From Consistent to Inconsistent

It was bound to happen; especially after my glowing review of Paprika. I had raved about the restaurant's ability to remain consistent with both food and service yet on Monday night, I had quite the opposite dining experience at Via Emilia, a restaurant that had previously received a glowing review from Ms. Foodie.

I met up with Bomber and two of her friends, who had already ordered a pitcher of sangria and some appetizers by the time I arrived. The tomato and mozzarella was quite good; with roasted tomatoes adding a bit of depth to the dish and loads of nutty olive oil to finish. The rest of the meal unfortunately went downhill.

I asked the waiter for a wine list; then had to literally wave him down ten minutes later to order a bottle of wine. It was almost as if he was afraid to approach the table - and we were being pretty mellow so not sure why he was so intimidated.

Bomber and I decided to share a pasta course; which didn't arrive until all the other entrees were on the table. This was after waiting for almost half an hour for our meal which is something I am not prone to find troubling except at no point did the waiter (or anyone for that matter) bother to offer us more bread, water or refill our wine glasses. And speaking of wine, not only did he almost lose the cork in the bottle (hey it happens) but poured out the wine as if it was a jug of Welch's grape juice! I was lucky I wasn't wearing it.

But back to the food - my pork chop was dry and tired and if it wasn't for the river of olive oil I used to sop up some moisture in the meat; it would have been very tough to chew. Our pasta course didn't fare much better; the pasta was extremely salty and such a departure from the wonderful squid ink pasta I had a few days before at Paprika.

It's been a long time since I've had such a poorly executed meal and what makes it even more surprising is that it was at a restaurant I've frequented many times in the past and have recommended to many of my friends.

I'd like to give Via Emilia another shot at some point, but with the competition so fierce in the New York City dining scene; it's tough to give a place another chance.

Paprika: an Italian gem in the East Village

The Jeweled Hornet came by on Saturday and after a delicious bottle of Tempranillo and some Manchego cheese we decided to "leave" Spain and head to Paprika, a lovely East Village neighborhood restaurant, specializing in Northern Italian cuisine.

It's been quite some time since I've been to Paprika and I'm always curious to see if a restaurant that I've enjoyed in the past remains consistent. In this case it certainly does!

We ordered a bottle of Sangiovese and hung out for only a short time at the narrow bar before we were seated. One of the great things about Paprika is the prices. It is rare to find an entree over twenty bucks and wines by the bottle are easy on the wallet too. In addition to the well-balanced menu they also offer a wide choice of specials to make your selection that much more difficult.

The first bottle of wine was starting to kick in and I had carbs-on-the-brain so I went with one of the many intriguing pastas. Jeweled was in the frame of mind and we decided to start our meal by sharing an arugula salad with goat cheese, pears, walnuts and balsamic. This classic combination didn't disappoint and the peppery arugula was super-fresh and the goat cheese was creamy and light.

Jeweled chose the Sardinian pasta with sweet sausage, broccoli rabe and tomato for her main course. The sausage was sweet, moist and flavorful and stood up to the juicy fresh tomato sauce.

I went with one of the night's many specials; a squid ink linguine with shrimp. My dish came to the table piping hot (you can see some of the steam in the photo) and the shrimp was perfectly cooked; not too chewy, not too firm. The tomato sauce was spicy and you could certainly taste the salty sea in the freshness of the pasta.

Paprika plays it safe when it comes to its dessert menu. It offers the typical panna cotta, sorbet, and tiramisu to name a few. The Jeweled Hornet and I were too full to partake and I cannot remember how they were on previous visits so I'll leave that one for the next visit.