I pledge here and now to eat as much fresh ricotta this summer as my digestive system and sinuses can tolerate. Maybe it was all the years to wean off smoking and to develop sub-threshold taste detection for sugar and salt. I am now blessed with a gift to enjoy the simplest and cleanest flavours. Ricotta is tops. It’s another fine, subtle ingredient/candidate to explore terroir by—the place of taste (Folks, get used to reading and hearing this word, and for dogness sake, learn to pronounce it properly. It’s the next It Food concept, a la.. sustainable, local, ecological, organic, biodynamic,..).

This is going to be a fine summer, I synaesthete it already.

Folks from the Gotham Times were at the restaurant to take pictures and meet with the kitchen and owner about the ricotta dishes we serve. They’ll be publishing a round up article soon about the best ricotta dishes around town. Woo hoo. Ours are amongst the best in town.

Evening family meal 0522008

House made pyramid shape ravioli with Salvatore fresh ricotta
Olio
Butter
Sel
Piper
Chopped parsley

For some reason, the kitchen decided to serve ravioli as the family meal tonight. Generous of them. But I think maybe they were lefties from the day before. Day old ravioli are fine with me. The raviolis were boiled for a bit, then tossed in a bowl with olio, buter, sel, piper, and chopped parsley. I could have eaten every one of them until I oozed ricotta out my crevices, like the little pyramid pouches when biting into them.

The ravioli are made in house using three parts semolina to one part all purpose flour. I don’t know what else is used, perhaps an egg and some water. The ricotta, as mentioned, is from Salvatore in Brooklyn. From what I’ve skimmed from searching online, two women started making the ricotta as a side project to their food careers. They use milk from a non-profit dairy cooperative here in New York. So if you’re a local eating type, it’s right up that pasture.

Compared to the ricotta from dearest Fairway that I’ve been using in my omelettes, which is firm and almost crumbly, Salvatore’s texture is creamy with light, soft curds. Both are delicious, but when you’re in an oozing mood, I suggest Salvatore’s. Looking forward to the round up and discovering some goodness when I’m out hunting.

A new dish to taste 0522008

Garganelli pasta is the restaurant’s version of penne. They’re also house made. I think they cut flat squares of pasta and role them on the diagonal to make a penne-like shape. One of my tables, a Jaques Pepin lookalike dining with a sexy, urbane raven haired woman wearing a slim designer jean jacket with the thickest white contrast stitching I’ve ever seen, commented the noodle was just a bit soft. She believes homemade noodles can be made to have tooth (al dente) to them. She did enjoy the sauce—a ragu of crimini mushrooms. I wasn’t around to spy how the kitchen made it, with what ingredients. I think it may be a regular dish on the menu and will inquire to share with you and you and you..

Buon appetito et bon nuit..