Sfoglia

[JohnL]

My wife and I visit Nantucket every year. On an Island with many fine restaurants

our favorite over the past several years has been "Sfoglia"

the food and experience is very rustic Italian --truly great pasta and country cooking.

A favorite dish of ours is Sweet sausages with stone fruits.

Interesting affordable wines from all over italy.

Amazingly good bread and deserts.

Owners Ron and Colleen Suhanofsky are opening Sfoglia in NYC on February 25th.

Lexington Ave and 92nd Street

Both are CIA grads--Ron has cooked here at River cafe and Park Avenue Cafe and Il Buco

and in Boston at Alloro and Galleria Italiano as well as extensive experience in Italy.

Colleen handles baking and deserts--she has experience at Biba in Boston and Italy as well as

Gramercy Tavern.

I have had some incredible deserts at Sfoglia and the bread is as good as it gets.

Anyway--I am sounding like a publicist here-really I am just a big fan--and hope that they do as well here in NYC--they are nice people.

In the end the proof will be in the pudding (or in this case the pasta).

[Nina C.]

I ate at Sfoglia last night before the Ruth Reichl panel discussion at the 92nd St. Y (conveniently across the street).

It was a lovely evening. Not quite a destination restaurant (which, since I live in Bklyn, would be a trek) but better than a good neighborhood spot.

Bread wiht a beautifully flaky crust and some spicy meaty olives were set on the table - a communal big farmhouse table. I started with a watermelon, heirloom tomato, feta, and pesto salad which was fresh and straightforward.

One friend had the walnut, pecorino, and garlic salad, which also had sauteed green beans in it. The pecorino wasn't quite as aged as I would have liked but it a good combination that I'll have to experiment with at home. The other friend I went with got the caponata which came with crunchy polenta crackers.

The other people at our communal table got the formaggi with house made jam and it looked so good - a big pile of extremely thin shaved cheese was what I particularly noticed, but there were several other selections as well. I think I'll have to order that next time I go.

Our mains were

a) spaghetti, crema di melanzane, ricotta salata, peperoncini The pasta was cooked beautiful, and definitely delicious to eat. I finished every biteful in spite of myself. My only complaint was that given the menu description I was expecting some more of the smoky flavor of eggplant, and the bite of peperoncini to come through - instead there was smooth creamy comfort food. Still good, just not what I was expecting.

b)pasta, san marzano, garlic, basil. A simple dish, well executed.

c)spinach gnudi, e.v., chopped zucchini blossoms This was the standout dish of the evening. creamy little dumplings that had lots of garlic in them. By the time I tried my friend's dish she had eaten all the zucchini blossoms so I'm not sure what they added.

The restaurant also offers half-portions of the pasta, which is great because it leaves room for dessert. We shared a sour cherry and peach pie which was a huge portion and included two scoops of amazing honey ice cream. I liked the pie, but I loved the ice cream.

FYI- they're a BYOB which is great, but have an $8 corkage fee. And no, it's not a vegetarian restaurant! One of my friends is vegetarian, I don't eat much meat, and the other friend eats meat all the time, but must not have been in the mood last night.

http://www.sfogliarestaurant.com/nyc/index.html

Edited July 14, 2006 by Nina C. (log)

[ewindels]

Not quite a destination restaurant (which, since I live in Bklyn, would be a trek) but better than a good neighborhood spot.

A perfect description. If you're anywhere even remotely in the vicinity, make a point of hitting Sfoglia, but it's not someplace you need to go hugely out of your way for.

Between three of us we had:

The plate of mixed house-made salume, all spectacular; the clams, ditto; and the garganelli with pesto; ibid -- the pollo al mattone, which is the first time in years anywhere in this country that i've tasted chicken that actually really tastes like chicken, and how do they do that??; the parpadelle bolognese, sumptuous; and my suckling pig, pink and perfect and moist and succulent and redolent of rosemary, tho I've two caveats: only one teeny piece of skin, and it cost $28, which I thought was a little much. A bottle of San Giovese and a shared chocolate semifreddo were terrific. And that bread!!

Total was about $65 a person, with tax and tip.

[Sneakeater]

I have a BIG problem with their not serving wine.

[slkinsey]

I don't understand. What do you mean "their not serving wine?"

They certainly sell wine, as this wine list demonstrates.

[Sneakeater]

I guess they didn't do so when they opened (no license), as many of the early reviews made it a point to mention this.

Thanks for correcting me. That's great news. This will now conclusively answer the eternal "where do you eat after 92nd St. Y concerts?" question.

E.g. (just so you know I'm not crazy):

FYI- they're a BYOB which is great, but have an $8 corkage fee.

←

Edited August 25, 2006 by Sneakeater (log)

[Sneakeater]

Everybody else has got it just right. Sfloglia is a very good neighborhood place, but not worth a trip.

Good, rustic Italian food, well-thought-out and well-prepared. You're happy to find it there -- obviously, the place is perfect for before and after the Y -- but most neighborhoods now have an equivalent.

Started with a salad of pickled something-or-other (pumpkin? probably) with guanciale. A can't-miss dish that didn't -- but nowhere near Fatty Crab's celestial pickled watermelon with pork belly.

Then, a good pasta of spaghetti under a light tomato sauce with (I think) shreds of lobster, topped by a big ball of black truffle mush. Sort of a junior version of the excellent (albeit ridiculously priced) spaghetti with light tomato sauce and caviar served at Atelier Robuchon. Of course, not nearly as good. But good.

So far, we're veering just above OK.

The best dish was my secondo, a baked orata (in paper) rubbed with pancetta (you cannot get a dish without a pork component in New York today). This was extraordinary. The fish was perfect. I can't tell you whether or not the pancetta rub added anything, but this was one of the best renditions of this familiar dish I've had.

I don't remember anything about dessert -- which I have a feeling is a blessing.

Fairly interesting, but limited, wine selection.

You eat in so many places like this these days that it's hard to get excited about another one. For example, I'm not gonna make a special trip to Sfoglia when I can walk to Tempo or Porchetta (putting aside Al Di La and Franny's, which may be worth a trip). Nevertheless, this particular place is in a neighborhood that can use all the (very) good, fairly-priced eateries it can get, so I'm happy to see it. I don't think it deserved its initial hype, though (which I think sprang from its being an offshoot of a restaurant in a vacation town, where EVERYTHING tastes better).

Edited November 27, 2006 by Sneakeater (log)