Sora Lella: A Little Taste of Italy in Soho

Right after graduation, a few friends and I decided to take on the age-old tradition of a grand trip through Europe for a couple of weeks before work and grown-up life really started.  We contemplated doing a true romp through a dizzying array of countries but then decided that it would be significantly more interesting to spend a lot of time in a few choice locations to truly understand the culture and vibe of a country.  We finally settled on Italy and Greece since we all loved Greek and Roman history and thought it'd be interesting to see the contrasts between the two.  Our itinerary:

In Greece: Athens, Mykonos, Patmos, Rhodes, Crete, Santorini

In Turkey: Kusadasi and the ruins of Ephesus

In Italy: Venice, Milan, Rome

We ate very, very well on this whirlwind of a trip from the ubiquitous and cheap gyros throughout Greece (note on pronunciation: try not to pronounce this "jai-ro"), ice-cream + coffee frappes, simply prepared and intensely fresh seafood, stuffed grape leaves all the way through to the pastas and lovely, seasonal cuisine of Italy.  The one regret I do have is that I wasn't as obsessed with food as I am these days and therefore, didn't really take the time to dive into the vibrant culinary scenes in these two countries (nor did i have the budget at the time so it was probably for the best!). I did easily fall in love with Italy despite this fact for the beautiful architecture, people and the sound of the language and I've been dying to go back to do a proper food visit - I foresee some truffle hunting and italian lessons in my future :)

A friend said to me recently that one reason NY is so unique is because you can literally go around the world (in a culinary sense) by simply wandering from one neighborhood to the next, whether it's Greek in Astoria, Chinese in Chinatown, Ukranian in the East Village or Italian virtually anywhere.  Sora Lella is a special treat because of the philosophy of the owners who have said things like "Our cuisine is strictly linked to our region, our products and traditions. We recuperate forgotten dishes that have been disregarded by diets and trends and make them our own.”  The original famed Sora Lella was started over 50 years ago in Rome by Elena Fabrizi Trabalzi, sister of the famous Italian actor Aldo Fabrizi and an actress in her own right. I think they accomplished their goal because Sora Lella does feel like a little bit of the heart of Italy transplanted to West Soho.  I was invited to the restaurant recently by a member of the PR team at Sora Lella and I gladly accepted the chance to go back a second time and do a proper review(my first visit was a few months after they first opened).

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The Decor: (7.5/10)

 

Sora Lella has a lovely, airy dining room crowned by very high ceilings and a wall of windows at the front.  We were there on a particularly blustery, windy wednesday night so the restaurant was rather quiet but the other time I dined there, it was packed and quite energetic.  I would have preferred slightly dimmer lighting and a more varied/contemporary music selection but otherwise, we were very comfortable and we had extremely friendly service.

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The Food: (8/10) (Desserts merit a 9/10)

Caprese 3000 (Caprese de "tremila" ), $18

This dish was a bit of a knock-out - I'm a huge fan of the regular mozzarella + tomato + basil combo but the reinterpretation of this dish was spot-on.  As much as I adore molecular gastronomy, a lot of times the tastiness of the dish gets lost in how cerebral you have to be to enjoy it.  Oftentimes, it feels like a chef is just messing with a dish just for the sake of reinventing it.  This particular reinvention was brilliant though - the tomato gelee was intensely fresh and packed with tomato flavor and the mozzarella was somehow incorporated into a panna-cotta-ish consistency.  The overall combination was incredibly refreshing, bright and embodied all the best parts of each ingredient.  The basil pesto was also delicious and paired nicely with the other elements.  You're supposed to slice off a piece of each ingredient and put it all together - I thought it'd be rather interesting if they presened this slightly differently by molding this together in a way that you'd have alternating layers of mozzarella and tomato as the basil pesto held it together.

Grandmother's traditional meatballs served in white wine sauce (Polpettine della "Nonna" al vino bianco), $12

These meatballs had a lovely white wine sauce and a very pretty presentation but we couldn't get over the texture of the meatballs.  My friend B felt that the meatballs were way too dense and lacked the airiness that would have been ideal. 

