80 replies to this topic

[TaliesinNYC]

Designed by architect Franco Rossignolo (Marea, San Domenico), Osteria Morini will be Chef Michael White's newest restaurant. Half of the seats will be available via reservation, the other half by walk-ins. Pretty sure Sneakie will cheer at that.


Things to look out for:

Raspberry bomboloni
Pancetta-cipollini-Gorgonzola scones
Extensive wine list


218 Lafayette Street (Kenmare Street)
Opening September 2010

[Anthony Bonner]

I say this without ever having eaten at any of his places.

There is no chef in the city where there is such a divergence of opinion between the pro bloggers/old fashioned media set and the people whom I trust who post either to small blogs or to food web sites.

[Sneakeater]

So I've never gotten Michael White. I didn't see the big deal about the original Fiamma. I don't see the big deal about Convivio. I don't see the big deal about Marea. (I've never been to his iteration of Alto.)

It's hard to see what's a big deal about Osteria Morini, either. But unlike White's other places, at least it's easy to see what's good about it. This is the first White place I've affirmatively liked.

As is well known, the conceit here is Emilia-Romagnan food. And, much as it pains me to do it, I have to admit that Wilfrid was right and I was wrong about something. Since this is the regional Italian cuisine with which most people are most familiar (even if they don't know it), it does take some excitement away from the menu in concentrating on it. It makes the menu seem somehow generic, when in fact its pretty authentically regional.

But, on the other hand, there's a reason that Emilia-Romagna is the mothership of Italian cuisine. Cuz this region's food is GOOD. Flavorful, balanced, substantial but not heavy. This is what we all like about Italian food.

The reason I think this is White's best restaurant is that here White isn't fucking around with food. These are all pretty straight, basic, traditional dishes, not flights of "cuisine" fancy as at White's other places (especially Marea). So you get the benefit of good ingredients and really solid kitchen technique, without the mediocre thinking that goes into the formulation of dishes at the other places. Maybe he should have started this way.

I started with the fried rabbit antipasto. This is a very good dish. You'd worry about the rabbit's being dry, but it isn't. Nor, however, is it greasy. My dining companion's parmesan etc. soup might have been even better (at least more elementally satsifying).

We split three pastas. All were excellent. My favorite were the cappelletti, in a judiciously truffled butter sauce, filled with rich, mild strachina cheese. My second favorite were the tagliatelle with ragu -- so familiar but so good. My least favorite -- but nothing wrong with it at all -- was the strozzapretti with rich meaty mushrooms.

For our secondo we shared a mixed grill of lamb chop, skirt steak, and pork blade steak. This was all competent-plus: very very good, really, without being stunning.

For dessert, the ice cream was very good. The dry chocolate cake was unexciting -- but that might be the fault of Italy more than of this restaurant.

The wine list is fine. There are a lot of regional bottles on it that you (or at least I) have never heard of, that will be fun to explore. (Who knew that they make a no-intervention oxidated red in the Cinque Terre? Maybe Bonner -- but not me.)

The cocktail program, helmed (strangely) by Eben Freeman, is very successful. The cocktail list is hard to suss. What you eventually figure out is that they have three sets of three cocktails each. The three sets are in ascending order of alcohol content, from light to heavy. I tried one of the light ones (formulated by Eben) before dinner and one of the heavy ones (formulated by our very personable bartender, Brian) (I think it was Brian) after. I loved them both.

This place is very enjoyable. I'm sure I'll be back frequently (if one is able to get in). It's not a big deal. Or, rather, it's strange that it is one. But it rewards patronage. In fact, this is one of those places that I can't imagine anyone disliking.

COMP DISCLOSURE: A pasta. A dessert. A taste of vermouth. Maybe other stuff.

[Sneakeater]

Oh, I forgot to note that they have what they describe as a preliminary non-final menu now, and are giving everyone a 25% discount, I think till the end of this week.

