milk roasted pork loin is sleeper dish on menu
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Excellent menu. I’d have added a second meat dish, but probably wiser not to.
The veal tongue is a nice light starter
bru… lamb sausage, bru
Great report @Chowseeker1999.
Just reading this thread makes want to take my omegas.
The duck looks wonderful, but @PorkyBelly’s pre-glazing photo and both your comments make me want to to try it unadorned.
Remedy for the pancetta / lardo - smear it on crostini like butter? If it was home it would get used to sauté aromatics or melted into a sauce for flavor, but I digress…
I have question: is it wrong to use your powers of persuasion to get your dinner companions to order everything you want so you can try it? 
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going back next weekend and she’ll be out of keto. jazzed
(are we still saying jazzed? am old)
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Oh man. We were almost too sauced by the time reservations started because we started at AOC with cocktails then walked over to the amazing Bibo Ergo Sum which we didn’t know existed. Sat down and turns out it’s their 1st anniversary and they have 5 crazy cocktails from 5-8$… which is a 1/3 of the cost… trouble… sat next to a very food blogger dude and friend and got to food chatting… then there was still time so we stopped at Marvin for some great Italian wines…
So we walked in to Chi Spacca already sideways and a bottle of 2009 merlot in the bag with intention of taking advantage of their buy one bring one policy. Grabbed a bottle of the same sicilian we just had at Marvin (SP68). This was the first time we didn’t finish our wine at a restaurant in the US. Food was amazing again. Sausages are off for now but the lamb neck that replaced it was fantastic. Didn’t get any of the large format cuts since it was just the two of us and she’s always an appetizers obsessive.
She lost her mind over the Focaccia. Her first time. I’m not even kidding, I think this is the best baked good item in the city.
rabbit terrine - wonderful
foie and sweetbread pate - wonderful
roasted and sauteed… some sort of cute tiny baby eggplants? insanity… never heard of this… and we (armos)eat a lot of eggplants
the lambs neck hitting all the right notes.
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Nice ordering.
SP68 is one to keep an eye out for. Second label of Arianna Occhipinti.
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Impressive statistic!
Sounds like a perfect evening.
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They’re named after a Monty Python routine.
John Stuart Mill, of his own free will,
On half a pint of shandy was particularly ill.
Plato, they say, could stick it away,
Half a crate of whiskey every day.
Aristotle, Aristotle was a bugger for the bottle.
Hobbes was fond of his dram.
And Rene Descartes was a drunken fart,
“I drink, therefore I am.”
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I’ll be a contrarian here and say that the focaccia, while really good, is overrated. I was expecting magic, but what I got instead was some really good bread (I’m not sure I would even call it a focaccia).
Italians call a wide variety of things focaccia, and the Recco version is a serious outlier.
so fascinating… seriously. people’s tastes are so strange.
Welcome to my ‘don’t take food recs seriously’ list
xoxo
I thoroughly enjoyed my early V-day dinner here last night sitting at the counter and I can’t wait to return! Why don’t I see more love for this place on FTC?? There are so many other dishes I wanna try here…
Veal Tongue | oregano vinaigrette
The tongue is sous vided and sliced to order. They’re incredibly tender and wonderfully rich while the accompanying vinaigrette gives off fresh herbaceous notes and acidity which lifted the dish to the next level.
Toasted Pane Bianco | bistecca drippings
I’m generally skeptical of bread that I need to order off the menu since I like my bread free and this particular one has to clear a much higher bar since it’s $10 for one thick piece of toast with no refill. With that said, this bread/toast totally won me over! It’s incredibly airy and soft on the inside but got a good crust on the exterior after browning in olive oil. To top it off, the bistecca “drippings” are basically trimmings of the dry aged steak cooked down into bacon-like bits! Sure it’s greasy and heavy but it’s deeply savory!
Glorious
Baby Sea Scallop Ceviche | page mandarin, chive, basil
This is a much needed intermezzo to cleanse our palate post bistecca drippings. The bay scallops are sugar sweet and paired perfectly with the zesty citrus vinaigrette and supremed mandarin. On the other hand, basil is used sparingly to add fragrance and further enhances brightness. Finally, the chives added delicate allium notes in the background to keep the ceviche from straying too far from being savory city.
Beef & Bone Marrow Pie | beef cheek, cippolini, funghi, mashed potato
Mashed potato here is JR mashed potato lite. Delicious but very…very rich.
Money shot
The pie is ridiculously delicious but overwhelming rich and hearty. Cutting open the golden pie crust releases its delectable and saucy red wine reduction. Inside this controlled chaos, you’ll find chunks of braised tender beef cheeks, earthy shrooms that retained their springy texture, and sweet cippolini onion that perfectly cooked. This dish is a shame to be left unordered!
Seasonal Gelati & Sorbetti | chocolate gelato, peanut butter gelato, tangerine sorbet, almond pizzelles
- Chocolate - decadently rich and smooth
- Peanut Butter - the peanuts are probably toasted which gives out these incredibly creamy, savory, and nutty notes
- Tangerine - very refreshing citrusy flavors to offset the other two opulently flavored gelato, but a touch too icy
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Yes Chi Spacca is amazing (I too was late to jump on the bandwagon but I’m full onboard) and I think it gets plenty of love here on FTC.
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Love that pie. Had a great duck pithivier recently at republique. We need more meat pies.
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Interesting technique on the pie. We are it from the top without letting it collapse as long as we could. Hope you tried the bottom, we couldn’t believe how nicely it held up
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We’re animals. So naturally, we devoured the whole thing.
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