L'Artusi — Restaurant in New York

Tldr: Get the roasted mushroom, the spaghetti, roasted potatoes, scallops, and the salted caramel Cookie.

Now for the details Appetizers: The roasted mushrooms - wonderful to keep things short. The mixture of crisp and soft texture, combined with the toasty flavor makes this dish truly amazing. When we were suggested to try this dish everyone at the table was hesitant, but we decided to give it a try. After the first order was cleared up, we quickly ordered a second batch with no hesitation.

Beef tartare, Tuna, kale and endive salad - these apps were decent in their own right, but we're completely overshadowed by the roasted mushrooms. Their individual flavors and textures are nice, but I can't really recommend them over one of the most memorable dishes of the meal. That being said, of these 3 appetizers, I would recommend the beef tartar then most as it is better than most places in NYC.

Three Beef Tartare- has a nice beefy flavor, with a hint of smokiness that pairs well with the sourdough. The overall flavor profile of this dish is complex and lovely. In addition to the flavors, the sourdough plays an important part as a textural contrast by adding a crisp bite at the edges which mellow out towards the center where it soaks up the flavor of the beef, capers, and chilies.

The Tuna - decent, but the flavors are a bit muted and non-distinct. I could taste notes of the tuna, a hint of citrus, and some milkiness from the creme fraiche. But that was the problem, just a hint of the flavor. The texture soft texture of the tuna is contrasted by the farro, but in my opinion, the role of texture helps to elevate dishes when the flavors are there. In this case, the texture contrast prevents it from being boring.

The Kale and Endive salad - I remember that it was okay, but the dish is forgettable.

Crispy potatoes - are delectable. As the name states, these potatoes are crispy with a pillowy center. Salted and seasoned with herbs for a duo of earthy flavors. The salsa bianca adds a creamy and fresh taste which makes this an addictive add-on to the meal.

Pasta: The spaghetti - similar to the roasted mushrooms, was another surprise hit. The spaghetti is creamy and seasoned to perfection. The spaghetti itself is also cooked perfectly to have an amazing mouth feel that engage your taste buds.

Taglatelle - nicely cooked taglatelle, decent sauce, but falls short of the spaghetti in overall composition.

Bucatini - also decent

Mains: Scallops - cooked and seared to perfection. Nice and toasty outside with the flesh cooked just tender enough. Then combined with the the jus is a chef's kiss moment.

Branzino - cooked well with crispy skin and tender meat. The flavors are good, but with all the highlights so far, it doesn't really compare.

Desserts: The Cookie - I could do a long inept review, or I can just say this. I WILL be coming back every now and then just to get myself a cookie and nothing will stop me.

Salted Chocolate Cake - decadent is an understatement for this thicccc cake, therefore it is more apt to say deccccadent. Wonderful flavor and texture balance between the cake, the popcorn, and the gelato. You get a mix of thicccc and chocolaty cake, crunchy and sweet popcorn, with creamy and bittersweet gelato.

Olive Oil Cake - decent dessert, with a decent blend of flavor and texture combo. But I rather get the chocolate cake and cookie.

The service was also very good, but that much is expected.

If I were to come back and only tried the same dishes, it would go something like this. Roasted mushroom, crispy potatoes, spaghetti, scallops, chocolate cake, and then a cookie to go.

Hopefully I will have an opportunity to try the rest of the menu, but for now I am...

i've been hearing about l'artusi for years but finally visited this sunday for brunch. from the moment you walk in, it's chaotic. there were some people who presumably had been waiting for so long that they were offered champagne while they waited. thankfully, we didn't have to wait too long for our table to be ready and were seated within 5-10 minutes of our reservation time.

we got a number of dishes to share:

pici 'cacio e pepe' ($22) (2/5) - this pasta looked better than it tasted. the texture of the pasta was excellent, but the sauce was super lacking. maybe i haven't had enough cacio e pepe's in my life to have a solid opinion on it, but did not enjoy this one flavor-wise. house-made focaccia ($9) (3/5) - this focaccia was quite dense and almost had a cake-like texture. the flavors were good, but i wished that it were a little fluffier and served warm instead. garganelli ($25) (4/5) - okay, this one had mixed reviews amongst the group. personally, i loved it! the mushroom ragu paired with the garganelli pasta was perfect. however, the pasta was almost a little on the 'crunchy' side with how al dente it was. nonetheless, i actually quite enjoyed that unique texture. bucatini nero ($35) (3/5) - absolutely love any type of seafood pasta cause it's so umami, and this was no exception. personally rating this one a little lower than the garganelli as i didn't like the crab meat texture (it didn't have a sweet / fresh taste). lemon-ricotta pancakes ($18) (4/5) - another table favorite. these were easy to share and had a summery lemon flavor to them. the pancakes were fluffy and light as well. olive oil cake ($14) (2/5) - tried this as it came highly recommended in many reviews, but this cake didn't really hit the spot. while the cake itself was decent, the golden raisin marmellata was way too sweet.

the whole experience was fine, but considering how many italian restaurants are in nyc, i'm still trying to figure out the hype around this place. would be down to visit again if others were interested, but likely won't seek it...

Refreshing exquisite place for Italian tastes.

Originally booked for 2 but unfortunately my guest fell under the weather so ended up going alone for lunch. The front desk was super nice and gave me the option to keep the table which I happily did.

Appetizer: roasted mushrooms Most umami thing I tasted for a while I would say. There are 4 types of mushrooms and I tasted fried bits of chili and pancetta, which together with shredded aged ricotta, is one indulgence on its own, let along the sunny side up egg! The crunchiness from pancetta+ tenderness from mushroom + savory and spice from chili and peppers + creaminess from the egg yolk = my ultimate happiness.

Pasta: bucatini Nero Squid ink pasta with seafood topped with breadcrumbs. The pasta is great; the color really added some points for my appetite. Its flavor tasted really familiar to me so I spent couple of minutes digging in my memory: it reminds of the flavor profile from supreme pizza (no kidding). Large chunks of crab and tomato scattered on top of cooked pasta + sauce with a tiny acidity that evaluates the taste + breadcrumbs for texture. Fun, familiar, and addictive: I personally liked it, and I wonder what other pastas taste like now.

Dessert: Olive Oil Cake Finally a place without tiramisu so I don’t have to make a hard choice. Love love love their pairings of olive oil cake. The cake is sprinkled with powdered sugar, paired with sugar syruped raisins and crème fraîche. Their pastry chef is a genius to pair the cake with crème fraîche! The olive oil cake itself tasted like a pound cake (unlike the fluffier one I had in Rezdora). It is good but not memorable, unless you eat with the raisin and the crème fraîche. It is the most bold and creamy crème fraîche I tasted. (They certainly didn’t skimp on fat content of these things). It leaves me wanting to come back for another round.

The servers were nice and the seatings are reasonably scattered. Still a bit tight between tables but manageable to not rub elbows. I will come back for more pasta and another round of mushroom and...