Ai Fiori!...

So rich. so heavy. so. much. butter. and seafood! :) good, just not sure i'd go back. pastas were spot on. I think I still have a better spot for Marea seafood even tho it's the same peeps running this!

Cannolichi: razor clams, chorizo, fennel. Grangio: soft shell crab, prosciutto, lemon yogurt, canteloupe.

 

Crudo di Passera: fluke crudo, american sturgeon caviar, meyer lemon. Animelle: sweetbreads, pomme puree, pancetta, truffle vinaigrette.

 

Trofie nero: ligurian crustacean ragu, sepia, spiced mollica, scallops. Spaghetti: blue crab, bottarga, chiles, lemon.

 

Tortelli: ricotta and marscapone ravioli, sottecenere cheese, red wine glaze.

Astice: butter poached lobster, asparagus, morels, chateau chalon sauce. Anatra: long island duck, ramps, foie gras, fava beans, frisee.

 

DESSERTS! Tartelletta: dark chocolate, anise, hazelnut gelato, grapefruit. Budino: chocolate cremaux, coffee crema, apricot, macadamia gelato.

Panna cotta: balsamica crema, blood orange, marcona almond, lemon sorbetto. Torta di Olio: ligurian olive oil cake, strawberry, pine nut, rosemary yogurt gelato.

Gelati Grom-ness...

I am an italo-phile. no to the francophile. yes to the...anyhoodlekins.
Had some Grom on the UWS (Broadway b/w 76th & 77th st) w/ Jules-ster--she got the pistachio, I got the crema di grom.

I gotta say--it's a little refreshing, but disorienting to see Pistachio gelato/ice cream not in unearthly green form (see spumoni gardens pics). The pistachio also tasted nutty (as it probably should) and u can really taste the "toasted" side to it. Warm, not too sweet, delish.

My crema di grom is egg cream, Battifollo "meliga" biscuits (which evidently just means they made it with corn flour instead of wheat and...Grom's rather prideful about their snootiness in ingredients), and Ecuadorian chocolate. Some other flavors had Venezuelan chocolate--u should read about the crazy chocolate wars b/w Amedei and Valrhona...it's a little inSANE. **

Here's more of my ice cream b/c you love ze peektures. (Btw...a little too pricey for the sizes--what u see there was 5 bucks each.People are getting uber snooty about chocolates particularly the cocoa content, where the beans are from (likened to the origins of ze grapes and regions for ze wine and whatnot) and of course the recent NYtimes article on the emergence of snooty Milk Chocolate. The site 70% (referring to the % of cacao powder blahblahbl) is a good resource to edumacate urself on fancy chocolates (and buy them!).

In Italy, it was 3-4 euros for gelato the size of 2 of your fits clinging fervently to a sugar cone. Packed fo yo FACE!!) This one is a little...diminutive ain't it :P

I tried the Marrons de Glaces (good, i can't pinpoint the flavor but possibly red-bean-y or taro-y). The stracciatella is a good vanilla/cream-ish with chocolate and whatnot. Surprisingly they had Hazelnut AND Gianduja--but I gues that makes sense since gianduja is essentially Nutella (hazelnut chocolate) whereas the other one is just singular. I'm not a fan of sorbet so...I didn't try any. The Zabaione i think has the egg cream base like the Crema di Grom but with Sicilian Marsala wine.

I've had a few gelati downtown but I dunno...this does taste a lot cleaner/crisper and while creamy, just not as heavy as most gelati. My favorite was this place in Rome (I can't remember the cross streets but this was possibly near Piazza Navona on the way back from the Vatican near the bridge where that castle is. VAGUE yes? Whatebbs yo). Florence gelati was good but for some reason...that one in Rome always stuck with me.
There was a great gelato/coffee shop in the Belmont Shore strip in Long Beach. That you can look up yourself but I think it was called Cafe Roma--dun dun dunnn....

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**(Valrhona refused to let the Tessieri bro/sis work with them, Tessieri goes straight to make a deal with the chocolate plantation folks in South America to work exclusively for Tessieri's AMADEI!!)