Parmigiana Eggplant with Ricotta cheese, walnuts and honey

I'm not a huge fan of eggplant but this eggplant parmigiana was really delicious - just cheesy enough and the touch of honey adds layers of depth to the dish that I could never have imagined.  The blend of salty, cheesy and a light touch of sweetness made the eggplant really stand out.  The only complaint our table had about the dish was the addition of the walnuts (pretty large chunks) which didn't add much flavor or desireable texture to the dish.

 Rice croquettes with tomato, pancetta and mozzarella (Suppli all'amatriciana con  pomodoro e pancetta), $4

Yummy, yummy, yummy and the price is certainly right.  These rice croquettes are part of the excellent bar menu at Sora Lella and highly, highly recommended - crispy on the outside, creamy from the mozzarella and lots of pancetta flavor in the rice.  There's an excellent happy hour from 5-7:30 daily with complimentary snacks (zucchini fries and bruschetta) and discounted wines/cocktails.  Bar menu and happy hour details here.

Homemade Tonnarelli with sausage, cured pork belly and walnuts (Tonnarelli alla Cuccagna), $22

This is one dish Sora Lella is famous for and justifiably very proud of.  It's a 50-year old recipe that has been unchanged and probably just as unique today as it was back then.  There's an abundance of flavors playing around in this dish and the homemade noodles are wonderfuly chewy and al dente.  I'm a sucker for pork belly in any form and it's not an overwhelming element of this dish but adds just the right touch of fattiness and savouryness that the dish needed.  The crushed walnuts make this feel like a peso pasta dish (which I'm not a huge fan of) but added really great flavor.  Overall, a great dish for fall and heavy enough to ward off the chill of the cooling weather.

Home-made potato gnocchi in a class Roman sauce of smoked guanciale and tomatoes (Gnocchi di patate all'amatriciana), $18

This is a serious plate of comfort food - oversized, fluffy gnocchi in a very simple tomato and guanciale (cured pork jowl) sauce.  This is also one of those dishes that really grows on you with every bite - at first, it seemed pretty simple and unremarkable but with every additional bite and the buildup of the bite from the initial give of the outer skin to the creamy innards, this dish became more and more interesting.  I have to say we cleaned the plate pretty thoroughly.

Chocolate "Salami" roll with almonds, cookies, caramel sauce and chocolate sorbet (Salame di cioccolato servito con granella, caramello e il suo sorbetto), $10

Sora Lella really shines in the desserts department and if we hadn't been so stuffed, we probably would have chosen to sample every item on the menu (I think the gnocchi did us in!).  This chocolate "salami" roll was adorable - don't the slices actually look like salami?  They tasted like chocolately biscotti and the huge scoop of chocolate sorbet was heavenly.  If you want the purest essence of chocolate with just the right blend of bitterness and subtle sweetness, this is the dish for you.

Trio of gelatos (from top left, clockwise): Cinnamon with ginger honey, Rice gelato, Zabaione gelato with a drizzle of 25-year old basalmic vinegar

The homemade gelatos are equally if not more impressive.  The zabaione gelato with a drizzle of sweet, lucious 25-year old basalmic vinegar is TO DIE FOR.  The lovely shade of yellow you see in the photo is I'm guessing a result of the egg yolks traditionally used to whip up zabione.  This gelato was light as air and the basalmic was sweet and not the slightest bit sour - the perfect complement to add richness you wouldn't believe.  My friend C really liked the cinnamon gelato but we all agreed that the rice gelato was too grainy and chewy because of an abundance of rice.

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Summary and More info:

Come to Sora Lella for a great night out in Italy without the price of a RT plane ticket or the horrid exchange rate between the USD and the Euro.  I'd love to see a dessert tasting menu implemented in the restaurant because I think frankly, the desserts are amazing and there aren't enough great dessert places in NY.  The homemade pastas are also particularly fantastic here and especially comforting in colder weather.

