I had mixed feelings about the crab pasta. My first reaction was: the pasta is mush, nowhere near al dente. Literally falling apart. But the flavor was delicious, there was as much crab as there was noodles, and the dish did work with the soft noodles. I guess there is a place for soft noodles. But this dish wasn’t up my alley. Peony liked it more.
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Hrm… so it was mushy (mistake) or it was soft (potentially intentional)? If the flavor is delicious I wonder if it’s worth ordering and emphasizing to them to make it al dente?
How did you both like the oysters, waffle, and whichever drink you ordered?
Thanks for your notes!
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I’m sure the soft pasta was intentional. This restaurant was operating on too high a level for it to have been a mistake. I’m not sure telling them to make it al dente would go over well as the pasta was boiled way past what I would consider al dente (e.g., Funke or Gjelina level).
The pre-flavored oysters were good, with balanced acidity, but my preference is for accompaniments to be served on the side.
The combination of polenta waffle, butter, syrup, and clean-tasting caviar worked well.
We got two cocktails (one we ordered and one by mistake). The first was Chocolate Springwater. It’s basically chocolate infused light rum. I wasn’t a big fan. Just not enough complexity (no bitters etc.). The second was CalifoBrian. This was probably the same light rum as the first but with coconut and stracciatella blended in. It was tastier and more interesting, and we both liked it. I intended to try the BBQ Old Fashioned (which sounds way more suited to my tastes), but I’m trying to cut down on alcohol and two cocktails was our limit.
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Josh Skenes is a sweetheart.
Loved Leopardo. My dining companion said this is definitely his #1, while for me it’s #1B (just so different from Sei). Cocktails were good - had everyone’s Chocolate Springwater and the Califobrian which was reminiscent of a mango sticky rice minus the mango sticky rice haha. Tartare was eggcellent, both alone fresh and simple, and with the bone marrow+basil+machete bread which then made it so unctuously delish. Crab pasta changed from malfada to spaghettini. The pasta was buttery and good, but not amazing. There was just an OK amount of crab which I suppose is more aligned with the lower price point.
Onto the pizzas- hello satan was pretty good, my dining companion thought the accompanying giardiniera too sweet which is exactly why I thought it (the giardiniera) was amazing. I can see why it warrants its standalone menu placement. The re-marinara though… that was an absolute killer. Everything about it was perfection. Both so simple yet so complex with the smokiness, acidity, brightness, cold stracciatella slipped on top of the hot tomatoey slice… it just all worked together gorgeously. The crust is simultaneously crispy, light, airy and chewy, and cheesy and salty.
Tried all 3 desserts. Tiramisu is pretty good, a bit non-traditional as it’s very light. Soft serve is good, less thick than Angler’s. Dining companion prefers Angler’s version. What I loved was the rum honey. I generally don’t love alcohol coming through in my desserts but this was so beautifully balanced. I’d get the soft serve again just for the syrup. Biscoff sandwiches fine- nothing special. The handpie was good. Buttery flaky crust gives way to tart berry filling. Shape reminded me of McDonald’s apple pie but size was extra large. The small bowl of schlag, now that was really good. The rum honey and cream components of the desserts were my favorite over the desserts themselves.
Retro 80s vibe with the music and all- just a fun time to be had. And Skenes is a cool dude. It was great to see him so relaxed.
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WOW, great set of first week reviews.
I will be happy to eat my words above, as well as his food, once again.
Going next week.
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ahhhh did they get rid of the pheasant parm? I wanted to try that tonight…
He seems to be changing the menu a bit on the daily so maybe it’ll be back on tonight. The meatballs seemed to be absent yesterday too.
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Very good meal last night. Raw dishes were highlights (especially elk tartare). Cocktails also great (had the rhubarb negroni and the chocolate spring water which tasted like liquid brownie batter in a refreshing way?)
Pizza was good, but not what I’ll go back for. If they add enough to the menu to make a meal without pizza I’ll probably approach that way. The bottom wasn’t quite charred/cooked enough for me.
Only real miss was the crab dish. Was rice this time and while it tasted good it was a bowl of mush.
Dessert fantastic, did the hand pie with a side of the soft serve.
Service is getting figured out, there’s a LOT of staff! and we didn’t get to say hi to Skenes because he was hanging with Dave Chang most of the time (which was cute)
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How was the flavor of the pizza dough? Is the bottom supposed to be charred?
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Not sure maybe a better description is just that it was pale and pretty floppy. We had the spicy one which was rather bold but the dough was definitely on the sweeter side to me
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I heard it was all wild yeast and west coast flours. Sweetness usually comes from additives. Not typically common in thoss kinds of doughs. Seririnkan/savoy also “taste” sweeter side but aren’t actually sweet. My just buddy went there last night and loved it. Going with a friend next week.
