Revisiting Novita

It's a sad day in the world of the Frugal Foodie. Today is Annie's good bye dinner before she departs to the South for warmer weather.

We are going to Novita, a place that I have been many a time, but honestly wish I could eat there everyday. Here is a post I wrote back in September and I hoping that it's as good as I remember:

Oh. My. Goodness. If you weren't dining with Leah and I on Monday night you missed out on an incredible meal. This was the personification of perfection. Seriously, perfection.

Nestled away off of Park Avenue, there is a little Italian eatery, Novita (pronounced no-vee-TA), which has quickly become my favorite Italian restaurant in NYC.

Everything from the service to the decor is straight up Italian. The wine selection is impeccable and the food is unbelievable.

We ordered a lot so bare with me, I'll go over my favorites, but I promise everything was delicious and thoughtful...


Appetizers

• Carpaccio di manzo con tartufi neri - Kobe beef carpaccio with arugula, parmigiano and black truffle
• Insalata di carciofini - Fresh baby artichoke salad with mushrooms and shavings of parmigiano
• 
  Squash blossoms - battered in cornmeal and deep fried stuff with ricotta cheese and served with prosciutto (pictured left)
• 
  Tuna wrapped in phyllo dough - flash fried and served with reduce balsamic vinegar and a spicy aoli sauce**

Entrees

• Branzino con carciofi - Pan-roasted sea bass with artichoke fricassee
• Salmone alia griglia - grilled salmon with crisp potato carpaccio, sweet onions and black olives**
• Vitello alla Milanese - Veal Milanese-style with rucola and tomato
• Spaghettini neri ai frutti di mare - Black spaghettini with mixed seafood in spicy tomato sauce
• Strozzapreti al pesto - Homemade strozapretti with pesto, pinenuts and shavings of parmigiano
• Orecchiette con salsiccia piccante - Orecchiette with spicy sausage, broccoli rape, and tomato sauce

Dessert

• Sorbetti misti - Homemade mango, strawberry, and lemon-mint sorbet
• Tortino di cioccolato - Individual warm chocolate tart with pistachio sauce and white chocolate gelato
• Tiramisù - Espresso soaked biscotti layered in mascarpone cream and cocoa**
• Cheesecake - Homemade with marscapone cheese, served with a raspberry sauce
  

As you can probably see we had a large party in tow (Leah's mom's friends were with us and I'll say this, dining would not have been complete without them, they are a RIOT! Soo much fun!!), anyways we ordered A LOT, but I will just talk about my favorites...

Tuna with phyllo. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Basically they take sushi grade tuna and wrap it in phyllo dough, then flash fry it so that the outside is warm and crispy and the inside is still rare. Served with a balsamic reduction and spicy aoli, this is the perfect way to start the meal off! I would order two, its just amazing.

For entrees my favorite was the salmon with potato carpacchio, onions and olives. My salmon was cooked perfectly and the skin was left on (in my opinion the most tasty part) and the olives and onions added the perfect hint of sweet and salty that I crave. It was light, delicious and served along side some sauteed vegetables.

Dessert. Ah, dessert. The final frontier. It's hard to mess up dessert, but it's also hard to make the perfect tiramisù and yet Novita in their infinite wisdom has perfected this after dinner treat. It's the perfect blend of the strong espresso taste and the light, fluffy marscapone cream. Definitely a must.

Overall, the dinner was great, the wine never stopped flowing, the company was to die for and I didn't walk out completely stuffed. It was just, perfection. Appetizers range from $10-15, entrees from $16-25 and desserts from $8-10.

A special thanks to Leah and her mom for this fabulous night!

Novita
102 E 22nd
New York, NY 10010
(212) 677 - 2222
http://www.novitanyc.com/