Dinner in the Garden

La Lanterna di Vittorio Offers Excellent Italian in Greenwich Village

I love spending time with Aish - we met in a class we had together last semester with our mutual friend Michelle.

Michelle, Aish and me!

We all caught up briefly at beer blast (the weekly happy hour Stern hosts in the building basement) and then Aish & I headed to dinner. I am currently reading a great book (Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan) and two of the main characters are professors at NYU! In the book, they were set up by a mutual friend and had their first date at La Lanterna di Vittorio (http://lalanternacaffe.com/), an Italian restaurant with an enclosed garden right near campus.

I am a huge fan of reading (especially guilty pleasure books such as this one) and even a bigger fan of exploring new restaurants - I knew I had to check this spot out! We each ordered a glass of red wine: the Carmenere Cab. It was delicious and under $10.

Let there be wine and no whine

We decided to split two items: pizza and lasagna. Since Aish is a vegetarian, we stuck to items both of us could enjoy and ethically enjoy :)

For our pizza, we ordered the Pizza con Cipolla e Caprino (topped with goat cheese, caramelized onions, walnuts and extra virgin olive oil).

Nom-a-thon!

Do not be deceived - those slices that LOOK like sausage are caramelized onion! The pizza was super delicious EVEN without meat! It was thin-crust and made to order. I'm glad we split it so we could try two different items.

The other entrée we split was the Lasagna Quattro Formaggi with Black Truffle Paste! NOM! It was like a cheese explosion accented with truffle yumminess

See that truffle goodness? Are you drooling yet?

The lasagna was delicious! I took a bite and burned my mouth off - so be cautioned food is served HOT here. Also, I didn't realize this had no tomato in it so when compared to the pizza dish, there wasn't much contrast (cheese vs. more cheese). Next time, I would order the pesto one or meat sauce (damn vegetarians! hehe).

The garden were we sat is beautiful - the rest of the dining space seems a bit dark/cramped, so the outside area is wonderful.

Enclosed Garden with HUGE lamps

I highly recommend this spot: the prices are right (most pizzas are $12-$14 depending on toppings) and the ambiance is awesome.

Cheers,

Liz

 

Italian at Otto

A Tasty Meal in the West Village

I got to catch up with one of my favorites, Aish, last week! We've both been bogged down by school and we haven't been able to catch up. What better way to spend time together than over glasses of red wine and yummy Italian food? Otto Enoteca Pizzeria (http://www.ottopizzeria.com/restaurant.cfm) is right near campus, so it was the perfect place to go to!

Red wine for the soul

We split the Baby Spinach, Ricotta Salata and Truffle Honey salad. It was delicious! If anything, it may have been a bit overdressed, but it was very tasty.

Truffles are now a required part of salads

I ordered my favorite pasta from Otto, the Carbonara. It was tasty but not as much as I remembered.

Pasta Carbonara

Aish ordered the pizza and she was pleased with it. This is a really fun, casual Italian spot. It is low key and the quality far exceeds the price points.

Cheers,

Liz

 

You Otto Go Here

Experience Mario Batali on a Budget!

If you have seen a trend in my last couple of posts, I attempted to find joy during lunch breaks to survive the intensive class I had last week. Two of my close girl friends (Christine and Kate) and I went to Otto Enoteca Pizzeria (http://www.ottopizzeria.com/restaurant.cfm) for a relaxing lunch.

We wanted to split a salad, pasta and pizza. After looking at the menu, we picked three crowd pleasers. I forgot the snap a photo of the salad. We chose the Otto Chopped Salad. It is super yummy and not too heavy. The dressing is light and tasty and the salad is chock-full of goodness (meat, cheese and veggies).

For our pasta, we split the Spaghetti Alla Carbonara, made with pancetta, scallions, black pepper and egg.  Very creamy and full of flavor!

Spaghetti Alla Carbonara

For our pizza, we chose the Margherita D.O.P made with tomato, bufala mozzarella and basil. This is a yummy pizza that isn't too heavy. It was a great choice to complement the pasta which was heavy (and delicious!).

Margherita D.O.P

I was really happy with the mix of food that we got. I didn't want an entire pizza or salad or pasta. This was a wonderful way to sample a lot of different things.

Check this spot out!
Liz