Piggies, Sformato, and Sauces galore @ Maialino...

Yesh, I haz returned. From...a...hiatus..ish. Just hadn't been feeling up for publishing much but I do have stuff about Roberta's in Bushwick, Kerrytown Farmer's Market in Ann Arbor, and...I forget what else but nonetheless that will all follow this MASSIVE EPIC RETURN post :)

So me, Karen, Shanaz, Megan, and Frances went to Maialino at 2 Lexington (b/w 22nd and 21st st by the Rose Bar), another Danny Meyer venture that opened last wk. I think I'm still full from last night...no I'm...sure that's the case, but that suckling pig was a BEAST and for the first time I said "Nein! no more!...I can't finish" while hanging my head down in flabbergasted defeat. Anyhoodle, let's get to it:

We spent a bit of time going over the menu (the five of us are...greedy-foodie-PowerEaters...I like to think :D) so we tried to maximize dishes and took quite some time to decide--so the waitress brought us Guanciale Rolls on the house :D :D :D Think cinnamon buns w/ pecorino & guanciale (pork cheek/jowl reminiscent of pancetta) but w/o the sugar & whatnot. YUMMAAAAY!

Great bread bowl but it's of little significance compared to the rest of the dishes SO...for antipasti we got the sweetbreads w/purple and weirdly green broccoli, and...the Octopus Carpaccio w/ purple potato mash & arugula. Sweetbreads were abysmally ordinary and it only came with about 3 pieces! >:( Kefi's sweetbreads will always be my #1--that and I am really not digging breaded & fried sweetbreads. No...significant flavor. Carpaccio was nice but still not that oomph i was hoping for--a bit too much taters if u ask me!

Onto pasta dishes! Megan had been stalking Raviolo di Uvolo for a while so needless to say she was quite jazzed to order it--everyone thought it was too much cheese which overwhelmed the egg itself. I just wanted another raviolo on my dish! >:( Nice tho, rather rich, but tasty. Bit of spinach to balance it out. Buccatini all'amatriciana was QUITE GOOD imo. Had a nice heat (turned up a notch), great sauce--some people thought it was a smidge salty but tasty fine-ness to moi! Carbonara was a letdown. All the other reviews raved about it--I say hizzeck no, I can make better sauce and i *HAVE* so suck it. Pasta was a bit too al dente for my liking, as in I truly thought it was undercooked for an italian resto esp but...whatebbs, Amatriciana saved the day :D

But as u can tell below--we pretty much dug all three :) Really wanted to try the Cacio e Pepe but...another time! There was quite a lag b/w sitting down, getting the antipasti, and the paste--quiiiite a while. But then the porky pig came to us quickly...but in the meanwhile, a lampshade fell and freaked everybody out and we...stalked the cheese/meats/breads/dessert bar--kind of a fun addition to the corridor b/w the front dining area, and very nice to see all these things done right in front of u and everybody looking so chipper, eager, and...raring to go.

They had a pretty crazy wine list. Shanaz and I got a couple but...I dunno. whichebbers , food was the focus :) Also...Anita Lo was seated across the roooom!! WEEEEEEEE!!! I've met her before at James Beard but...I still like....to...run into...chefs I recognize and no say anything at all but giggle massively to myself. The embodiment of "tittering", really. :) TEEHEE!!

Anyway, really low key atmosphere and just a great space. We really oggled the room(s) for a bit while we waited...and then...was...the piggy!! Maialino = little pig in Italian, I'm told. I should know better, but...we didn't cover 'little piggy' in vocabulary back in college :) The entire staff was rather effervescent--they were really excited to bring out the and made it a point to notify us way early of the coming presentation of said piggy (and goading me to take pictures, almost giving me cues--like to get a picture of the raviolo midcut :P), and then...choppity chop the piggy returns w/ taters as u will see...

SEE?? they're so happy @ Maialino. Anyhoo, this thing really was a beast--there wasn't too much meat (in terms of what u expect a $68 hunk of pork to be) but my effin' gawd the cracklings was magnificent and the meat was so tender!! Potatoes very aromatic w/ the rosemary, well seasoned too.

JUST LOOK AT THAT SKIN!! ees so bootiful and deleeshus. Taters really tempered the porky fatty savory gamey-ness but...jebus there was a lot of added oil which kind of...made me max out after 1/2 a strip and a quarter more. Marrow was also very very rich but awesomely tasty and 3 of us spent a good amt of time gnawing it to bits to get every morsel.

K so this pic is, in all honesty a redo--but when the suckling pig just came back all chopped and ready to go, everyone literally jabbed in both knife and form simultaneously and let me tell ya...even in a little viewfinder tho super zoomed in, that freaked the *crap* outta me seeing this succession of metal...crazy jabby prison rail East Berlin/USSR iron curtain lockdown gauntlet bizness all come jamming down. BUT FUN! so I made them redo it so I could illustrate what ravenous piglets were were too :D This serious killed my stomach for the night BUT then we made room for...DESSERRRRT!!

