02.08.11
Review of Maialino, Monday September 2010
2 Lexington Ave. & 21st/22nd Sts. in the Gramercy Park Hotel, 212-777-2410
Great for: pasta, sophisticated nights out, dates
The Scholar/Mistress and I share many common interests, the foremost among which is amazing food. (Or maybe reading books. But you guys don’t care about that.) We were delighted to get a reservation to Maialino, which we’d both heard wonderful things about.
Our starter of crostone di fegato (chicken liver) and aged balsamic vinaigrette was great on large half-slices of bread. The balsamic was a nice peppery contrast to the creamy pâté.
For budgetary considerations we got two pastas to share as a main. My bucatini all’amatriciani with pecorino, spicy tomato and guanciale was delightful and spicy. It reminded me of when I’d first had the dish in Rome; this was just as good, with perfectly al dente and wiggly noodles. S/M’s agnolotti corn ravioli with sungolds and ricotta salata was also lovely. We liked the large pasta and all the flavors went together really well.
Surprisingly, one app, two pastas and a generous side of potatoes with rosemary is enough for two hungry girls! We still had a little room for dessert, of course. I went for the affogato, gelato in espresso, which was good but super bitter and delicious simultaneously. S/M ordered the absolutely lovely gianduja budino, a chocolate and hazelnut bread pudding. It was very large and wonderful, especially when we discovered the chocolate melted in the middle.
I’m so glad the hotel finally found a restaurant worthy of it that’s popular too. I definitely wish I could afford to come back often.
Rating: 8.5 / 10
Our cost: $90 (1 app, 2 pastas, 1 side, 2 desserts, 1 lavender mint tea)
Noise level: noisy
Chance of walking in: it might be ok, since the place is huge, but you should call.
eddie said,
February 14, 2011 at 18:17
Ok, good job on the review but thinking about skipping this place. Where is your usual spunk? Is something wrong? So serious compared to you last posts. Where’s the signature wildness and sarcasm? Have you become a librarian or a senator?