Saturday, January 10, 2009

Convivio (formerly L'Impero)

We received a gift certificate for Christmas to Convivio, the Tudor City restaurant that just got 3 stars from Frank Bruni. Wanted to give the full report as several family members had been there when it was l'Impero.

They still offer the $59 4 course dinner. This was our menu:

Antipasta:
Jessica - Warm Seafood salad with olive oil and lemon (excellent/ very fresh)
Ed - Chicken liver crostini with marsala onions ( very rich/ large portion/awesome)

Primi:
Jessica - Baked cavatelli with tomato braised goat (delicous, I'm not "kid"ding!!!)
Ed - Fusilli with Neopolitan pork ragu, cachaocavalli fonduta (both pastaswere superb. Handmade. each sauce rich from the meat that was cooked in it)

Secondi:
Jessica: Seared Octopus with cauliflower, caperberries, currant, golden raisins and spicy pickled peppers. (an intense dish. maybe better suited as an app. very enjoyable)
Ed: Lamb chops with salsa verde, escarole and beans (perfectly cooked/flavorful

Dessert: Apple crostata

Only negatives were very tight seating, our neighbors were obnoxious and were abusive to the staff, and I spilled neopolitan pork ragu on a brand new shirt I got for christmas.

A very enjoyable experience, though I think we both agree we liked our 2 dinners (one w John and Tim) much better when it was L'Impero

www.convivionyc.com

1 comment:

John said...

Nice, balanced ordering. Were either of you ever in the business?

As you might have guessed, I don't like tight seating either. I might put up with it for one of those pastas though.