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At this point in pizza I think my brain interprets lack of sourdough tang as sweet so that makes sense!
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Pizza looks like his interpretation of Canotto style Neapolitan, basically what any of the new (aka not old line places like Sorbillo or Da Michaele) are doing. This is kinda what you’d see at various new ish places in Naples like 50 Kalo or Ciro Cascella or Masanielli, Piccolo Buco in Rome, or even Una Pizza in New York.
*Down to the scissors which is now (maybe always was) an affectation of the chef-y, puffy crust places in Naples.
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Yup definitely neo-canotto so high hydration dough which makes the cornicione airy, puffy, and chewy. The cornicione is crisped up in this case and has caramelized cheese that flavors each bite. It’s floppiness is just part of the style.
Both William and Bun San from Savoy thought very highly of Leopardo’s pizzas
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Had an early reservation tonight with the better half and left satisfied. The menu tonight removed the waffle with the caviar and instead presented a $250/500 caviar pizza option, which we promptly skipped. Loved the rhubarb negroni and enjoyed the chocolate spring water. Wished we had gotten the filthy martini, which I’ll get next time.
Another new addition was the live prawn crudo, simply dressed with olive oil. We really enjoyed this dish. I also loved the garden lettuce salad as the vegetables were singing and delicious. I would come back for just these two dishes (if they survive to make it on the final menu).
This iteration of the crab dish was a whole cracked box crab, presented with the machete bread, crab jus mixed with butter, and cocktail sauce. An older gentleman with glasses, who looked like one of the main partners with Joshua Skenes, told us that it was a rip-off of a well-loved SF restaurant that serves it with sourdough bowls. We liked it since it was just crab and the jus went really well; it was a bit too much work to extract the crab despite the staff pre-cracking the shells.
We got the marinara pizza, which had a fantastic sauce. While it was tasty, I feel like the inclusion of the pizza doesn’t make sense with the rest of the menu. I still prefer Sei’s pizzas as well, though Leopardo is a solid second place. On a second trip here, we’ll still get a pizza but it won’t be the highlight of the meal.
We tried to get the handpie but were told that it was “sold out.” After talking to one of the staff behind the bar later, the explanation appeared to be that Joshua Skenes was not happy with this iteration of it and so the entirety of the hand pies were “sold out.” The soft serve was great so we did not miss tasting the hand pie.
Lastly, the pacing is abysmal. We were served with the salad, elk tartare, and live prawn crudo simultaneously. The pizza was served 10 minutes later. I was only able to introduce some time between the pizza and the crab by deliberately ordering the crab while eating the pizza.
Bonus: we got to see Joshua’s cute frenchie, sitting in his carrier at the bar.
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that marrow with the elk tartare was my highlight. tearing the lamb apart too
cali-prese 2010 and a bloody mary
live prawn crudo added to purple sea urchin in the shell
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the pacing here is a complete joke. our table ordered ooe, sans the $500 caviar pie, and they dropped all ten of the cold courses on us in under eight minutes. I knew we were doomed when the server said we take the entire order at once and the food comes out as they’re ready.
luckily the food was good to great. highlights were the cali-prese 2010, reminded me of the excellent angler tomato (so good we ordered another one right away), oysters with pickles seaweed granita were excellent, live prawn crudo, elk tartare, lamb saddle (ordered two), white fish in lords water, hello satan, and machete with crab fat.
pretty sure this is swan oyster
will come back just for the cali-prese and will not be ordering everything at once no matter what they say.
review forthcoming @NYCtoLA @butteredwaffles #noftcbradley, #noftcsimon, @pomodoro @rlw @CiaoBob? hi @keht5.
giardiniera
warm olives in grilled olive leaf oil
ice-cold oysters with pickled seaweed granita
ocean tilefish crudo
live prawn crudo
purple sea urchin
elk tartare & marrow on a machete
classic caesar salad
garden lettuces, leaves & herbs with meyer lemon
cali-prese 2010
whole cracked box crab, drawn butter, cocktail sauce
whole grilled whitefish in the lords water
pastured lamb saddle cooked in the wood oven x2
re-marinara, country ham tomato sauce, wild oregano, olive oil & garlic
margherita, buffalo mozzarella, early girl tomato sauce, basil
hello satan, spicy tomato sauce, chilis & salumis, wildflower honey, garlic & herbs (side of giardiniera)
tiramisu 2022
frozen milk soft-cream with rum honeycomb & sourdough biscoff cookies
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Sounds like they are really trying to turn tables
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server said there was no table after us so no idea why the rush.
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wow. everytime I hear you ‘have to put in the whole order right away’ that means don’t do that At least the food was pretty good!
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