06.20.09
Review of Allegretti, Tuesday April 2009
46 W.22nd St. & 5th/6th Aves., 212-206-0555
Great for: taking the parents, a grown-up and quiet night out
I met some guys at a snowboarders’ meetup and this one asked me out for a proper date. Not really my type, but I figured I’ve got to try people out or I’ll never like anyone. He was kind of boring, but dinner was quite good.
I actually ate some of the starter bread. It was like an olive brioche; salty with lots of olives, and very enjoyable. I loved my terrific special app of tagliolini with king crab, crab jus, snow peas, scallions and pea shoots. It had nice thin noodles steeped in crab flavor and peas that were a crunchy contrast to the just-chewy-enough noodles. It looked small in the plate but was actually a nice amount. The sweetbreads app is great too. The snow pea sauce is delicious, while the nuttiness of the sweetbreads was amplified by the pine nuts sprinkled on top. All that went very well with yummy vegetables scattered around the plate. I was glad I had some bread left over to mop up more of the sauce.
I liked my rascasse with shrimp, fish and a little calamari in gravy with vegetables. It was a nice big dish, kind of like crab cake in the way it’s held together except in a pretty star design. I didn’t even mind the calamari, as it was only barely rubbery. His sea bass with a triangle of latke and artichokes was also good. The potato was my favorite part, since the fish was not as tender as mine.
The baba dessert was good, the cake a tad dry but the fruit a gooey, scrumptious mess. Even though I was totally full, I kept pecking at the rhubarb and strawberries. The service is lovely, almost as much as the décor. There’s a small fireplace that looks as though it may have been a pizza oven once, nice big bathrooms and a very friendly waitstaff. The place itself is also quite large, with a bar area that would be great for a rainy day or a heart-to-heart.
Rating: 8 / 10
Our cost: $145
Noise level: loud conversations
Chance of walking in: it’s quite new, you should call ahead.
