Sapori d'Ischia

[Sandra Levine]

Has anyone else been here?  It's fairly new, located in Woodside, a heavily industrial section of Queens.  The restaurant is located in the store/warehouse for the owners' first business -- importing Italian food.  

Starters:  Spanking fresh,  grilled sardines for Alan.     Prosciutto wwith figs for me.  Usually this is served with fresh figs, but in the middle of winter, it came with semi-preserved figs, a little sweeter than fresh would have been, but still with some juice in them.

Main:  for Alan, black linguine with shellfish, for me, grilled pork chops, served with a veal reduction, light in texture, intense in flavor, accompanied by a risotto-like orzo preparation with lots of finely chopped vegetables mixed in.

Wine:  we each had a glass of a Sardinian white wine that was similar to, but not, pinot grigio, light, lemony and herbaceous.  The waiter told us that the owners regularly travel to Italy to select wines from small producers.  

Dessert:  a flourless chocolate cake with dollops of caramel and raspberry sauces.  I rarely order chocolate desserts, finding them too heavy after a meal.  I prefer something refreshing, generally.   But, years ago, I cut out a recipe, long since lost, for "Chocolate Cake Ischia" and wondered, given the name of the restaurant, if this were similar.  The cake was deeply chocolatey, but light, rather than fudgy.  Delicious.

๧, before tip.

The restaurant has a couple of gimmicks:  a popular tableside preparation involves a scooped-out wheel of Parmigiano-Reggiano -- a cheese "bowl."  Additional cheese is scraped from the interior and mixed with pasta and other ingredients right in the cheese bowl. My guess is that it is similar to pasta d'Alfredo.  In between customers, the cheese rests under, yes, cheesecloth on a rolling cart off to the side.

The other gimmick is live music.  Thursday, the night we were there is opera night.  Four very good singers, accompanied by a pianist, sang from 7 to 11.  I hasten to add we were not there for the duration.  Usually, in places like this, I would say that the quality of the food is inversely proportional to the quality of the music, but here both were good.  The food was actually very good and we are eager to return.

(Edited by Sandra Levine at 8:19 pm on Feb. 6, 2002)

[smithi]

Sandra...thanks so much for the recommendation and review.  

Although I work in the city and enjoy trying many of the higher end restaurants that are posted all over this website, I live in Queens.  Manhattan will never beat the boroughs for great authentic ethnic food (other than French, and maybe Italian, Chinese and Japanese) at reasonable prices.  I would love to hear more about great restaurants in other boroughs, however, not many people venture across the river for food.  

I believe I read a review of this restaurant in the NYT some time ago.  It's on my "to-go-to" list.    

[rich]

Sapori d'Ischia is located in Woodside, Queens and I have received several calls about it in the last couple of months. A search provided no matches, so I'm assuming it has never been mentioned on eGullet.

It's certainly not a neighborhood place, since its "neighborhood" is the the middle of a warehouse district. (I drove passed it two weeks ago.) I'm hoping it will be a destination restaurant. It also has a speciality shop attached.

The calls have all been favorable, even outstanding. It's been described as better than Parkside (Corona) or Roberto's (Bronx), two of the best "real" New York Italians.

In any event, I will be traveling from Staten Island to Queens this evening and will report as soon as possible.

Edited July 23, 2004 by rich (log)

[ZenFoodist]

We eat/shop there all the time. Don't miss the budin di carciofi, the pasta that is tossed with pancetta and truffle oil in a large hollowed out Parmigiano Reggiano that is wheeled to the table ( forgot the name of this dish), or the warm chocolate polenta for dessert. Tap water is not served, there is no ice, and no lemon served with your espresso- it's rather Italian. The restaurant, housed inside a import-factory in an insdustrial part of Woodside, has great live music. The night when Paolo Siani plays is always a good one. It's fun to shop the shelves after dinner and I've gotten good deals on Sicilian tuna and imported cheeses.

More another time. I have an infant who is wailing for latte di mama :)

lisa

[markk]

Sapori d'Ischia is located in Woodside, Queens and I have received several calls about it in the last couple of months. A search provided no matches, so I'm assuming it has never been mentioned on eGullet.

When I read this post, I remembered reading about Sapore d'Ischia in several of the magainzes, so I decided to make the journey tonight, from New Jersey no less.

