Scuderia

Da Silvano is down the street from our kid's school so I have been there a variety of times.  Lunch and dinner.  Also, Silvano has been incredibly generous to the school which scores high in my book.  That small stretch of Sixth Avenue is always hopping between Houston and Bleeker.  Maybe it is the big huge sidewalks that allow the restaurant to flow out into the street that has created the vibe and the draw, maybe it is the food, but I am not so sure about that one, maybe it is Silvano's charm ( Bar Pitti is separate and the owner there is charming too) but there is a very European feeling in that small area of downtown NYC. 

Across the street, retail space has opened and we are seeing a transformation of the area.  Silvano's daughter took one of the spaces and opened Scuderia.  We went last night.  Although Scuderia is a reference to horse stables of old, my guess is that it was named after her father's Ferrari that sits proudly outside his restaurant most days of the week. 

The place is loud.  Keep in mind we sort of shouted at each other all night.  Once we sat down the waitstaff seemed to be unsure of who should help us.  We sat for a good 20 minutes before we finally flagged one of the staff down who just seemed to be standing around and smiling.  But, I have to say that once the manager realized that, he sent over a pizza to start on him.  That ranks extremely high in my book. 

There is definitely a feeling like being in a hot local bar.  Where Da Silvano is more sophisticated this is more down and dirty.  The menu is classic Italian.  None of the servings are too big which I do like.  Also, you can go the family style route if you want.  We did.

We started off with our free pizza.  Small thin crusted pizza with strips of prosciutto, basil and mozzarella.  Quite good.  Next out, on a nice long slice of crusty crostinni was oozing burrata with slices of prosciutto and shaved black truffles over the top.  Truly, how could that be bad?  It was a nice thing to share.  We cut it up in four and savored our pieces.  We also had the black ink squid pasta with seafood.  I am a huge fan of the black ink squid pasta.  Nice sauce, a bit spicy served in a small bowl.  Off the specials list we had 2 others.  Thinly sliced swordfish carpaccio with a mixture of arugula and a light sauce.  It wasn't great.  The swordfish was a tad chewy and tasteless.  After glancing at their menu, this is not something that they do on a regular basis and I'd stray away from crudos.  It just wasn't interesting.  We also had boned, split and then deep fried sardines over a mixture of arugula leaves.  A tad heavy on the breadcrumbs but tasty.

For dinner we just each split a main.  Our friends went with the Bucatini which they gave a thumbs up.  Not as good as my friends, but hey she is a great cook and Italian so that's tough competition.  Fred and I split the soft shells.  I love when I see soft shell crabs on the menu.  That means spring is here.  One soft shell crab lightly fried, perfectly done, with a side salad mixed with shaved fennel.  Quite good.

It is essential to go to the bathroom.  You get an Italian lesson piped in over the speakers while you do your business.  It is hilarious.  Not sure who came up with that one but it makes for a good laugh. 

I'd be happy to return but more than likely for lunch.  The noise, alas, is a little too loud for me.  I like the menu and particularly the size of the portions.  My guess is that Suderia, like Da Silvano ( and Bar Pitti ) will be serving patrons for a very long time.