Osteria Della Rovere

[snausages2000]

Has anyone been to Della Rovere yet, down on W. Broadway, a block below Canal?

I've been a few times since they opened (a couple months ago) and they've been churning out great food.

My two favorite dishes:

Veal Cheeks (sort of a stew)

Whole Anchovies served on Bread with a poached egg on top.

Also, the desserts are pretty special. Instead of a rote list of Italian

standards, there's a real selection of unique, inspired sweets.

The chief creative forces in the kitchen recently worked at Le Cirque and Per Se.

My only complaint, and I suppose this is to be somewhat expected at a new restaurant, has been the service. It's been clumsy and amateurish. Oh, and the two-top tables in the front room, though totally attractive, are way too heavy and thick. You need like two people to help you move it so you or your date can slide into the booth.

But, those issues are easily forgotton - the food is hearty, both refined and soulful and totally worth checking out.

(And they have like 100 wines by the glass)

Entrees ($25-$30)

Crudi ($6-$10)

Della Rovere

250 W. Broadway, at Beach St.; 212-334-3470

[snausages2000]

Oh, and I'm hoping this hasn't changed since I was last there, but they have the most reasonably priced oysters I've found in the city in an upscale restaurant. $1.25-$1.50 each.

Seems lots of places are comfortable charging $3.00+ per oyster.

[mjr_inthegardens]

Their menu is now online on menupages.

I have seen this restaurant sputtering and starting to open forever as I work in the area and it is good to see them finally getting on with it.

Their entree prices are pretty steep so I don't think I will be dining there just yet however.

-mjr

[snausages2000]

Their menu is now online on menupages.

Their entree prices are pretty steep so I don't think I will be dining there just yet however.

-mjr

←

Yeah, it's a bit steep for me as well - if it was cheaper I'd be there more often. Then again, the food compares pretty favorably with restaurants in its price range, such as Babbo, so I don't begrudge them for my difficulty with the tab (I begrudge my boss).

[mjr_inthegardens]

Their menu is now online on menupages.

Their entree prices are pretty steep so I don't think I will be dining there just yet however.

-mjr

←

Yeah, it's a bit steep for me as well - if it was cheaper I'd be there more often. Then again, the food compares pretty favorably with restaurants in its price range, such as Babbo, so I don't begrudge them for my difficulty with the tab (I begrudge my boss).

←

I don't see why I couldn't stop in for a glass of wine and some oysters one night however.

-MJR

[snausages2000]

My two favorite dishes:

Veal Cheeks (sort of a stew)

Whole Anchovies served on Bread with a poached egg on top.

←

Oops, I meant to say whole SARDINES.

No anchovies.

[SobaAddict70]

Della Rovere exhibits enough skill and exerts enough charm to stand out in its sizable crowd. That said, it also displays a sloppiness that extends well beyond several glaring misspellings (bronzino?) on the written menu.

Dishes were repeatedly placed in front of the wrong people, and the gap of time between when we finished our entrees and when we were asked about dessert could almost have accommodated a showing of "The Aviator."

Mr. Bellissimo puts fried sweetbreads and a sausage ragu over pappardelle and browned butter and crumbled bits of almond-flavored biscotti over butternut squash cappelletti.

Della Rovere (Frank Bruni)

Chefs Roberto and Monica Bellissimo, both formerly of Le Cirque 2000, man the helm at Della Rovere, deep in the heart of TriBeCa.

Soba

[robb]

Greetings,

I ate there last night. I had made the reservation after seeing the NYT review. There were 4 of us and, thus, we were able to sample a number of dishes. With the exception of service, which was fine on this night, our observations were similar to Frank Bruni's. The wine by the glass list is impressive and memorable. The beet salad is superb. The osso bucco tortellini is very good while the fish was fine but not worth the price. The cheese list was pedestrian for NYC but many of the desserts were interesting.

Cost for 4 of us: $375 before tip. (Note: we had wine by the glass so we could drink several - we all had 2 glasses plus dessert wine. This was close to half our bill.)

Overall Impression: Good. No fireworks but very solid food and a pleasant atmosphere. I'd go back.

[oakapple]

I'll echo endorsements for the Osso Buco Tortellini, and also the Potato Gnocchi with Braised Rabbit, both of which I tried on Thursday night. The restaurant was not at all crowded at 6:00pm, and it was a fine venue for a quiet business dinner.