I can’t wait to return to Borgo (124 E. 27th Street). Nor will you visit the best new Italian restaurants for adults in many Neapolitan, Abruzzi or Roman moonshine after your first meal.
Its accessible, region-roaming menu received high marks in every category on all but one of the fourteen dishes I had. It offers a richly seasoned, carefully crafted kaleidoscope of familiar Italian pleasures made new.
From the Diner under the Williamsburg Bridge to Roman’s in Fort Greene, owner Andrew Tarlow was a driving force behind Brooklyn’s culinary revolution. I also miss his long-running Renard at the Wythe Hotel.
But the 140-seat Borgo, their first foray into Manhattan and their first new location anywhere in ten years, is more evolved in both kitchen consistency and comfort level — though it’s nearly as noisy, despite the white tablecloths and appropriately spaced tables. Is.
Tarlow boldly chose the site of the much-loved I Truly, which attracted crowds for nearly thirty years before the pandemic hit in 2022.
Although they replaced the bones of the I Truly with finely crafted new materials, it looks a lot like its predecessor, down to the wood-burning oven, which only got a fresh paint job.
The layout is familiar: two large dining rooms with arched ceilings, the original I Trulli bar at the front and a colorfully lit back garden. My favorite places to sit are the booths facing the bustling open kitchen and the stove in the adjacent room, where the noise is relatively low.
Chef Jordan Frossolone, a veteran of Momofuku Empire and Marco Canora’s Hearth, takes the rustic spirit of I Truly and significantly improves upon it. House focaccia is a crisp, tomato-free spin on the Ligurian original with robiola and fontina cheeses hidden between thin sheets of dough. Enjoy it in moderation otherwise you will get so full that you will not be able to continue.
The anchovies from Italy and Spain, spine-free and served with spicy pink neonata butter, are worth a look alone. Candy-like delicata squash shells are crunchy, sprinkled with pecorino cheese, drizzled with honey and mixed with chili.
Among the pastas ($29 to $34), the most thrilling is the timballo d’ancelletti, a drum-shaped, pie-like affair filled with braised beef cheeks and ricotta salata.
Depending on which history you believe, it originated in either Abruzzo or Palermo, Sicily. Frosolone’s version is said to be inspired by the dish Stanley Tucci cooked in “The Big Night”. But it’s so good I don’t care if it came from Mars.
Juicy-rich chicken roasted in a wood-fired oven; This is a rare specimen where the white meat turns out to be as moist and juicy as the dark one.
But my No. 1 choice is the homemade pork sausage, over an inch thick, cooked with fennel and peppers and served with Umbrian lentils. It looks thick enough to use as a weapon but under the covers, it’s almost as light on the tongue as French boudin blanc – a miraculous blend of flavor and texture. At $29, it’s also the cheapest main course, with the braised veal shank and whole branzino (both $64) the most expensive.
For dessert, don’t miss the pistachio affogato. If you worry that coffee will keep you up at night, the Pecorino Fiorello – a mild sheep’s cheese served with sunflower honey – will put you to sleep like a baby, and keep you coming back for more. .
