dell’anima

dell’anima is Chef Rick Gresh‘s other favorite from Manhattan.. so obviously, our first dinner living here was resto and the second had to be dell’anima…

….unfortunately their amazing uni pasta wasn’t on the menu that night but what we got was purely heavenly…. time to go back to Chicago to give Rick a HUUUUUGE hug and then eat his great food LOL….

The usual two bottles of wine, a red and a white :]

Both wines were both great and full of flavor and body… and went PERFECT with all of our foods. Props to our great waitress for giving us the recommendations :]

“Rosso de Veo,” Paolo Bea 2002 (Umbria)

“Roero Arneis” Bruno Giacosa 2004

I had the WORST neighbors next to us…. it all started when I went to sit down at the table and the girl REFUSED to move her bag to let me sit down. I had to ask her a couple of times, politely at first and then very firmly before she would move her bag and give me the stink eye.

NEXT when she went to go to the bathroom she THREW her jacket and bag ONTO me to push it out of the way for her to climb out and go to the restroom…. I was so annoyed I immediately pointed and asked our waitress.. “SERIOUSLY??? WHO DOES THAT???” Her passive agressive friend just stared at me and waited til her friend to get back before she tattled away… ew. ANYWAYS. onwards to the good food which made the HORRIBLE neighbors disappear from my mind….

I refused to eat this because neighbor climbed out of the table and like SMUDGED her butt all over our bread. SERIOUSLY?!?!?! Who does that…

Formaggi, Chef’s Cheese Tasting

These were pretty stinky…. there was candied fennel and some other bits of fun along with the cheese but I just couldn’t stomach it. One of them was so waxy and pungent I was cringing… these cheeses are NOT for the faint of heart…

ENDIVE anchovy citronette, pecorino

DELISH!!! How do people not like anchovies?!?!?!… sure it’s fishy but that’s the salty beauty of anchovies :]

SWEETBREADS “picatta” lemon, capers, artichokes

I LOVE sweetbreads, and these were fantastic. Everytime I eat sweetbreads now I cringe and think of Tabla‘s.. worst, but these were amazing.

CHARRED OCTOPUS rice beans, chorizo, chicory

YUM. LOVED the beans… and the octopus was just sooo good, especially the crispy tips :] YUM!

Artichokes

I don’t remember specifically what was in it.. but it was covered and overpowered with cheese… seriously SO much so you couldn’t taste the pure simple deliciousness OF an artichoke. SIGH.

PORCHETTA cannellini beans “all’ ucelletto”, arugula

Falling apart and meaty and just enough fattiness. R said this tasted even better the next day :]

TAJARIN “alla carbonara” ramps, speck, egg, pecorino

SOOOOO AMAZING. Next time I come to dell’anima I’m just going to order 5 bowls of pasta. Homemade delicious al dente perfection of pasta. I’m not even a huge pasta eater and this was all I could eat after it came out.

After breaking the yolk… mmmm sexy… Carbonara is just so amazing and simple and perfect. One of the best and easiest pastas I love to make when I need something rich, simple and just comforting.

The most amazing Tiramisu.

Perfection. Come here if you want pasta. Good pasta. Great pasta. Amazing pasta. This is SO my go-to place for my pasta cravings from now on.

Thanks again Rick for being awesome and always showing me the best places to eat :] LOVES