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GG's 1 Italian Alphabet City East Village Loisaida

Owner Nicholas Morgenstern opened GG’s (formerly Goat Town) with a fresh concept and a new partner: executive chef Bobby Hellen, best known for The Cannibal and for his whole-animal approach to cooking. Further partners behind this new venture are general manager Emily Schumacher and beverage director Gabriel Richter. They gave the space on 5th Street a makeover, creating a clean, natural look with old wooden tables, crisp white walls, and deep green wooden benches, chairs, and shutters. The green of the interior décor is a nod to the lush back garden, which is even bigger than the restaurant and offers guests a view of the rare vegetation going into their food.

The salad of shaved heirloom carrots, onions, radicchios, squash, and garbanzo beans that the Manhattan Sideways team shared exemplified the variety of the garden and the freshness of the just-picked ingredients found throughout the menu. The Whole Wheat “Lasagna,” made with roasted mushrooms, pesto and mozzarella, was terrific, but what really stood out at GG’s was the pizza. The 1986 – with spicy soppressata, fennel agro dolce, pickled peppers and arugula – made excellent use of Chef Bobby’s meat expertise and garden-picked vegetables. We also sampled GG’s signature Grandma’s Pie. One side of the thick, tasty square crust was vegetarian, while the other was topped with pepperoni, tomato sauce, mozzarella, basil, and oregano.

As we sat by a large open window in the front of GG’s, eating and sipping some of our server Allison’s favorites from the cocktail menu – The Good Life and Long Island Sour – Chef Bobby took time out from the kitchen to check in on us. He told us that the team behind GG’s is both proud and hugely satisfied to be getting back to their roots, both literally in the garden, and figuratively with the simple, satisfying menu that focuses on New York pizza. “It is nice,” said Chef Bobby, “to feel like we’re doing good things with the garden and the use of the meat, but also to be doing something we like. It feels right.”

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GG's 2 Italian Alphabet City East Village Loisaida
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GG's 1 Italian Alphabet City East Village Loisaida
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Lost Gem
Risotteria Melotti 1 Brunch Italian Gluten Free East Village

Risotteria Melotti

Biking with my husband on a beautiful August day, I stopped short when I noticed something new and picturesque on 5th Street. It was three o’clock in the afternoon, but I had been holding out until I discovered the perfect place to grab a bite to eat, and I certainly landed in an ideal spot. The rustic charm indoors, with replicas of the farm equipment used in Italy hanging from the ceiling, captured our hearts immediately, but it was the food – the outstanding rice dishes – that solidified Risotteria Melotti indefinitely on my list of top restaurants to recommend. Since the restaurant was quiet at this odd hour, we were able to chat casually with the staff throughout our meal, and we learned not only about the history of the restaurant, but also about the world of rice. Back in 1986, a couple began producing rice on one acre of land in Verona, Italy. Almost three decades later, together with their three sons, Rosetta and Giuseppe now farm 544 acres of land, all devoted to growing award-winning rice that is sold the world over.There are basically two different textures of the grain that they produce. Vialone, the more traditional rice, is rich in proteins and vitamins and, because it absorbs liquid better, is used for their delicious risottos. Carnaroli rice, “considered one of the best in the world,” is more readily used in salads because it remains al dente when cooked, adding a chewiness to the superb insalata di riso that we shared. We both marveled at the combination of chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, roasted red and yellow peppers, capers, fresh mozzarella and, of course, brown rice. When we first sat down, a bread basket was placed on the table. Their take on focaccia was very good, but I could not stop sampling their rice cakes throughout our meal – the basic recipe is made in Italy and then flown here to be tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper and fresh rosemary and then baked for fourteen minutes. I cannot say enough about how amazing the second dish that we tried tasted. We never knew that you could make polenta from anything but cornmeal, but we had our eyes opened to something new and wondrous when we had our first taste of polenta fritta con caciottina – a fried rice polenta with mushrooms and cheese that was perfectly moist in the middle with an added crunch on the outside. Every mouthful was rich and heavenly.This brand new restaurant – the first outside of Italy – serves about thirty people, making for an intimate setting, especially when evening falls, the lights are dimmed and the candles are lit. Up front there is a little “shop” that sells many of their rice products. The staff explained that the family has made an across-the-board decision to only offer Melotti’s gluten-free rice merchandise in the States. Thus, anyone eating gluten-free can come to their restaurant and be served a carefree, excellent meal. Anyone fortunate enough to live in the area can either have their food delivered to them in their home or office, or stop by, browse the menu, and take it to go. I have no doubt that we would be eating a lot more rice if we lived in the East Village, but we will visit as often as we can.

Lost Gem
Gnocco 1 Brunch Italian East Village Alphabet City Loisaida Little Germany

Gnocco

It was a humble entrance that guided me into Gnocco, a space with tables barren of cloths, waiters devoid of ties, and the owner leaning against a wall in a casual tee-shirt and jeans. Upon closer look, I noticed framed photographs of the East Village in the 1980s taken by Michael Sean Edwards, fresh, savory pizza being tossed and fired in the room next door, and a backyard dining area where greenery intermingles with twinkling lights.When Modena native Gian Luca Giovanetti first opened Gnocco with Pierluigi Palazzo in 2000, customers did not understand why veal parmigiana, spaghetti and meatballs, and fettucine alfredo were not on the menu. “We are Italian,” Gian explained (in his wonderful accent), “and those dishes are not from where I’m from.” Modena lies in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy where the cuisine differs from the southern Italian food most Americans are used to. Having already run a successful restaurant back home, Gian knew how to make good food, and would not compromise his menu. “I told them to just sit down, and if you don’t like it, you’re not gonna pay.” They paid.Part of the reason for Gnocco’s sustained success are the niche that it fills. For the neighborhood, the restaurant bridges a gap between refined dining and fast food - it is an eatery “for every pocket.” And for Gian, the restaurant brings him closer to his childhood and family. The gnocco, filled and fried pockets of dough, was a dish his grandmother would prepare, and it was his mother who recruited a team of four other ladies to perform “quality control” during the restaurant’s early beginnings. Even his son, who spends the school year in Italy, takes to the kitchen when he visits Manhattan in the summertime.While Gnocco may be Gian’s only current endeavor, he has had a hand in quite a few other places in the East Village. Perbacco was an Italian wine bar that was given two stars by the New York Times, Caffe Emilia offered casual Romagna food, like Italian clubs, to the neighborhood, and Café Pick Me Up, probably the most devastating closure, after twenty years and a rent surge, has lived on through Gnocco’s extended menu and hours.

More places on 5th Street