Morandi - the Italian Pastis

I went to dinner with RRR and a few of her co-workers. Since I didn't want to freak out the old school finance dudes, I refrained from snapping photos throughout the meal, but that didn't prevent me from telling you all about Morandi.

Morandi is the latest venture from Keith McNally aka the dude behind Pastis, Schiller's Liquor Bar, Balthazar, Lucky Strike and Pravda; all perennial New York favorites. Morandi is his venture into Italian fare with some of the same approaches that have served him well in his highly successful restaurants. The decor is familiar, the menu layout reminiscent and the staff seems to have gone through the same training session. Hey, if it's not broke....

Anyway, onto the food! RRR and I started by sharing an appetizer of grilled radicchio and smoked mozzarella. The portion was a bit small (I would have preferred some more radicchio) but the cheese was quite lovely, with a nice charred layer on the outside and oozy smoky gooey goodness on the inside with just the right touch of seasoning.

I followed this up with pappardelle con cinghiale; fresh flat pasta with boar ragu. It was a bit of a risk since in the past, this dish (outside of Tuscany) can go very, very wrong. At Morandi, it went very, very right. With just the perfect portion, I happily finished every last bit of the tender slow-cooked boar and sopped up as much of the well-layered tomato sauce as I could using the fresh pasta as my vehicle. And with a bit of grated cheese to add another layer of flavors and texture to the dish it was quite lovely!

My meal was complete with a plate of mini-cannoli, a dessert I can never resist. The shell of the pastry was thinner than expected, closer to the texture of a sugar cone than a traditional cannoli. The filling was fresh and lemony with a nice strong flavor of pistachio. A load of powdered sugar and plenty of tiny chocolate chips gave the presentation a nice touch while adding to the flavor of the dessert.

I think the old school folk might have been a bit disappointed in the portion size and the rustic slant of the menu, however, if you are looking for a casual, reasonably priced Italian restaurant in the very crowded restaurant row of Seventh Ave in the West Village you really can't go wrong at Morandi.