Supper

I apologize for the lack of pictures in this post, but the restaurant was very dimly lit and all of my pictures came out fuzzy and blurry. You're just going to have to use your imagination, aren't you?!?! So, Nikki, Alex and I went to Supper in the East Village Monday night. The restaurant felt very familiar, even though I'd never been there. The ambiance and decor reminded me of Lil' Frankies, the little hard to spot pizza place on 1st Ave and 2nd Street. Come to find out, Frank, Lil' Frankies and Supper are all owned by the same (going out on a limb here, assuming he's Italian) dude. The decor of both Lil' Frankies and Supper is very clean and simple - smooth wooden floor boards, dark wooden tables and chairs, minimally decorated white walls and dim lighting. We arrived around 7:30 and the place was about half full. We got one half of a curved six-person table in the back room, past the open kitchen. The waiter presented us with an amuses-bouche of spicy and tangy cannellini beans mixed with red pepper flakes, parsley, lemon juice and olive oil. The chewy sourdough bread that came with the beans was the perfect receptacle for sopping up the leftover oil in the bowl.

Nikki and I both ordered and Priest Stranglers with marinara sauce and fresh ricotta cheese. Priest stranglers, also known as strozzapreti, got its name from a popular legend about a priest who choked and died after eating the pasta too quickly, because it was so delicious. The priest stranglers looked like stretched out rigatoni - thin and hollow tube-shaped pasta, but with the texture and taste more closely related to gnocchi - chewy and tender, with an almost creamy consistency. I've never had this type of pasta before, but it was excellent! Oh and I haven't even talked about the sauce. The marinara sauce was perfect - sweet and salty at the same time with a little hint of tang behind the flavors. The fresh ricotta cheese served on top of the pasta and sauce was also pretty much perfect - adding another level of creaminess to the dish. I was literally still scraping the sauce off the sides of my plate as the waiter was clearing our dishes off the table.

Nikki also ordered a side of french cut green beans in garlic sauce, which was had a beautiful light green color that made me think of spring....OH SO FAR AWAY. Sigh. Alex ordered the half roast chicken with mashed potatoes. I didn't try the chicken, but the mashed potatoes were dense and rich. Oh yeah, and we got dessert! We ordered the hazelnut panna cotta, which came surrounded by apple slices, strawberries and the biggest raspberries I've ever seen. We were about to tuck in to our dessert, but oh, it wasn't complete yet. A runner came to our table with a brass pot of bubbling chocolate sauce, which he proceeded to pour all over our lovely dessert. The panna cotta was really thick and gooey, it was actually hard separating a spoonful from the rest of the dessert. A few drizzles of chocolate sauce might have been nice, but our plate was drenched in the stuff and it was just a bit too much for me.

All in all, it felt like a very decadent dinner, even though it really wasn't. The atmosphere is very laid back and casual, the prices are reasonable. This would be a great place to go either with a group of friends or one on one date-style. I definitely plan on making a trip back.