Union Square Cafe - Highly Recommended
21 E 16th St, New York NY 10003
Btwn 5th Ave & Union Sq West
Phone: (212) 243-4020
After some fun drinks and apps at 15 East, the dudes and I decided to get some real food and Union Square made sense. This is the third time that I've been to USC and as usual it was so damn on. Always solid cooking with great flavors and surprisingly some of the best Italian food in the city. Overall, I give the restaurant an 86/100.
Our Menu
Veal Cheek Ravioli **
with celery root, morels, sage and petite sorrel
Great silky, yet chewy texture on the pasta and phenomenal flavors with the veal cheeks. Celery root and morels had this whole earthy thing going on. Some sick stuff...
Berkshire Pork Lasagna **
with ricotta and mushroom-pesto sauce
I was just saying to my wife the other day I have no idea when's the last time I had a great lasagna. I used to love lasagna as a kid, but as an adult I've never had one that I considered great. Well, this was my first great lasagna. This looked like a mille feuile with thousands of layers of super thin pasta. Perfect texture that was delicate without being mushy and phenomenal unctuous pork and mushroom pesto sauce.
Cheeses
Pecorino de Parco, Blu di Bufala
I absolutely love cheese, but the ones here were bland if that were possible. No pop and felt more salty than anything else.
Rating Systemwith celery root, morels, sage and petite sorrel
Great silky, yet chewy texture on the pasta and phenomenal flavors with the veal cheeks. Celery root and morels had this whole earthy thing going on. Some sick stuff...
Berkshire Pork Lasagna **
with ricotta and mushroom-pesto sauce
I was just saying to my wife the other day I have no idea when's the last time I had a great lasagna. I used to love lasagna as a kid, but as an adult I've never had one that I considered great. Well, this was my first great lasagna. This looked like a mille feuile with thousands of layers of super thin pasta. Perfect texture that was delicate without being mushy and phenomenal unctuous pork and mushroom pesto sauce.
Cheeses
Pecorino de Parco, Blu di Bufala
I absolutely love cheese, but the ones here were bland if that were possible. No pop and felt more salty than anything else.
--- What the F - in a bad way * Good ** Great *** What the F – in a good way
Overall Restaurant Experience (86/100)
- Food (8.7/10) – Uber tasty pastas. Two dishes - two huge flavors with mushrooms really amping up the earthiness. Cheeses were average, but pastas were so good I forgot about them until I saw the pics.
- Service (8.0/10) – Waitress was nice and food came out relatively quick, but we were laughing about random stuff so didn't pay too much attention to the service.
- Atmosphere (8.0/10) – Very casual place that is nice and bright inside. Definitely has that local cafe feel, but serving some awesome food. Place was about 60-70% full and contained a mix of couples and groups of 4.
- Price (8.0) – A tad pricey, but well worth it. App sized pastas were about $15-18, with entree sized portions are about $27-35
All four dudes were very happy with their courses. Gotta remember to keep this in the rotation when I crave some pasta.
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