All Columns in Alphabetical Order


Sunday, January 16, 2011

Terrific Takeout: Italianissimo!

Saying Italianissimo has great takeout is like saying Wall Street has great bankers, Madison Avenue has great shopping, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art has great paintings.  Italianissmo has OUTSTANDING takeout.  For those of you that read Whom You Know closely, you know Peachy Deegan was in love with the chicken parm at Boston College, which had amazing food in general and in discussion with those that went to other schools, we've realized how lucky we were.  Every now and then Peachy gets an incredible chicken parm urge and Italianissimo makes the best chicken parmesean we've seen in a long time.  They don't even have it on the menu but they made it just for Peachy!  We love restaurants that behave like restaurants, and they totally exceeded our expectations.

Most places make ordinary chicken parmesean, joined by hearty marinara and some kind of starchy boring pasta.  Not here. This was extraordinary.  Even the cute little bone was left in it off to the side for atmosphere.  It was perfectly breaded with mozzarella that just danced on the top of it with a lovely variety of spices.  Peachy did not tell them that green beans are among her favorite vegetables and she adores garlic; next to the chicken parmesean were green beans sauteed in garlic and gorgeous mashed potatoes shaped like roses.  Maybe this place does read Whom You Know...Yes, they must have been paying attention to her last name-Irish people like potatoes....although the truth is more people guess she's Italian looking at her, which she isn't.


The Insalata Mista was fresh with a zesty vinaigrette on the side, exactly as we asked for it.  Such high quality greens are not found everywhere.
Julio Alvarez, along with his cousin the chef, both hail from Naples.  We can't wait to tell you more about Italianissimo soon!  The perfect finish was the Tiramisu:


Italianissimo Ristorante

307 EAST 84TH STREET (84th & 1st)
(212) 628-8603



http://italianissimonyc.net/

Back to TOP