe and covered in parmesan cheese and chili flakes. It was hearty, comforting and just cheesey deliciousness. I was actually pretty full with this dish but then out came the chicken parm. It also really hit the mark - it was served with tuscan kale and provolone cheese and also really hearty. It was sauced right and the chicken moist - I loved everything about it. It was the right amount of food for the occasion and it was all surprisingly delicious. It's not that I expected the food to be bad but usually at a cocktail bar, I expect the food to be mediocre at best. I would totally come here for the food on it's own with the extra fabulous bonus that the cocktails and negronis are pretty amazing too. Total bill: $78/pp with tax, tip and lots of drinks
Photo Credit: Yelp
No comments:
Post a Comment