Seriously, how hot was it yesterday? Not only outside, but also at the new 5 star restaurant, Torrisi Italian Specialties. Last night's dinner was one for the books. After reading Adam Platt's review my sister and I knew we had to go ASAP. Last night was the night and I rushed out of the office at 5:30 on the dot to make it down to Mulberry Street in time for the first seating. They almost closed the doors on me, but I made it just in time to get a table at the 18 person restaurant. If you haven't heard of this place, then you don't read NYmag, NYTimes, Serious Eats or any other food blog because they have been raving about it since it opened. Just recently they started serving a pre-fixe $50 a person Italian/American dinner and the menu changes daily. Their made to order mozzarella and one of a kind gnocchi drew me in, but everything else I tasted made it one of the best meals I've had in a while.
There's no need for a menu at Torrisi because there is no choosing necessary, except for your entree (meat or fish). They first bring you the mozzarella drenched in olive oil and crunchy garlic bread with a hint of oregano to go with. So fresh I ate it by itself first. Then the antipastis keep on coming. A green bean salad, escarole salad with aged goat cheese, cucumber salad with aged tongue that tasted just like corned beef and these things called salami bread. I'm still not sure if it was actually salami or not but it was topped with a salt cod and cured lemon. It was a little too salty for me but was a favorite for Jenna.
Next comes the gnocchi made with Dancing Ewe Farm's sheep's milk ricotta they get from the Union Square Market every Friday. They only make this kind of ricotta five months out of the year so its solely a summer pasta. It's topped off with asparagus, cheese and a light cream sauce. Each bite melted in my mouth. The portion is small but it's filling and after finishing it off, it was hard to think about 2 more courses. But they came and we ate them - starting with the entrees. The options were a cod or a pork chop served with vinegar peppers. I ordered the fish and it was delicious. Cooked to perfection obviously in a light tomato broth. I didn't think I liked pork chop until I tried this one though. It was amazing and I don't even know how to describe it. The sauce was light and roasted peppers covered the dish and you had to have the first bite with a slice of the pepper to really get a taste. But once we saw the dessert plate at the table next to ours, we stopped eating the entrees to save room. A plate full of all different kinds of home made Italian cookies came to our table. Rainbow cookies (my favorite), a nut/popcorn cluster, a hudson bourbon puff pastry, a orange riccota waffle cannoli and a piece of Mast Brothers chocolate.
The line for the next seating started forming at 7:30 so we didn't linger to allow some other people the joy we just had experienced. Everyone needs to try to get into Torrisi at least once while they live in New York. If you can't get there before 6:00 when it opens for dinner, then I suggest getting there at around 7:30 to ensure you get a table. The staff is super nice and even held a table of four for an incomplete party. They also post the menu that day on their Web site, so you can start getting excited hours before! I'll admit that New York Mag does a better job at describing the greatness so below is the link: http://nymag.com/restaurants/reviews/underground/65478/
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