parm. to cap off what i think is the end of my clincial trial i treated myself to lunch in the city with my friend, michael. if you haven’t been, go. it’s a throwback modernized. styled like a diner, you order old fashioned italian specialties ….the eggplant parmigian roll is like no eggplant i’ve ever had in a diner or an italian deli, for that matter.
10 thin thin slices of crispy fried eggplant interspersed with fresh basil, fresh mozzarella and homemade tomato sauce on a semolina roll. did i catch your interest yet? when it arrives, you contemplate whether to pick the whole thing up or to cut it in half, in hopes that you’ll be able to leave the table without getting tomato sauce on some part of your clothing.
i elected to cut it and picked it up with relish. perfect blend of old and new, it was served with the 3 sides that we’d chosen….chick peas, brussel sprouts and spicy broccoli rabe. of those, the chick peas were the best i think. served with an almost soft boiled egg, there was bits of cooked and uncooked egg with the chick peas. the brussels were good but standard and the broccoli rabe was delicious but nothing out of the ordinary. michael had the chicken parm.
both sandwiches had us in states of eating euporia. i topped it off with a glass of rose.
we shared a salad - just the basic one which was just as you would think it would be. basic.
the ice cream cake at the end is a classic italian combo - strawberry, chocolate & pistachio ice creams or, rather, as they reinvented it, gelato are smooched between chocolate cookies crumbs with whip cream that isn’t real whip cream but tastes perfect with the ice cream.
we had that with good strong coffee…a perfect meal.
what we didn’t like at the end, was the price tag. somehow $90 for lunch for 2 for diner food wasn’t quite what we expected but trust me, it won’t stop me from going back.
want to have the eggplant and the chickpeas again!
