Torrisi Italian Specialties

It sounds like a scenario out of a magazine quiz: “Are You Really a New Yorker?” Would you be willing to wait in line in the bitter cold and pay $50 per person for a candlelit meal in… a deli? The answer should be yes, not because everybody else is doing it, but because the re-envisioned Little Italy fare at Torrisi Italian Specialties is too good to be a passing fad.

Deli by day and restaurant by night, Torrisi doesn’t take reservations, but they manage the seating process gracefully. The tiny restaurant with white tin ceilings, subway tile and exposed brick walls shuts down the meat counter in the late afternoon for three seatings each night, at 6, 7:30, and 9pm. Arrive at 5:30 to put your name in with the hostess for a 6pm slot, then grab a drink nearby and return at 5 minutes to the hour. For 7:30 or 9pm, the earlier one person can get there, the better, and the entire party must be present to be seated.

Once you’re in the door, the rest is easy. The prix fixe menu ($50) changes nightly, and the only decision to be made is the choice of main course. Our only complaint about the pricing was the wine list, since the lowest-priced bottle is $50. Better to get the wine tasting for $25 per person and try a different wine with each of the four courses.

On a recent weeknight, a house specialty of deliciously cheesy and creamy homemade mozzarella arrived warm, sprinkled with fleur de sel and basted with extra virgin olive oil. Such a stripped-down dish at the outset makes a statement with excellent quality ingredients, simply prepared.

The clever “pomme & pomme” turned out to be a crispy, rich slice of hash browns (pommes de terre) topped with stewed, sweet chunks of apple.

Called “blackened mackerel,” this sushi-quality mackerel must have been briefly torched to get it blackened on the outside but still pink within. It tasted almost like smoked eel and came topped with pickled eggplant in a Japanese twist on escabeche.

Continuing with the pickling theme, corned lamb’s tongue came draped with pickled vegetables sliced razor thin. The brined meat sounded more intimidating than it tasted, not unlike corned beef. Already thinking of substitutions you would make for this one? Fuggedaboutit: Torrisi doesn’t deal in that kind of New York silliness. Eat it or leave it.

The calamari in that night’s pasta appetizer was so tender as to be nearly indistinguishable from the shells, bound together by a spicy, slightly smoky tomato sauce. They’re not reinventing the wheel but bringing Italian-American food up to a whole new level via quality ingredients and cutting-edge technique.

Take the “Devil’s Chicken,” which had us willing to sell our souls. Impossibly juicy, tender and just plain chicken-y within, it must have been cooked sous vide before taking a turn on the grill. The heat – both temperature and spice-wise – complemented the meat without overwhelming it, resulting in a very elevated preparation for your average boneless, skinless chicken breast.

Marie Fromage detected a popcorn-y note in the skate francese, which may have been dredged in cornstarch before frying. But the true key to this light, delicious, buttery taste was a mystery that will probably remain locked up with the molecular gastronomy tools in the kitchen.

The seemingly ordinary Italian cookies were light as air, crisp and delicately sweet, the rainbow cookies bound together with almond paste, the butter cookies decadently buttery and dolloped with lush chocolate and flakes of fleur de sel, as if a master pastry chef were moonlighting at your neighborhood bakery.

For better or for worse, the fare at Torrisi Italian Specialties is not something an amateur chef could whip up at home – and I don’t care who your nonna was. A tribute to the old red sauce joints of Little Italy just as the Italian population there has nearly vanished, this boutique restaurant brings traditional Italian-American food to a whole new level of sophistication.

Torrisi Italian Specialties
250 Mulberry Street at Prince Street
New York, NY
212-965-0955
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