Day 5: I-tally-an

Before I begin today's post, I am going to veer slightly off-topic to focus on my dear friend A. She is getting married in 42 days (and yes, she is having a korean all-out feast, which i CAN partake in, thank goodness) and as her bridesmaid, we were discussing how to best say farewell to her single days.

One of the coolest things she is doing for her wedding (sneak peek!) is including this song:



Oh yes.. I'm so excited to attend! Although I realized that I may need to lose about 2 ribs to fit into my dress: (this is after about 10-15 minutes of not breathing and puzzle solving to zip up the side)

Quick tip to all: if you are about to try on a dress for the first time, it's best not to consume a heavy italian meal (+ drinks) right beforehand.

Anyhow.. back to the food.


For dinner, A and I went to Firenze Osteria, a little tucked away place in NoHo. The *appeal* of this place was that 1) I looked it up on yelp.com under "Italian Restaurants" and it was the first that came up, and 2) Apparently Fabio from Top Chef is the main chef there (Unfortunately he was off yesterday night).

To start, we had a make-your-own mojito; I chose pomengranate
and she chose rasberry. We were pleasantly shocked (or maybe horrified) to see when those suckers came out. A full glass full of rum and other things. It was really good, but as we were both driving, we couldn't finish the entire thing in good faith before our meal finished.

To the left you'll see the foccacia-like bread that was brought out to the table.. I enjoy focaccia, but I think it would have been even better with less oil, more crisp, and some garlic rubbed on for good measure. To the right you'll see this tomato/olive sauce used for dipping. Slightly reminded me of Pizza Hut tomato sauce.

For Appetizers, we went with the fried calamari and zucchini. I won't even post a picture since it was very humdrum but who can't resist that yummy chewy substance! (Note on this: The best calamari I have had to date was in Istanbul. I got probably 10 pieces for 12 bucks, but best 3 minutes of my life as I inhaled them down.)

For our entrees, I ordered the Lobster Ravioli: Pieces of lobster with braised vegetables topped with rock shrimp. For her, the Ricotta and Spinach Dumplings (I can post her pictures since her dish is veggie as well)


Interesting thing about the dumplings was that they actually rolled the spinach and cheese into a giant ball... as opposed to it being the filling of a dumpling. My actual comment was that it almost looked like green mussels.

However, the meal was satisfying and (obviously as you saw me above) very filling - my favorite part of the meal (other than the conversation) :) was the ambiance.. definitely very classy and a great place for groups!

Tonight Stego and I will be going on a date night.. movie + dinner. It's almost the weekend!