Maialino, Danny Meyer's brand new Roman trattoria

Residents of 10010: meet your Mayor. No, not Mr. Bloomberg... we mean
the Mayor, aka Danny Meyer, aka the restaurateur supreme, whose
trademark combination of effortlessly friendly service, comfortable
surroundings, and remarkably delicious food has given New York City
some of its most beloved restaurants, the bulk of which happen to be
clustered just a few blocks from Waterside Plaza. After all, you can't
eat at Adam's Fresh Cafe every night!

First there was Union Square Cafe, which Meyer opened in 1985 when
he was just 27 years old, and has since earned just about every
accolade in town, including spending an astonishing eight consecutive
years as Zagat's #1 Most Popular Restaurant. Meyer's Shake Shack, the
Madison Square Park game-changer (who knew we would gladly wait an hour
or more for burgers, fries, and frozen custard?), has taken on all
comers these past five years to remain, in our opinion, New York City's
best burger. With Blue Smoke, Meyer led the way in bringing world-class
barbecue here. His Gramercy Tavern pushed greenmarket-driven food to
the forefront long before it was trendy, and has won numerous James
Beard awards as well two three-star reviews in the New York Times. And
in August, Meyer's Eleven Madison Park, with Executive Chef Daniel Humm
at the helm, was given four stars in the Times, joining just five other
restaurants in all of New York City to hold such a distinction.

And now Danny Meyer gives us Maialino, his take on a rustic Roman
trattoria, opened a week ago in the Gramercy Park Hotel. We were lucky
enough to snag a table last night and we can report that the results
from Executive Chef Nick Anderer's kitchen are nothing short of
outstanding.

The menu at Maialino has a thoughtful selection of both Salumi and
Formaggi, all of which sounded extremely tempting, but we went the
traditional three-course route for this, what we hope will be the first
of many meals. For Antipasti we ordered the Trippa alla Trasteverina,
and it was fantastic, the tripe tender and rich, the bright tomato
sauce adding a sweet acidic one-two punch, the pecorino throwing in
salt and sharpness, and the mint... well the mint was like getting a
wonderful, unexpected treat in the middle of a multiple mouthgasm.  

Then came the Primi, which for us meant Spaghetti alla Carbonara.
Again, a huge winner. The pasta had just the right bite, the creamy,
eggy, cheesy sauce holding its own, and the guanciale (basically, pig
cheeks; even more basically, bacon) was both chewy and crunchy, sweet
and salty, and altogether truly transportive. Finally, the Secondi, and
the Fritto Misto, a spectacular pile of oceanic succulence, featuring
deliciously oily whiting, wonderfully flaky cod, remarkably tender
calamari and the single best prawn we can ever remember eating.

The room here at Maialino is beautiful, divided into a casual
upfront bar area (which, we're told, is mobbed come 9:00 or so every
night), and the 72-seat, table-clothed Trattoria dining space in the
back. The service, it probably need not even be said (this is a Danny
Meyer place, after all), is impeccable: warm, helpful, utterly
professional. Everything about Maialino, in fact, felt exactly right.

Maialino details

Maialino is located in ground floor of the
Hotel Gramercy Park, at the corner of Lexington Avenue and 21st Street,
and is currently open from 5:00 p.m. until 12:00 a.m., Monday through
Saturday, though they will be expanding to Sunday, then breakfast, then
lunch, throughout this winter. For more photographs and a look at the
opening night menu, see Eater's coverage, here. For complete details on
all of Danny Meyer's restaurants--again, most of them are within a few
blocks of Waterside Plaza--please see the Union Square Hospitality Group
site, here. 

Posted at 04:21PM Nov 19, 2009 by Scott in 10010  |