Yes yes...we liked it all sufficiently, but that Sformato was HEAVEN--not too rich, not too sweet, ephemeral, smooth...just...heavenly & with a bit of figs and complex flavors w/ the buckwheat honey that gave it a whiff of rum-myness! Olive oil cake was meh--tartufo was GREAT (b/c of the crunch slightly dark choco shavings imo) and the ice cream itself was tasty. We were told all their gelato is in house--the brandied cherries in the tartufo however,...kind of insane and made me want to (in the future) dig it out and smash it in spite for how it overwhelms my tastebuds. SMASHY SMASH!

Great service--so amiable! Some lag time in the beginning, but all the servers were great and spunky and knowledgeable w/o gagging u with perkiness or dogmatic recs. YAY. Def will go back to try the pig's feet, other pastas, and maybe something seafood-y.

See they're so happy and such busybodies they're a blur :D :D

Sorella!...

2 girls eat up Italy particularly Piemonte food and bring it back to the city! That's the concept behind Sorella on Allen b/w Broome & Delancey. Cute name. cute concept--it's pretty much how Karen and I felt after our little trip in October--except we ate the crap out of all of italy and were struck mostly by the modern Italian tastes of each regions (the homey, simple, rustic, pride of the land kinda dishes) and esp the modern emerging Italian cuisine at Pane e Vino in Florence and Il Satollo in Rome! [I PROMISE i'll post about these 2 soon--tied for 1st in favorite restaurants in the the 5 countries i've been to!]

It's a little hard to replicate the experiences and meals we had in Italy--so much gets lost across the AtlanticHad a little xmas dinner with Albee and grubbed up on the small plates.

We had the Hearst Ranch Beef Carpaccio with a parsley treviso sald, crosnes (apparently teeny artichoke like...'tubers'), and smoked salt. A little heavy I thought on the oil--but the smoked salt was badass.

We also had the Crispy Veal Sweetbread with a quince-bacon marmalade. I like the texture of the sweatbread--the breading's interesting. I don't have the mindset to really debunk what it comprises it at t he moment--the marmalade was a little like a variation of hoisin sauce I've seen used at some asian places...I still like/LOVE the Kefi sweetbreads better! Well cooked tho...

the best BESTEST was the Pate de Fagato: duck fat english muffin bread with chicken liver mousse, bacon, and a teeny little egg on it. Sounds heavy and artery-clogging but MY GOD very smooth, very subtle, and quite light. never mind my lighting! just look at that pate mousse!! so airy!

THENNNNN...we had the GNOCCHI!! Also one of my faves here! So light! So subtly rich! So smooth! The potato gnocchi so delicate and melty and subtle! Had some chives, roccaverano fresca cream sauce (heaven!--and light light light!) with brown butter pears--added a very nice light sweet contrast and harder texture to the whole thing. Seriously--best tasting and best cooked gnocchi I've ever had. I did not know...what gnocchi was supposed to be like...until this one. HAHA.

Needless to say we ate a lot.....a lot. Albee & I totally dug the Pate di Fegato the most--like...lick the plate clean if that was socially acceptable. But i did take a picture of our ravished gnocchi plate :P

Gnocchi was #2--but we did squeeze in dessert, and the Spiced Panna Cotta I have to say--just like what we liked about the Pate & Gnocchi--rich but subtle, smooth--melts in yo mouf! Perfect temperature and consistency...

I can't find the listing for dessert on the menu--but I remember the Spiced Panna Cotta having pomegranates, brown butter (methinks) pumpkin, pears, roasted pumpkin seeds...and a pretty damn hard crust on the bottom actually. Like--hard core stab and wiggle to break the crust/bottom. We REALLY worked that spoon. It wasn't as difficult to break down in your mouth but...i mean *damn*. Good flavors tho. Perfect little winter dessert feel :) WEEEE!!!

And then afterwards I went to drop off Karen's xmas gift nearby and she gave me Kee's chocolates. RICH RICH RICH just like Sorella's...(more intense actually)...but not so sweet over overwhelming either!! Just a less subtle, stimulating punch to the palate :)

Defintely...DEFINITELY coming back for the brussel sprouts from what I hear the barkeep says--he made really great recommendations and was a little chatterbox in the most amiable and natural sense :) Also got to chat w/ the chef a bit--lovely people who seem a little nervous but very proud of their venture :) Definitely transparent the thought and love that goes into plating, composition, and...ingredients and all! Some dishes weren't mindblowing but def above average esp for NY Italian fare. Anxious to also come back for the grilled quail and lamb ragu!

...BTW, the panna cotta--inn the chef's words--"It's like sex in your mouth!"...I'd have to say...it's more like really good making out sesh when you're a wee enamored teenage brat and the excitement lingers on warm flushed cheeks and twinkled eyes...u know, back in those uncorrupted days. ;)

That Pate di Fegato though...Albee said I was erm...having a sort of...."la petite mort" moment with it :)