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 

Japanese comfort food @ Sake Bar Hagi (a midtown izakaya)

Izakayas are the japanese equivalent of pubs in the UK mixed with a tapas component - they're comfortable, you can easily catch a sports game or just throw back some drinks (sake, beer and much more) and sample a variety of small, inexpensive dishes with friends.  I really like this style of dining and it's a good thing I live pretty close to Saint Marks with no lack of izakayas to frequent but on this cloudy, often-rainy day, some friends and I decided to head up to Midtown to eat at Sake Bar Hagi (49th and 7th).

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The Decor: (7.5/10)

The Pros:

• Very comfortable, well-spaced out tables
• Good service and an attentive waitstaff
• Feels like a good place to talk loudly, drink and eat with abandon
• Semi-private section for larger parties

The Cons:

• Crowded, there's always a wait of around 30 minutes - an hour, no reservations accepted
• Not many tables
• Location-wise, Midtown West is definitely not one of my favored dining neighborhoods
• I counted at least 4 tv's broadcasting the basketball game of the moment

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The Food: (8.5/10)

• Great value - none of the dishes I saw were priced above $10 and most were in the $5-$6 range
• Very fresh ingredients and simple preparations really spotlighted the star ingredients in each dish
• Most of our dishes were cooked perfectly and seasoned perfectly andsubtly
• A wide selection of dishes

Deep-fried chicken with ponzu citrus sauce and grated daikon ($6.50)

• Deliciously crispy skin, juicy meat and fried well so this wasn't very oily at all
• Sweet, tart and salty balance with the ponzu citrus sauce
• This has always been one of my favorite dishes and it's hard to find it done well

Fried rice with spicy cod roe ($8.50)

• Probably the biggest surprise winner of the night - this dish is incredibly simple, just some spicy cod roe, egg, scallion and shredded nori on top of rice but amazingly flavorful.  This could easily have been bland and boring but the chefs have a deft hand with seasoning and enough restraint not to oversalt so all the flavors in the dish were expertly enhanced and balanced

Soft-shell crab tempura with ponzu citrus sauce ($6.50)

• Beautifully fried, incredibly fresh and really well-priced
• The ponzu citrus sauce really goes with all sorts of fried things really well and it enhanced the flavor of the crab really well in this case

Kobe beef skewer ($4)

• A standard skewer kicked up a notch with pieces of glazed tender pieces of kobe beef
• Nothing too special but good
  

Agedashi tofu: deep-fried tofu with dashi sauce ($5.50)

• Pretty bland and uninteresting - the tofu had a light crispy coating and falls apart as soon as you bite into it but the dashi had no depth

Roasted eggplant ($4)

• INCREDIBLY smokey - I don't think I've ever had a dish with a smokier profile but it was surprisingly good
• A little nub of the eggplant was left on the plate so we surmised that the eggplant was blistered directly over an open flame and then peeled
• The bonito flakes and sweet sauce cut the bitterness of the eggplant quite a bit and made this dish really interesting

Takoyaki: pan-fried octopus balls ($6)

• Takoyaki are incredibly popular in all sorts of street stalls, izakayas and markets in Japan and I always remember them fondly as a festival food
• These unfortunately were way too mushy though the chunks of octopus in each were pretty tender and tasty

Grilled onigiri with soy sauce ($3)

• Grilled rice brushed with a light soy glaze always = deliciousness

Red bean ice cream, mochi, azuki ($3)

•  Good quality red bean ice cream which wasn't overly sweet, azuki beans and paste and some really chewy mochi balls made this the perfect end to a good meal

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Summary and More info:

Address: 152 West 49th Street, lower level

FoodistColony aggregated reviews

NYT Review

NYmag Review

 

A lovely feast @ Damon Frugal Friday (now every day but tuesday!)

Damon Frugal Fridays (New American, Tom Collichio)

Tom Collichio's brainchild in the midst of a terrible recession - a wallet-friendly, interesting menu of New American dishes to be helmed by his head chef, Damon Wise every day of the week except for tuesdays (when he has his Tom: Tuesday Dinner).

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The Decor: (9/10)

The ambiance of a restaurant really counts for a lot with me when it comes to having a great dining experience.  Damon Frugal Fridays is held in a space 2 doors down from Craft where private events are usually held and is absolutely beautiful.  The exposed brick walls, interesting wine racks covering a whole wall of the restaurant, open kitchen layout and spacious candle-lit tables immediately made me feel comfortable and heightened my anticipation of the meal itself.

Shot of interior courtesy of nbcnewyork.com

(I've been terrible at getting good restaurant interior shots so I'm leaving this one to the pros :) )

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The Food: (8/10)

My frequent fooding companion, Connie, and I ordered up a lovely Smörgåsbord of dishes from the eclectic menu.

  

19th Street Headache (Aperol and Prosecco, $4); Sneaky Ninja (Gin, Tea, Fresh Lemon, $7)

We ordered up a round of very inexpensive cocktails to kick off the evening.  Mine (the 19th street headache) tasted like a light beer in a good way.  The bubbliness and sweetness of the prosecco complemented by the bitterness of the aperol made this cocktail very refreshing and easy to drink.  Connie's cocktail (the sneaky ninja) tasted like a really delicious lemonade and didn't have much of a bite from the gin.

 

Soft mozzarella and spicy tomato jam, $5

Loved the spicy tomato jam mixed with the contrast of the buttery soft mozzarella.  I think a sprinkle of sea salt on this dish would have made it better.

Guinea hen leg rillettes in a jar, $7

Hands-down my favorite dish of the night.  The rillettes of guinea hen leg (cubed, chopped meat salted heavily and cooked slowly in fat until tender enough to shred and then cooled with enough fat to form a paste) was incredibly flavorful and rich and we couldn't get enough of spreading this on crispy toast points. 

Crispy chicken wings and cabrales cheese, $5

Definitely not a winner - the cabrales was a cold, liquidy layer at the bottom of the bowl and overpowered the entire dish.  The fried, boneless chicken wings were also a bit overcooked and rubbery.

Salt-baked bone marrow and stew of mushrooms and tail, $9

Very rich and indulgent and a good comfort food dish.  I would have loved to have had some bread to spread the bone marrow on instead of eating it purely with the mushroom and tail stew.

 

Pheasant confit spring roll and sweet and sour chestnuts, $7

Just an average dish - I couldn't really taste the pheasant as it was overpowered by the sweet and sour chestnut sauce .

Smoked beef tartare and paprika flatbread, $5

Even though I'm not a big fan of beef tartare (mostly because of the texture of raw beef), I really liked this dish.  The beef was really smokey and paired really well with the paprika flatbread and was layered with all sorts of interesting flavors.

Apple berliner, vanilla custard and hot caramel, $5

Awesome - fried apple fritters, a streak of vanilla custard and a nice tub of hot caramel - what more could you ask for?

Trio of ice cream sandwiches, $5

Another favorite - the cookie layers in these sandwiches were perfect - flakey, buttery and not too sweet.  We had a trio of ice cream sandwiches - peanut butter, cappuccino (with a dash of cinnamon) and my favorite, dark chocolate.

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Summary and More info:

Overall, I had a great time at Damon Frugal Friday and would recommend this restaurant as a great date spot (an easy way of seeing what your date's food tendencies might be) or for easy nights out with friends.  Though the menu is a bit uneven, the prices can't be beat and there are some real winners in the mix.  I can't wait to go back to try out the rest of the menu!

Address: 47 East 19th Street (between Broaway and Park)

Link: The full menu