What I Ate Yesterday

Lunch

Salade Nicoise from Dom's (Lafayette and Broome, NYC) AGAIN. I'm obsessed. Whenever I go to Dom's to pick up lunch, I also like to get a solitary meatball to snack on en route home. Well, I took a huge bite of my meatball while I was crossing Broome and it went down the wrong pipe! I nearly choked to death walking south on Lafayette, but I was saved by the San Benedetto Gassosa (basically the same thing as Sprite, but better because it's ITALIAN) I bought to accompany my salad. So, why do we even have a 'wrong' pipe? What's it for? And if we do in fact need it, couldn't it hang out somewhere further away from the 'right' pipe?

Dinner

Lil' Frankie's (1st Avenue between 1st and 2nd, East Ville) with Newell, Sus and Big Eli. We tried to go to Pere Pinard on Ludlow, but they were having a problem with their gas stove and ovens, so the kitchen was only able to prepare cold items. We decided to just have a drink at the bar (I had a mojito) and then move on to a different restaurant. As you know, Youthlarge and I LOVE Lil' Frankie's, so I suggested we go there since none of my dining companions had tried it. They ended up loving it too!

We started with the Mozzarella di Bufala, which was served with tomatoes and fresh basil, and a $20 antipasto plate. The antipasto plates come in $15, $20 and $25 increments, so it is easy to tailor to your appetite and wallet size. You can also ask the chef to 'make it nice', which I guess means that he throws some extra bits of deliciousness onto your platter. This might be my favorite thing at Lil' Frankie's. I think I love it so because it is combo-bite Heaven, and anyone who has ever met me knows that I hold the combo-bite above all others. Anyway, here's what was on our cold antipasto plate: mortadella, coppa, prosciutto, some sort of air-dried cured beef, fontina, provolone, mozzarella, blanched broccoli and green beans, boiled new potatoes, beets, roasted peppers and grilled eggplant. What did I ever do to deserve such a happy day?! The only thing missing that I really would have liked was grilled zucchini.

For my entree, I was torn between the Tagliata Toscana (grilled, balsamic marinated skirt steak), chicken parm (always delicious, not usually offered at LF's) and fedellini vongole (capellini type pasta but even THINNER, served with garlicky clam sauce). I opted for the latter. Mine was delicious, but after sampling Newell's steak, I felt orderer's remorse. Big Eli ordered the sole, but didn't like it despite the fact that it was delicious. He kept reassuring the sole by telling it, 'really, it's not you, it's me'. CLASSIC guy move. Sus ordered the rigatoni polpettini (baby meatballs) after much indecision. Informing her that it's Youthlarge's favorite sealed the deal.

To drink I had two glasses of an Italian rose, or 'rosatta' as it were.