I love being able to cross off two list items with only one meal. Locanda Verde is one of a few restaurants that received two spots on Time Out’s list. Last year, Momofuko was the only place to hold that distinction. And where are you this year, David Chang?
I mostly enjoyed the meal at Locanda Verde, even though we had to sit at the bar huddled between young suits and their dates. My big complaint was the portion sizes not comparable to the prices. We spent $120 and left hungry. There should at least be a menu warning or something. They do quality trattoria dishes in a comfortable romantic atmosphere so I should have known what I was getting into. Plus they’re attached to the fancy Greenwich Hotel and co-owned by Robert De Niro.
I wasn’t a huge fan of the porchetta sandwich, which was the other list item, but I enjoyed both their pumpkin agnolotti and venison terrine.
The other dish I can now cross off my list is the Maple Budino. The dessert came in at number 5 in Time Out’s Top Ten. It also made NY Times’ Top 11 Dishes of the year. So it had to be good, right?
And it was pretty delicious. The texture was strange. It felt almost like hair gel. But really delicious maple flavored hair gel. Budino means pudding but this was a little thicker than I imagined. Sort of like a custardy, panna cotta. Whatever it was, it was really tasty. It was complemented nicely with tart cranberry sorbetto and sweet crunchy candied pecans.
The dessert alone would bring me back to Locanda Verde. They also had a delicious hazelnut semifreddo. Who needs pasta and terrine? Next time, De Niro, I’ll skip to the sweet stuff. Yeah, I’m tawkin’ to you!
Would Locanda Verde’s maple budino make my Top 100 of the year? A 7 out of 10gets it much closer than their porchetta sandwich. Rich, sweet, and delicious. What more could you want from a budino?
This is delicious and maybe my favorite thing on the TONY list this year– definetly the best dessert! It’s like the Thanksgiving holiday in dessert form!