New Year. New Restaurant Review system.

Hello foodies! As the New Year approaches I have decided to use a new system for reviewing restaurants. I feel that my old way of reviewing restaurants didn't give you all enough info and just gave a little blurb that is useless when you want a review on a restaurant. So I decided I will leave the stars and write about my experience. I will add Pros and Cons to give readers a better feel on the restaurant being reviewed.
Yesterday I went to Felidia's, owned by Lidia Bastianich, and it was spectacular. Using the new reviewing system here is my review on Felidia's.

Felidia's                                         243 E. 58th Street, New York, NY, 10022

To sum up Felidia's in one word it would be amazing. Food was impeccable, decor was very nice and service was fair. Everything the Foodie Finders NYC crew and I ordered was really good. The bread was really good and my favorite bread in the basket was the cracker like flat bread made with squid ink. There was also a good bean dip (but wasn't as good as Becco's bean dip). We got a few appetizers to share with the table and they were all very good. We got the Polipo which was octopus grilled and mosaic with tomatoes and marinated eggplant (delicious), we got the Bianconeri which was a black and white pasta with sweet shrimp and squid and oven dried tomato-almond pesto (very good), and we also got the Fegatini which was chicken liver with onion and tuscan crostino ( My favorite dish out of the three). Now for the entrees. I am going to list my favorites from greatest to least starting with my favorite dish, the risotto. The risotto was made with squash, bacon oil, goat cheese and a little bit of 25-year aged balsamic vinegar which complimented the dish beautifully. We also had the Pappardelle with braised duck. We got the Manzo which was also very good. The Manzo was roasted all-natural angus beef flat Iron with mushrooms, hanger steak tagliata, and a summer bean ragu. We got the Grigliata di Pesce which was a plate of seafood which includes calamari, lobster, shrimp, scallops and razor clams cooked in "alla piastra", tomato, cucumber and onion. The last dish we got which was still delicious, just my least favorite out of the other dishes, was the Spinosini Con Vongole which is a thin spaghetti with razor clams, mussels, zucchini and bacon oil. Now for dessert it was all so good just like everything else. We got the hazelnut torte with nutella gelato and marsala zabaglione (delicious), the tiramisu (very good), and the pecan tart (spectacular). Over all Felida's was delicious.


Pros                        

• Delicious food
• Nice decor
• Had private rooms for individual tables for 6 or 8 people which was very appealing (we were fortunate and got a private room)
• All supporting staff, including the coat checker was friendly, which in my opinion, makes a great restaurant.
• The matradee was exceptionally nice and really welcomed all of his guests. He made the experience feel very warm and at home
• Felidia's was a fine dining restaurant without the stuffy feel to it.

 Cons

• Our waiter was very knowledgeable but not very personable.

Felidia's was a great restaurant and definitely one to go back to soon. Anyway if the Foodie Finders crew and I do get to Las Vegas expect reviews of restaurants from some of the greats like, Emeril Lagasse, Rick Moonen, Hubert Keller, Wolfgang Puck, Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger. I hope I get a chance to meet one of them like Rick Moonen, because I will definitely be at his restaurant, RM Seafood. If I do meet any of them you all will definitely know. Let's hope I get to Vegas soon. Check back for more info for that and I hope you all like the new restaurant reviewing system, feel free to comment on it. (Also the restaurants that were reviewed the old way will be changed in a future post)

-Mike