Tip: If you grab a takeout menu and bring it in for lunch, parties of 4 get a complimentary bottle of house white wine.

Make a Reservation

Address: 300 Spring Street

Website: http://www.soralellanyc.com

A truly inspired meal at Marea and dining with (ok, just next to) Meryl Streep

This is the tale of a meal I had last week which completely bowled me over in terms of surprise, sheer decadence and far exceeded my expectations.  I was lured to Marea, Michael White's (Alto, Convivio) latest restaurant endeavor by reviews of the intriguing fusilli with red wine braised octopus and bone marrow and by rave reviews from a friend about the food at Convivio. I have no words to convey how glad I am that we stopped by Marea before a Fall for Dance performance - this is definitely on my list of top 3 dining experiences since I became obsessed with food.  There's usually a magic formula to a great meal - good company, an interesting/daring menu selection, ordering the right dishes, perfect execution and a relaxed ambiance + good service.  My meal at Marea had all these attributes in spades and I don't think we hit a bad note all evening.

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The Decor: (8.5/10)

Image courtesy of Eater.com

Comfortable, expensive looking with a surprisingly casual ambiance for it's location on Central Park South.  The noise level was just about perfect with enough of a hum and buzz for there to be good energy throughout the room and seats quickly filled up.  There were tons of waitstaff in the dining room but they were incredibly gracious and attentive without being intrusive and anticipated our every need - truly great service is a great perk of dining here.

We were seated near the windows and at the beginning of our meal, we were treated to the sight of Meryl Streep, Christine Baranski and costume designer extraordinaire Ann Roth pulling up chairs in the table right behind us.  Meryl is astonishingly elegant and beautiful in real life - I'm not really one to get excited about celebrity sightings but this one was definitely special.

The lovely Meryl Streep

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The Food: (9.5/10)

Amuse-bouche (salmon, some sort of melon consomme)

Fresh, fresh, fresh salmon and a beautifully fragrant melon consomme

 

Ricci (sea urchin, lardo, sea salt crostini), $14

The height of decadence - sea urchin is enough of a treat with its myriad of flavors and the spirit of the sea but the lardo slightly melted over the top enveloped the sea urchin and completely changed the texture of it.  The combo of the crisp, olive-oil soaked bread, the bright and creamy sea urchin and the sinful lardo basically exploded all over my tongue and lingered in the best way possible.  A must try.

 Uovo (slow poached egg, monkfish cheeks, mushroom ragu, garlic chips), $18

 A relatively uncomplicated dish but beautifully prepared - the crisp garlic chips and creaminess of the poached egg made this dish perfect for me.

 Fusilli with red wine braised octopus and bone marrow, $25

Incredibly bright with ripe tomato flavor, shining with the essence of bone marrow and accompanied by a healthy sprinkling of baby octopus throughout.  Michael White is renowned for his pastas and apparently, the restaurant has a whole separate section where all the pastas are made fresh daily. It's easy to see why he's considered such a master - the depth of flavor in his pasta dishes is truly remarkable and the flavor combinations are novel and extremely pleasing to the palate. An explanation on how this dish is painstakingly constructed can be found here. 

Garganelli with sausage ragu and parmigiano, $25

I've ordered this dish in too many restaurants to count and made a version of this dish at home and NEVER has it ever tasted this way.  This is comfort food at its best - rustic, hearty sausage ragu, just enough tomato flavor to coat and chewy, delicate garganelli with a healthy sprinkling of parmigiano. 

Dark chocolate cake, nougat gelato, black cherry compote, $14

A grown-up versino of an ice cream sandwich - very strong almond/cherry flavors throughout the gelato and the chocolate cake was deliciously dark and had just the right hint of bitter.  The nougat gelato was really wonderfully done - perfect creamy texture but just a tad too sweet for me.

