Tag: York

The best Italian restaurants in New York with Sapore Italiano – Italian Cuisine

In the fourth installment of the documentary "Sapore Italiano", broadcast on Food Network, our director Maddalena Fossati Dondero and chef Emanuele Pollini return to the Big Apple to discover the best addresses to enjoy home food abroad

We had left them between a bagel and an espresso to discover the best Italian restaurants in New York. After having tasted (and approved) the menu of Cardoncello Divino, LaRina and Felidia, the director of La Cucina Italiana Maddalena Fossati Dondero and the chef Emanuele Pollini return to wander the streets of the Big Apple in search of new addresses to be included in the magazine guide.

Here are the premises that the two experts visited in the fourth installment of Italian flavor, judging the aspects of Authenticity, Style, Tradition and Innovation and assigning to the restaurant, every 10 points obtained, a badge of excellence of La Cucina Italiana.

From Via Carota the best salad in the world

In West Village, Via Carota has all the air of a Tuscan workshop where you can breathe the air of home. The menu confirms the style with many traditional Italian dishes that focus on the ingredient. The raw material is always respected as in roasted carrots with spiced yoghurt and pistachios or in the green salad with sherry vinaigrette, judged by the "New York Times" the best salad in the world. Try the pie with artichokes, Switzerland and the tonnarelli cacio e pepe which are said to be the best in the city. Curiosity: in this restaurant also the former American president Barak Obama had lunch with his daughters and it seems that the actor Robert De Niro comes here once a month.
The experts' votes: Authenticity 10, Style 10, Tradition 10, Innovation 8.
La Cucina Italiana's excellence badges: 4.

Casa Lever, elegance and simplicity

In one of the most chic districts of New York, Park Avenue, is Casa Lever, a restaurant with an elegant and refined atmosphere where you can enjoy good Italian cuisine. At the beginning of the menu you can read the list of raw material suppliers, from local producers to those of our house. The ingredients are enhanced by two young Italian chefs who cook in a simple and sincere way. Maddalena and Emanuele taste an aubergine parmigiana (revisited without mozzarella), the risotto of the day with pepper oil and sea urchins and a baked sea bream. Approved!
The experts' votes: Authenticity 9, Style 9, Tradition 10, Innovation 8.
La Cucina Italiana's excellence badges: 4.

Roberta's, eccentric pizzas

If you want to have a special experience, in Brooklin Roberta's is the place for you. Born with the aim of becoming a meeting point in the neighborhood, it is a restaurant / pizzeria that "wants to do Italian". He succeeds a little yes and a little no: homemade bread, meats and cheeses from local producers and then pizzas that are seasoned in American (see Beasting with soppressata and honey). Maddalena and Emanuele appreciate the Italian sound and the atmosphere of the place, a little 'rock' n 'roll, a bit' hipster.
The experts' votes: Authenticity 6, Style 8, Tradition 5, Innovation 6.
La Cucina Italiana's excellence badges: 2.

The Fuoriguida

Where to find good Italian artisan ice cream in New York? From Lollino (164 9th Avenue) where the specialty is the hazelnut and chocolate sorbet, creamy and delicious as an ice cream even if made without milk.

New York bans foie gras since 2022 – Italian Cuisine

The municipal council has approved a law that acknowledges the protests of animalists against the forced feeding of ducks and geese. About a thousand restaurants in the city offered the product

Sit in a restaurant of New York City and order a crouton of Foie gras. From 2022 it will no longer be possible: the municipal council has approved a law will prohibit the sale in the city, just like it already happens in California.

How to make foie gras

He decided this because the specialty of French haute cuisine is obtained by forcing ducks and geese to aforced feeding (gavage) with a mixture of fats based on corn that induces an abnormal growth of the liver and an increase in fat in the liver cells (steatosis): the alarm was launched by the animalists, according to whom the production technique of foie gras is a unacceptable cruelty to animals.

The gavage requires the insertion of tubes in the duck or goose throat and a forced diet for 20 days, so that the liver reaches a size up to 10 times greater compared to the normal one. The process can cause animals to no longer be able to walk or breathe before being killed, as animal rights activists explain. The producers of foie gras, on the other hand, argue that forced feeding does not cause pain or damage to health, and that the scientific evidence so far available on the subject is not sufficient. And, again, that a strong prejudice is rooted against foie gras just because it is a luxury product.

