Two-star Italian alert!
Sam Sifton, the still-newish restaurant critic for The New York Times, surprised many restaurant-watchers this week by filing on the 16-year-old Novita, an unassuming Italian trattoria right near Waterside Plaza on 22nd Street between Park and Lexington. Former Times critic Ruth Reichl had bestowed a single star on Novita back in 1994, and that, we all thought, was that. Sifton had other ideas though, and blew the cover off of this Gramercy Park spot by giving Novita a two-star love-fest. "In any other metropolis in North America" Sifton says, "it would be well known among that city?s best places to eat. In many cities, it would sit atop the heap."
The pasta is the way to go here, it seems. Again, from Sifton:
"The pastas are just ridiculous: perfectly prepared, full of flavor, a rejoinder to low expectations.
You might try a bright and floral pesto over the long cavatelli pasta known as strozzapreti, or priest chokers, studded with pine nuts and salted with Parmesan. Or a plain penne with roasted tomatoes, basil and mozzarella that tastes of triangular perfection, summer on a midwinter plate. Black spaghettini with mixed seafood and a spicy tomato sauce is worth a mini-fad in itself, with pasta that is toothsome and a sauce made rich with lobster.
Three more: little ears of orecchiette with spicy sausage and broccoli rabe in tomato sauce; papparadelle with lamb ragu and earthy porcini mushrooms; rigatoni with seared tuna, black olives, tomatoes and oregano. These are like postcards from an Italy of the mind, color swatches to recolor your world."
Sounds amazing. And, like we said, it's just a few blocks away from Waterside, so this "perfect neighborhood trattoria" is, in fact, YOUR neighborhood trattoria.
For menus and reservations, go here. And Sam Sifton's complete review is here.
Posted at 03:29PM Feb 11, 2010 by Scott in 10010 |