Sfoglia Restaurant

Sfoglia_1My Mom  has been staying in New York this summer far up town.  She said that she had found a great restaurant uptown that we must make the trip for.  Sfoglia Restaurant.  Soon after wards, they were written up and getting a reservation has not been so easy but she’s been back three times and last night was her third.

The restaurant, located at 92nd and Lexington, has a great vibe.  Decorated like a old Italian farmhouse.  One table has a beautiful bowlful of yellow and purple peppers, another had sunflowers, something different on each table.  Wooden tables and banquettes with pillows.  It doesn’t feel like 92nd and Lex. 

The service couldn’t be nicer.  We had brought a bottle of wine because they didn’t have their license when my Mom went.  Now they do but they charged us $20 for corking ours.  Fair price. 

We started with different appetizers and split pastas to begin.  Fred had the caponata.  On a small plate, a tiny bowl of caponata which was delicious and tiny home made chips on the side for dipping.  I had the green bean salad.  Short cut green beans tossed with walnuts and fairly ample sizes of pecorino cheese tossed with a vinaigrette.  It was good but the beans were a tad overcooked and the pieces of cheese could have been shaved and not so dense.  It was very filling.  My Mom went with the slices of mozzarella, tomato, watermelon and pesto.  Clever and an interesting combination.

For pasta we split the classic Bolognese sauce over papparedella pasta.  I love the thick noodles of papparadella pasta.  Also, their sauce was delicious.  Large chunks of meat in a creamy red sauce. Really good.  We also split the spaghetti that was tossed with a light olive oil based sauce, lots of peperoncini and shaved ricotta salata.  This was also really good.  The bread that we got at the table was perfect for dipping up the last remains of sauce.  The bread comes to your table hot and literally melts in your mouth.  A real winner.

Entrees were mixed.  Fred and I had the fish of the day.  Black sea bass served over braised summer greens and mushrooms that were really spicy and had a weird tasting marinade.  The fish was over cooked too.  I barely ate mine.  My Mom had the Tuscan chicken which was good.  Half a chicken baked under a brick which made the chicken really juicy and simple with a light lemon flavor. 

When we first sat down the waitress asked us if we wanted to order the dessert that you have to order in advance.  She barely described it and we all said yes.  It was a total wow.  An open tart with sliced peaches and figs roasted in the oven with two scoops of cinnamon gelatto served on top.  The mixture of peaches and figs was really good and the crust was fantastic.  Perfect split for 3 people.

Sfoglia changes the menu every 2 weeks.  That is pretty ambitious but it will certainly keep patrons coming back.  My guess is sometimes there are really winners and other times there are not but that’s OK.  The meals taste and are served like good old fashioned home cooking.  Certainly my green bean salad was.  The plates are simple.  Nothing fancy, just basic good food.

I will certainly go back if I am in that area.  The menu will be different but the service and vibe will remain the same.  Also, the prices are pretty good, for NY standards. Yum.