My dining companion started with the "daily special" scallops, which were excellent, and I had the grilled octopus, which was quite good. Then, we split the fettucine with prosciutto tossed in the carved out wheel of Parmiggiano-Reggiano and tossed with white truffle oil, which was also quite good. For main courses we also had the daily special fish, the red snapper with asparagus and corn, which was quite good. The bill for food for 2 was exactly $100, surprising, since three days earlier we went to Lupa in NYC and had a magnificent, exquisite meal that can only be described as a "pig out", and the food portion of the bill was $75.

The food at Sapori d'Ischia was truly okay; the food at Lupa was truly sublime; I'll leave you to do the math.

[rich]

This is a serious place foks. But one warning, it is truly Italian, not Italian-American in any shape or form. So if you don't want that type of food, don't go - you will be very disappointed.

The first thing that strikes you is the published list of "won'ts." The restaurant will not: 1. serve butter in any shape or form. 2. It will not serve ice in any manner. 3. It will not serve water, except bottled. 4. It will not serve cheese on any dish with fish or shellfish 5. & 6. It will not serve espresso with lemon peel or sambuca (anisette). There are four more, but I forget what they were - not as important as the first six. The owner says this is done because that's how it's done in Southern Italy and that's how he wants to do it here - his place, his right.

The wine list is exclusively Italian and ranges from $24 - $300 with some very good values in every price range. Upon seating a small oval platter with EVOO and olives are placed on the table with excellent, warm, crusty bread - delicious.

I started with a stuffed, deep-fried squash blossom that was perfectly cooked with a light, fluffy interior of ricotta and mascarpone, served over a light red sauce and grilled baby zucchini- a magnifcent dish. My wife had the tuna carpaccio - outstanding quality and a substantial portion. It was served over a bed of fresh greens and sprinkled with limes and olive oil.

We then ordered another appetizer to split - the fried filets of sardines. It consisted of six extra-large filets sliced open, breaded and sauteed with caper, olive oil and finely chopped black olives. I have never tasted better sardines - they are better than Landmarc's version and that's saying something.

For entrees, my wife had the fettucine prepared in a cored out wheel of parmigiano-reggiano. It included pancetta and a very light cream sauce with truffle oil. The scraping of the cheese while it's being made ready adds extra richness and complex flavors. The wheel is covered with damp cheesecloth after each service, stored in a large refrigerator at night and will last a week or two.

I ordered the hand-rolled pasta with a roasted cauliflower sauce. It was one of the finest pasta dishes in captivity. The olive oil, capers, red pepper flakes and the roasted cauliflower combined to make a sauce that was both earthy and spicy - truly inspired.

I ordered a 1996 Barbaresco ($52 and a great bargain). For dessert my wife, a had a crisp glass of proseco and I had a glass of their house Sicilian red - full, with some nice fruit and tannin. The restaurant only has a beer a wine license, so no alcohol is served. The bill was $141 before tip, just $73 for food.

Appetizers run from $6-10, pastas $14-18, entrees $18-24. They do serve pizza, but I didn't see anyone ordering. Opera singers appear on Tuesday and Thursday, other singers Wednesday & Friday.

There is a nice size wine bar as you walk in (to the left) and the shop is located in the back half of the restaurant, making it awkward to shop when people are eating at those tables. Their cheese selction is superior, the meats (sausage, pancetta, cold cuts) are excellent, the fresh ravioli and cavatelli look terrific and the unusual dried-pasta choices are great. The store also features Sicilian canned tuna, olive oils and jarred pestos. As an aside, the pancetta sells for $6.55 a pound - a steal. I used some Saturday night for carbonara and it was quite tasty.

I have never eaten at a more authentic Italian in this country. If you're serious about Italian food, you must go. If you're not, avoid this place.

Bottom line - this is a destination restaurant hiding in the "front" of a warehouse. Escape for two hours or more and imagine you're in Sicily.

Edited July 26, 2004 by rich (log)

[ZenFoodist]

As a Siciliana, I'd love to imagine myself in Sicilia, but it's really very Ischia-ian as I suspect is the owners' intent :)

Sapori d'Ischia= Taste of Ischia

Now if anyone can reccomend a restaurant that will remind me of Palermo (no Joe's of Avenue U...) I'm there!

lisa

Edited July 27, 2004 by ZenFoodist (log)

[rich]

As a Siciliana, I'd love to imagine myself in Sicilia, but it's really very Ischia-ian as I suspect is the owners' intent :)

Sapori d'Ischia= Taste of Ischia

Now if anyone can reccomend a restaurant that will remind me of Palermo (no Joe's of Avenue U...) I'm there!

lisa

You're correct Lisa. The place (actually its owner) reminded me of my Sicilian grandparents though.

If my geography is correct, isn't Ischia an island off the coast of Naples?