Before we set foot in the city, I compiled restaurant lists from several diverse sources, old foodie friends who have lived here forever, kids who are new to New York and my own eclectic (and selective) memory. And then every time I mentioned to someone that we would be living here for a month and were intent on eating out daily and well, I would get another name to throw on the list. One that I heard often was L’Artusi and we finally made it there last night. The menu was one of those where you want to eat five meals instead of one so you can try everything. We each started with a salad and mine was perfection- bitter greens with a lemony, salty anchovy dressing. Have I mentioned my obsession with salt? We then shared spaghetti alle vongole, which is a favorite that we eat whenever and wherever possible and have had many over the years. This version was excellent with balanced garlic and heat, lots of clams and a shower of crunchy breadcrumbs to finish. For a main course, my sweetbreads were good but not great- the winner was the venison chop special. And it looked gorgeous too- with two oversized chops, roasted grapes and rosemary. For dessert, Carl had some sort of hazelnut tart with ice cream- again inhaled so fast I didn’t really check it out. On the way out we ran into one of our kid’s friends, eating with a group of twenty-somethings. Clearly this is the place to be- not only did we get a delicious meal, but we got to be trendy too!
