Osteria Morini

Osteria Morini opened a year ago, I went twice the first month and LOVED it! I haven't been back since, there are just too many great restaurants in NY...

So it was great to go back to an old favorite last Friday. We walked in at 6:30pm, the place was already half packed but we were lead to a table in the center of the restaurant right away. No wait, check!

We (I) decided to start with two appetizers, and share a pasta dish and an entree...

Appetizer course:
Mare $12
adriatic style seafood salad, olives, lemon, and capers


Fegatini $13
duck liver mousse, passito wine and grilled crostini


Pasta course:
Garganelli $19
pasta quills, batterkill cream, truffle butter and proscuitto


Entree course:
special of the day - grilled lmab should blades

See top. God, this was one of the best lamb chops I ever had, juicy, flavorful, lamby and soo soo tender!

Tia Pol - Oh. My. God.

Chorizo con Chocolate

palacios chorizo with bittersweet chocolate
$3.5

This is their signature dish. It was almost perfect; toasted banquettes with melted chocolate, covered with slightly spicy chorizo and sprinkled all over with saffron and sea salt. It was so good, we had to order a second round!

Croquetas de Jamón
ham croquettes
$4

This was my attempt at a trendy food image. Will not try that again. Notice how creamy the inside is, it's filled with cheese and little bits of salty Spanish ham. The outside was fried to a perfect crunch, yet not the least bit greasy. Someone in the kitchen had a fry thermometer.

Bocata de Loma Adobado

pork loin, piquillo and tetilla baguette sandwich
$9

I know this is going to be hard to believe, but it actually tasted better than it looked. And it already looked amazing! The tetilla cheese, the pepper, the pork all worked together perfectly! Tia Pol had great bread. Crusty, chewy, WARM! Everything bread should be but seldomly ever pulled together in most restaurants. I would happily eat that sandwich everyday, and for only $9, I could!

Navajas y Almejas

razor clams and cockles
$7

Since the friend I went with is such a meat-a-vore, I wasn't allowed to order any non-meat dishes. I was able to sneak in this little clam dish tho. How can you not order seafood (especially clams) cooked with garlic and white wine? That would just be moronic. And yes, it was great.

Assorted meat Croquettes
$9 (not positive)

That was the only disappointment of the night. The sauce was decent, made up of cream and herbs, can't really go wrong there. The croquettes on the other hand were bland and basically tasted like they came out of Applebee's.

Beef Short Ribs

$15

It is really rare for me to leave a meal and not be able to decide what was the best dish. But this one ranked right up there. First of all, beef? What's not to love? And this was a great piece of beef, flavorful, tender, juicy and the sauce? FABULOUS! It confirmed for me yet again that the best pieces of the meat are the ones close to the bone. And btw, the meat came off the bone with just a little help from my butter knife.

Pinchos Morunos

lamb skewers
$10

You know how some people really love street cart lamb? If you are one of those people, you shouldn't try this dish. It's not meant for you. Because you will never go back to the carts. Why go back to Coney Island when you have been to the Caribbean? The meat was unbelievably fresh and lamby and ridiculously tender. I had no idea lamb can be so tender.