  

Olive focaccia,  Tray of chocolates (peanut butter, passion fruit-white chocolate, salted caramel and one that I don't remember)

I just had to show the olive focaccia because I think the olive peeking out is really cute.  By the time they brought out the chocolates, we were stuffed beyond belief and then as we turned to leave the restaurant, they stuffed a ribbon-tied crumb cake into our hands as a farewell gift from the chef.

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Summary and More info:

All in all, a truly inspired meal and I'd jump at the opportunity to visit again soon.  We spent about $60 each on dinner which I think is completely reasonable for the quality of the food and pasta portions are definitely enough for 2 to share.  As a great wallet-friendlier alternative to dinner, Marea also has a fantastic lunch deal - $34 for 2 courses. 

Make a Reservation

Full Menu

More Reviews:

FoodistColony 

Basta Pasta - Italian/Japanese Fusion

Basta Pasta is definitely one of my favorite NY restaurants - the restaurant is set in Chelsea and is always bright and constantly lively. There's an open kitchen in the center of the room out of which lovely smells emanate and large rounds of cheese are constantly making their way to tables.

The interior:

Shots of interior courtesy of vanillalattegirl and Dan Dickinson

The Food:

Smoked sliced duck breast with watercress and arugula ($11) - probably one of my favorite salads ever. The duck breast is incredible tender and has a really intense, smokey flavor. The bitterness of the arugula ties the entire salad together perfectly.

Fluke Carpaccio ($12) - very delicately flavored with a fine layer of "freshly grated" salt.

Spaghetti with shiitake, mozzarella & fresh tomatoes ($15) - my favorite dish! I love shiitake and it works really well with the mozzarella and perfectly ripe tomatoes.

Spaghetti with shrimp and okra ($14) - very spicy and fresh.

Basta Pasta

Basta Pasta

Directions: N, R; 4, 5, 6 at 14th St.-Union Sq.; L at Sixth Ave.

Orrechiette with sausage, yellow zucchini and sage

A really cold, blustery day like today calls for a really hearty, homely meal. I saw this recipe a while back on Avenue food and really wanted to give it a try.

The Ingredients:

A nice light, fragrant and inexpensive (~$6) bottle of olive oil from Trader Joe's.

Fresh ground pepper

Sea salt

Fresh sage for a flavor of fall

The preparation:

Harry's Homemade Sweet Italian Link Sausage with Peppers Onions Sausage after being fully cooked

Browned sausage

Pretty yellow zucchini. I'm not sure how much of a difference there is between green and yellow zucchini but these were fantastic.

Innards

Chopped and lightly salted

Some color added

Finished:

All ingredients incorporated and a splash of white wine to perk up the flavor a bit.

Plated! This was a really awesome dish and perfect for a cold day. The flavors worked really well and the dish was really hearty. Definitely crave-worthy - I'll be making this again soon!

Recipe:
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CAVATELLI WITH ZUCCHINI, SAUSAGE & SAGE

3 links Italian sausage

3 small zucchini

3 cloves minced garlic

1 pound fresh cavatelli

12 sage leaves, cut into thin ribbons

6 tablespoons butter (I used about 3 tbsp and upped the olive oil content)

Pinch of red pepper flakes

Salt & pepper

White wine

Put water on to boil for the cavatelli. Cook sausages in a covered pan with ½ inch water until cooked through, about ten minutes. Cut each sausage in half lengthwise, then slice into ½–inch-thick half moons. Cut zucchini in half lengthwise, then slice into ½-inch-thick half moons. Brown sausage in olive oil, remove from the pan. Brown the zucchini, cooking at fairly high heat so it takes on color but doesn’t get mushy. Remove zucchini from the pan. Boil the cavatelli. Meanwhile, add butter to the pan and cook until it begins to brown and smell nutty. (Take care not to burn it!) Add garlic, sage, and red pepper flakes and stir about thirty seconds. Add sausage and zucchini back to the pan, season with salt and pepper, add a splash of white wine and mix in the cooked cavatelli. Served with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

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