[Sneakeater]

Also, just to contextualize (on the basis of this one meal):

Not as good as Mailino or Manzo.

About as good as Lupa in its better days. Better than Lupa now. (Not that Lupa is bad now: just not as good.)

Better than Locanda Verde.

[oakapple]

Oh, I forgot to note that they have what they describe as a preliminary non-final menu now, and are giving everyone a 25% discount, I think till the end of this week.

One thing that struck me is that, without the discount, the menu is noticeably more expensive than originally planned.

In April, White & Cannon told Frank Bruni:

In keeping with a relatively casual ethos, the prices won’t be as high as they are at the other White-Cannon Manhattan establishments (though this is hardly a bargain joint). Appetizers: roughly $8 to $12. Pasta dishes: $14 to $21. Entrees: $18 to $26.

In the opening menu posted at Grub Street, the entrées top out at $32, rather than $26; most are $28 and over. There is no pasta lower than $16, and they top out at $20. (The appetizers are more-or-less in the original range of $8-12.) The difference is probably $5 to $8 per head more than the Bruni post would have led one to expect.

[Wilfrid]

I may be old-fashioned, but if I am paying thirty bucks for chops and sausages, they could at least throw a cloth on the table. Locanda Verde is comparable, but Lupa is a step down in price.

[Suzanne F]

I may be old-fashioned, but if I am paying thirty bucks for chops and sausages, they could at least throw a cloth on the table. Locanda Verde is comparable, but Lupa is a step down in price.

You ARE old fashioned. Wassa matter, you don't love Sandy Chiloweth?

[Anthony Bonner]

I may be old-fashioned, but if I am paying thirty bucks for chops and sausages, they could at least throw a cloth on the table. Locanda Verde is comparable, but Lupa is a step down in price.

You ARE old fashioned. Wassa matter, you don't love Sandy Chiloweth?

woven vinyl - the great innovation of our time

[Sneakeater]

I may be old-fashioned, but if I am paying thirty bucks for chops and sausages, they could at least throw a cloth on the table. Locanda Verde is comparable, but Lupa is a step down in price.

So you're surprised that there's an Upward Casual Price Creep?

I'll bet if Lupa opened now, its prices would be higher.

[Wilfrid]

I am not at all surprised that Michael White, like Jonathan Benno, gets to put a surcharge on his sausages because of his track record. I am just grumpy about it.

Judging by the pictures, it's another loving re-creation of a simple, old time, rustic, rural, Italian, mist drifting over the hills, tavern, where the grape pickers will drop in after a day in the fields and eat a simple plate of artichokes with a drizzle of oil and a goat's foot.

With Manhattan 2010 prices.

[Sneakeater]

It's hard to disagree with you. But I'll just note that if you compare Osteria Morini with the cheaper Emilia-Romagnan competition -- Via Emilia on 26th (?) St. -- it isn't hard to see that, enjoyable as Via Emilia is, Osteria Morini is vastly better.

[oakapple]

I may be old-fashioned, but if I am paying thirty bucks for chops and sausages, they could at least throw a cloth on the table.

Of course, Colicchio & Sons is charging even more than that, without a tablecloth in sight.

[ghostrider]

I may be old-fashioned, but if I am paying thirty bucks for chops and sausages, they could at least throw a cloth on the table. Locanda Verde is comparable, but Lupa is a step down in price.

You ARE old fashioned. Wassa matter, you don't love Sandy Chiloweth?

woven vinyl - the great innovation of our time

It's cat-peeproof, too.

[Suzanne F]

I may be old-fashioned, but if I am paying thirty bucks for chops and sausages, they could at least throw a cloth on the table. Locanda Verde is comparable, but Lupa is a step down in price.

You ARE old fashioned. Wassa matter, you don't love Sandy Chiloweth?

woven vinyl - the great innovation of our time

It's cat-peeproof, too.

Glad to know it's good for something. When we ate at the chef's counter at Beacon, the hot rock used to cook some beef melted one.