Terrific Takeout: Italian Village Since 1970 Inaugural Review Our Coverage Sponsored by Fresh Origins
The best chicken parmigiana we've had in Manhattan all year!
You must also try the String Bean Salad in summer:
Anna Coniglio and Rosa Coniglio, family members of owner Joe Notaro
Fresh Origins is America’s leading producer of Microgreens and Edible Flowers. Combining the benefits of an ideal climate with a deep passion for quality and innovation, Fresh Origins products are sought after by the finest restaurants and top chefs. The farm is located in the picturesque rolling hills of San Diego County, where the near perfect weather allows for production and harvest all year. Fresh Origins produces almost 400 Microgreens, Petitegreens, Edible Flowers, Shoots, Tiny Veggies™ and related items. Many are not available anywhere else, with new introductions nearly every month. Fresh Origins products are on top of the finest cuisine in the world! Fresh Origins supplies distributors of specialty produce who serve fine dining restaurants and resorts nationwide. There are also a few online sources of their products available to private chefs and home cooks. Read our first Culinary Queen interview with Kelly Sasuga:
For more information about Fresh Origins, visit their website at
It's not who you know, it's Whom You Know and it's not too often we find a place new to us that has been thriving in Manhattan for 4.5 decades. That's right-46 years under the original owner, Joe Notaro. We are pleased to continue our coverage of Italian cuisine...if you are an avid reader, you know the Italian restaurant owners (both Italian from Italy and Italian American) are killing everyone else in coverage, constantly outperforming other cuisines in quality and quantity of times posted. Peachy's not Italian but as you know the Italian Trade Commission targeted her years ago and it looks like it worked. This is our first visit to Italian Village, a quiet unassuming uber-casual below-the-radar venue on the Upper East side and though we directly spoke to Joe Notaro prior to our visit, we did not actually meet him this time and his niece, Rosa, totally stepped up to the plate, lucky Joe! Rosa did everything right from the opening garden salad, complete with tomato, cucumber, green olives, red peppers, lettuce and red onion. The salad was fresh and exactly what we were looking for. Italian Village is classic Italian American and it is a neighborhood favorite, evidenced by its amazing longevity. It should not have taken us so long to discover it but you should know that the restaurant part is not visible from the street: it is set back.
Italian Village has a commendable salad selection and we chose the String Bean salad because Peachy both loves green beans and also it was different from a lot of other salads in general. Though the green beans were sublime, it was the potatoes that wowed us the most in this dish with their laudable flavor. Everything is in intelligent bite-sized pieces and tomato, onions and place olives come to this party which is appropriately dressed in oil and vinegar lightly. That is right, you read that correctly: we liked this salad dressing. Ms. Picky does not like too many of those.
Please meet the stuffed mushrooms, an appetizer of distinction. They boast seasoned breadcrumbs.
Drumroll please.
We cannot remember the last time we had Chicken Parmigiana this excellent! Peachy has been obsessed with this dish since she had it so often at Lower (Boston College dining hall) and always is looking for great incarnations in Manhattan because the trip to Chestnut Hill for a game and dinner is too far usually. Italian Village's Chicken Parm is properly pounded to a ideal thinness and enveloped in the most delicious tomato sauce and smothered in mozzarella; it totally silenced Peachy. Every bite was amazingly delicious and this is the first item of this whole dinner that was consumed in entirety. We absolutely loved it and cannot wait to eat it again. This was our carnivorous entree.
The menu at Italian Village has a lot of depth. Under seafood, for our entree we chose the Shrimp Scampi. Five lovely shrimp arrive in style with garlic, pimento, olives and lemon.
Another total winner of the evening was the side of spinach, spectacularly sauteed with garlic and evoo. Eat those green vegetables! But you may balance it out with pasta:
We are vodka connoisseurs, graduates of the school of Professor Ferri, and when given the opportunity to combine it with pasta, we jump on it. Penne with vodka sauce absolutely hits the spot at Italian Village, and the sauce has a nice tanginess to it while the pasta is perfectly al dente. Obviously, everything in life is better with cheese:
The all-beef meatballs at Italian Village are a generous size, and delicious. You'll turn around and look for the Lady and the Tramp while you enjoy them swimming in Capellini, ultimately resulting in a Phelps gold for your stomach.
Italian Village is Terrific Takeout and we look forward to seeing what they do next!
