Cozy up at Perbacco

Perbacco(www.perbacconyc.com ) Is an adorable, cozy romantic Italian restaurant tucked away in the East Village. The brick walls are lit by soft candles and there is light music playing in the background making this restaurant great for any occasion. There are a few long tables in the middle of the restaurant, so it would be great for groups too. Our waiter was very helpful with selecting a wine from the impressive wine list. We went with a Gavi (always works for us).

We toasted to the New Year and then our cheese plate arrived. It was beautiful (see picture below), an 18 month aged parmigiano reggiano, sweet gorgonzola, d.o.p, birro valtellina and castelmagno. Each cheese was paired to perfection with a honey, mustard, pepper spread and celery spread. The salad was very refreshing, the touch of honey really completed it. Then the meatballs arrived… they were delectable, absolutely cooked to perfection they melted in your mouth. Definitely one of the best meatballs we have had yet.



For our main course we had the Risotto al Tartufo and the seared tuna. There were so many truffles on top of and mixed in to the risotto it was a wonderful delicious surprise. The tuna was sliced into thin curls resting on top of a bed of chopped endive. It was cooked to perfection and paired beautifully with the endive.

Since it was early we fired we would have another bottle of wine with our dessert (good move!), the Hamburger Di Cioccolata (homemade chocolate slider) was not only the most adorable delicious dessert, and it was perfectly disguised! It literally looked like a burger and fries! The “bun” was angel food cake; the “lettuce/onions/tomato” was made up of caramelized apples with a light caramel sauce and the “meat” was a thick chocolate mousse. Next to this mini sweet slider were “fries and ketchup”. The “fries” were thinly sliced pears and the “ketchup” was a warm raspberry sauce, truly a beautiful presentation.



Whether you are looking for a quite cozy date night, dinner with your friends or just authentic excellent Italian food, head to Perbacco, you won’t be disappointed.

Wine30, Let me warn you, this is a bit aggressive…..

Wine30 (www.wine30nyc.com/)When you walk into Wine30, you want to like it. It is a cute (tiny) wine bar in Murray Hill with nice dim lighting and exposed brick walls. Unfortunately that is the most positive thing I am able to say about Wine30… When we arrived all tables were reserved, so we sat at the bar… this wasn’t terrible because the owner was the person behind the bar (one would assume good service would follow) (FYI MAN IN THE PIC= HORRIBLE OWNER!). Wine came right away, and then the wait began. We ordered appetizers and our main meal right away, as well as a cheese to start since we were starving……

We waited 30 minutes until the waitress came over and asked if we had received our order, obviously we hadn’t (either she would have served it to us or seen us eating it)… When the bar tender heard us, he grabbed the first plate he saw and gave it to us… it wasn’t what we ordered- it was someone else’s (it was a selection of dips, which we tried out of pure starvation, and it wasn’t great), we explained that they weren’t ours and they were quickly/ angrily taken away. We finally received 6 pieces of "bruschetta", which were really just small burnt pieces of toast with little toppings. It was not very good, and there were 3 of us so it was a bit annoying to split. The cheese came on a tiny plate with a jam that didn’t pair well with it and we had to ask for bread since we weren’t planning on eating the brie with our fingers (very disappointing!) Then waiting another 20 mins for our main course to arrive. The plates were too small; the chicken was not warm- and considering it took so long you would think it would be hot! Mediocre service is an understatement.. No one asked how our food was, the bar tender was so focused on the regulars; if he wasn’t staring at us awkwardly, he was yelling over us to talk to the people behind us! A waiter dropped a bunch of plates (which had some splatter) and didn’t say a word, didn’t even check.

Finally when the bar tender/owner asked how our meal was we explained that it wasn’t great, that we waited forever and the food was mediocre, he then proceeded to YELL at us for 10 minutes! Have you ever heard of a restaurateur yelling at 3 small girls? He then got angry, yelling got louder, went over to the computer to print out our order to show us the “time issue” (which he was wrong about and wouldn’t admit to), proceeded to ask us what amount of time we expected brachetta to take.. The whole experience was unreal. The arguing continued, and then the bill arrived. We placed our credit cards in to split the bill and he then threw the credit cards back at us saying “here, I hope you’re happy, THANK YOU LADIES!” The behavior was absolutely shocking! DO NOT GO TO WINE30- it is a horrible small place with bad food and terrible service!

Very disappointing experience

Casuella

This small wine bar off the beaten path (well, off our beaten path, it’s in Hell’s Kitchen)Casuella (http://www.casellula.com/) was a wonderful surprise. They do not take reservations, so get there early. There are about 10-15 small tables, a long white marble bar and two large display cases holding their extensive collection of delicious cheeses and meats. The cheese plate was fantastic! Each cheese came paired with its own paste/fruit/snack accompaniments and the pairings were perfect. Like a party in your mouth, you can’t stop eating and you leave wanting to try more of Casuella’s pairing combinations. I think we stuffed ourselves with cheese so instead of trying one of the main dishes or salads we went straight to dessert- the warm pecan sticky bun…… this is where the place took a bit of a turn as the dessert was so sweet and so sticky it wasn’t good. Amazing cheese selection/pairing, but if you are craving something sweet after the meal, head somewhere else.