I?m Italian and an amateur ?chef?. This is where my wife and I go for Italian food when I don?t feel like cooking, and I don?t want to spend a lot of $$. It?s also a favorite of other Italian locals. This is the ONLY place where you can eat a good dinner, buy Italian wines, cold cuts and specialty groceries for the rest of the week, AND buy fresh-baked Italian bread, specialty cookies, biscuits and pastries. It?s a deli, restaurant, wine store and bakery all in one. They also cater. The decor is European tratoria (stark and impersonal) and there are a few tables out front if you like dining alfresco. This is NOT an upscale restaurant, and it doesn?t pretend to be. The food is typical Italian-American. If you?re from NYC there won?t be any unusual dishes. We usually start with a plate of fried calamari, which is the best in town and large enough to be an entree. The cold Italian antipasto for two makes an excellent salad for one if you?re not very hungry. There is one surprise on the menu, even for a New Yorker?one of the two soup choices (the other being pasta e fagioli) is stracciatella, an egg (like egg drop) and spinach soup just like my grandma used to make! The entrees are all prepared like you would at home, although the main course and the pasta are served as a single course on the same plate ala Italian-American restaurant style. You can get your pasta al dente if you ask. My favorite meals are either eggplant dish (the best tasting eggplant, without all the breading), linguini with calamari fra diavolo, and bracciole (rolled stuffed beef in tomato sauce). For an extra charge you can get any of the meat and eggplant tomato dishes served instead with Bolognese sauce. One warning, avoid the cream dishes. The best thing I can say about them is that they?re not prepared consistently. Finally you can finish your meal with a fresh baked pastry or cookies and a cup of Italian coffee. The service is usually attentive.
Pros: Quality of food, deli & bakery, wine selection
Cons: Decor
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