When Eataly first opened, I was excited, but it was SO crowded. I had been to Birreria before for a client dinner, but that included a reservation. And I had gotten lucky finding a spot to sit at the Crudo bar.
But when That Lori (from Stuff I Ate) and I were looking for a place to celebrate our birthdays, we jumped at the chance to try Manzo, which is the only place that was accepting reservations. Every restaurant at Eataly has theme, and Manzo’s theme is MEAT.
We started with a lovely looking basket of bread. The sourdough was awesome.
We were torn on the menu. So many delicious sounding things. Our waiter advised that the plates were small, so we decided it was a sharing night. (Though our arms never really needed to be twisted to share… one of many reasons I love dining with That Lori).
We started with the mozzarella with brown butter and guanciole. It was a lot softer than I was expecting, but the garlic toast that came with it really allowed us to sop up all the deliciousness.
I liked the compliments of flavors very much.
Our second dish was the Tajarin with Sugo d’Arrosto. This was a pasta made with the drippings from a roast.
They very kindly split it for us, but even our half portions were quite substantial.
And this was SO. GOOD. This is everything that is wonderful about pasta… a perfect compliment with the meaty flavored sauce. Simple looking yet so complex.
We also split the hay smoked veal chop. This came with canneli beans and speck. This was HUGE. I have no idea how anything we got was considered a “small” portion.
And the meat? The hay smoking gave it this great grassy, earthy flavor. It was delicious, and cooked perfectly.
Since we split everything, we luckily had room for dessert. We decided to split the chocolate crostada with plums and sliced almonds. This was very rich (but I LOVE rich) and the ice cream and plums were great to make the flavors more complex. Very enjoyable.
Overall, Manzo was just a spectacular dining experience. I highly recommend sharing so you can experience much of what it has to offer. We were so tickled by our experience there and we really loved all the food. Every bite was fresh, complex, and bursting with flavor. Exactly the way it should be.
Total Nom Points: 7.5 out of 10