An animal rights issue

Carlina Rivera, city councilor of Manhattan, supporter of the law prohibiting foie gras, said that the law "fights the most inhuman process" of the commercial food industry. "This is one of the most violent practices and is accomplished for a purely luxury product", commented. Other countries, including India, Israel and Great Britain, are also prohibited from selling or producing.

Any violation of the law will be punishable by one $ 2,000 fine (almost 1800 euros). The forbidden foie gras is the one produced by "birds fed by force": according to the norm, it will be assumed that all foie gras come from ducks or geese that have undergone gavage, unless the "documentary" proof to the contrary is provided.

About thousand restaurants in New York City have foie gras in your menu. Ninety grams of product can be sold for $ 125 (about 112 euros). But the biggest impact will be felt by the farms north of New York City, those that produce foie gras. Carlina Rivera states that, since the ban will not take effect in three years, farms will have the opportunity to adapt their business models. "These farms produce dozens of other products," he told the New York Times. "And the gavage is too cruel."

the best Italian restaurants in New York – Italian Cuisine

In the new docu-series "Sapore Italiano", broadcast on Food Network, our director Maddalena Fossati Dondero and chef Emanuele Pollini go to the discovery of the best addresses to enjoy food at home abroad. In the first episode, the places not to be missed in the Big Apple

Give me a Vespa and I'll take you … to discover the best Italian restaurants in the world! In the first episode of Italian flavor, Maddalena Fossati Dondero, director of "La Cucina Italiana", and the chef Emanuele Pollini they run through the streets of New York with this medium so unusual for the Big Apple as perfect for telling that authentic Italian style that the two van looking for in the places of the City.

Home food in New York

Once the target is reached and the helmets are laid down, sit down at the table. And we seem to take our seats too, with curious menus to browse through, dishes to order among the embarrassment of choice, focaccia to be spiced in the wait, forkful to exchange to try everything. We would almost like to say ours on the plates and participate in the discussion if it were not for the moment that we can only frantically write names and addresses and postpone tasting to the next trip. The addresses, precisely: where you can eat – well – Italian in New York? Let's find out by retracing the gastronomic tour of the episode among the restaurants that have won the "La Cucina Italiana" badges.

Cardoncello: mushrooms and wine

The first stop of the two experts is Divine Cardoncello, a modern Italian tavern where, as the name suggests, most of the menu revolves around the cardoncello, a delicious mushroom, a symbol of a cuisine linked to the land, which can be enjoyed from appetizers to second courses through first courses. For the wine with which to accompany the courses, an expert sommelier can advise you. The atmosphere? Homemade but at the same time chic.
Dish not to be missed: Braised beef cheek, cardoncelli and baby zucchini
The experts' votes: Authenticity 8, Style 8, Tradition 9, Innovation 7
Badges assigned by La Cucina Italiana: 3

LaRina fresh pasta

The second Italian restaurant where the couple stops is La Rina Pastificio e Vino, a place located in Brooklyn, open for three years and owned by four young members. There is no shortage of Italian products such as Parmesan, Parma ham and burrata (produced in Brooklyn by Italians). The strong point, however, is the pasta, freshly prepared every day, which can also be bought inside the small restaurant market.
Dish not to be missed: Smoked spaghetti with garlic and oil
The experts' votes: Authenticity 9, Style 10, Tradition 10, Innovation 9
Badges assigned by La Cucina Italiana: 4

Felidia: tradition and innovation

Third best New York Italian restaurant: the manager and the chef come from Felidia, the place of the famous Lidia Bastianich, mother of Joe Bastianich. Opened in 1981 with the intention of offering regional Italian cuisine, it is now an icon of Italian food in the Big Apple. The menu combines tradition and innovation, in the atmosphere one breathes the Italian style perfectly integrated with the American one.
Dish not to be missed: Ravioli with cheese and pears
The experts' votes: Authenticity 8, Style 7, Tradition 9, Innovation 8
Badges assigned by La Cucina Italiana: 3

Tasty treats

Between one restaurant and another, Maddalena and Emanuele are tempted by other delicious insignia. From Myrtle Bagel they enjoy tasting bagels, typical of Eastern Europe, but much loved by New Yorkers: good with salmon, cream cheese, red onions, capers and tomatoes, minus the one with strawberry cream cheese. To the Pisellino Bar the two experts taste, instead, a real Italian coffee, drunk at the bar and served with a glass of water and cantucci.

The next episode

Now all that remains is to fly to Paris for the next tour!