Esca 402 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036
(Dinner)
Esca is amazing. The seafood is so fresh and everything is done right. To start off they serve these olives soaking in delicious olive oil. The bread they serve is a good white bread and a delicious focaccia bread. I loved dunking the focaccia bread in the oil that the olives were siting in. Now for appetizers, the best dish, in my opinion, was the Polipo which was grilled octopus with giant corona beans and preserved sorrento lemon. I loved the octopus itself and the corona beans were so good with the octopus. My second favorite dish was the Calamari which was grilled squid with rucola (like arugula), radish and chianti wine vinaigrette. the dish was well put together and very fresh. My least favorite dish was the Vongole which was baked local little neck clams with La Quercia prosciutto and cherry bomb peppers. I didn't dislike this dish but the whole dish just wasn't anything special. For entrees I liked every dish we got although my number one favorite was the Spaghetti Neri which was house made squid ink spaghetti with cuttlefish, green chilies, and scallion. The squid ink spaghetti was incredible and the cuttlefish and the green chilies were such a spectacular combination. The Spaghetti Neri was a super stand out and the other dishes, in my opinion were equally delicious but couldn't compare to the Spaghetti Neri. One of those dishes was the Gnocchi di Ricotta which was old chatham sheep's milk ricotta gnocchi, tomato and bufala mozzarella. The gnocchi were like little pillows and they were immensely flavorful. Another great dish was the Spaghetti with a one pound lobster, chilies and mint. It was really good and the lobster was delicious. The last great dish was the Maccheroni alla Chittara which was house made guitar cut spaghetti with sea urchin and crabmeat. The sea urchin melted right into the pasta and the dish was incredible. Moving onto desserts everything was good but nothing stood out. My favorite dessert was the pineapple upside down cake. It also had coconut in the cake which added great flavor and texture. Another dish I liked was the Budino di Pana which was house made bread pudding with Coach farms goat milk ricotta gelato and rum toffee sauce. One more dish that was good was the Affogato di Caffe which was carmel gelato drowned in espresso. The whole dish was beautiful to the eye and to the mouth. We also got one more dish which I didn't like that much which was the Cannoli which was salted Gianduja ricotta with chili hazelnuts and chocolate sauce. The dish just wasn't amazing to me. My only complaint of the whole restaurant is they are not very accommodating to making any change to a dish. One of us wanted to change her dish to fit her dietary needs and they wouldn't accommodate at all. Overall I really liked Esca.
- Great food, especially the seafood (which was almost the whole menu)
- Simple and elegant decor
- Decent service
- Not accommodating to the changing of any dish
So that is my review of Esca. Check back soon for more restaurant reviews. Bon Apetit! -Mike |
