Tableside Italian Cook Shoppe
| Cuisine | Italian |
|---|---|
| Price | $$$ (31-50) |
| Rating | 7/10 |
| Last Visit | June 30, 2019 |
| Location | New York: East Village |
General Notes
Tableside Italian Cook Shoppe (kind of a mouthful!) is a rustic, elevated Italian restaurant situated in East Village. The dishes they offer are very traditional in nature - relatively simple classics. Apparently the family running this restaurant has been operating Italian restaurants in New York for over 60 years. As a whole, the food was executed beautifully, particularly the appetizers we ordered. I would highly recommend giving this place a try if you're looking for simple, delicious, traditional Italian food.
Positives
> The appetizers were some of the best I've had. We ordered "octopus and the potato" and "grandma's lamb specialty". The octopus was one of the best I've had, and the lamb meatballs had such an amazing flavor. Simple classic dishes, but executed beautifully.
> Despite being a pretty popular restaurant, they seem to have a decent amount of availability and are able to accommodate larger parties. I made a reservation for Sunday 8pm for 6, literally an hour before the reservation, and there seemed to still be plenty of availability.
Negatives
> Comparably speaking, the pasta was not quite as good as I was expecting it to be. The pastas are apparently homemade, but they did not quite have the same explosion of flavors that the appetizers had. It's very possible that I ordered the wrong thing, since I went with one of the specials that they typically don't offer. Still solid pasta though.
Dishes Tasted
- ★★☆☆ Blue Crab Ravioli Special -- The ravioli itself was quite good; nice texture on the pasta, and the sauce was delicious. I found the celery-like flavor in the filling to be slightly overpowering, but otherwise I liked the crab filling. The shrimp was also badly overcooked.
- ★★★★ Grandma's Lamb Specialty -- Lamb meatballs in a fresh rosemary, lemon and white wine sauce with mushroom polenta crostini. My first time having lamb meatballs, and they were delicious! The sauce is incredible - great consistency and flavor, which pairs beautifully with the lamb. I almost forgot about the crispy polenta, which had an excellent texture and also worked well with the sauce.
- ★★★★ Octopus and the Potato -- Grilled Portuguese octopus served with potatoes, black gaeta and green castelvetrano olives, celery and red pepper flakes. The octopus was incredible. Amazing texture, very tender inside. I love the grilled flavor, and the sauce paired well with it. The other elements were not as noteworthy, but the octopus was amazing.
Blue Crab Ravioli Special
