One of the many staples of my diet is pasta (also included: watermelon, mangoes, apples, peanut butter, potatoes, steak, and Pinkberry). I love making pasta at home topped with Whole Foods’ basic marinara, some bell peppers, and a little Italian sausage. When I don’t feel like cooking, I’d like to have a restaurant to fall back on for quality pasta/Italian food that’s not too pricey. That’s where Il Mattone comes in - it’s a not-too-expensive Italian place in Tribeca that offers quality Italian foods (antipasti, pizza, pasta, and other goodies). Chris loves the pasta and the artichokes from Il Mattone, so of course, we had to order both!

We started off with the artichokes:

They’re in a buttery lemon sauce that was so tart and tasty I can definitely see why Chris loves them so much. The tomatoes and artichokes paired well together and the dish was a great way to start the meal.

I ordered the rigatoni, the pasta Chris usually orders, which came with portobello mushrooms, chicken, and smoked mozzarella in a light tomato cream sauce:

The dish was absolutely amazing - the tomato cream sauce was really chunky (which I loved), the rigatoni was cooked perfectly, and the smoked mozzarella added a great overall flavor to the dish. The one thing I didn’t care for was the chicken - it was a tad dry and didn’t add anything to the dish. If I were to order the dish again, I’d ask that they make it vegetarian (add more mushroom instead of the chicken for a meaty flavor). The dish was perfect otherwise!

Chris ordered the seafood ravioli - ravioli with shrimp, crab meat, and lobster in a vodka sauce:

We heard that the seafood ravioli was a great dish that was a special treat, but neither of us liked the ravioli. The crab meat tasted grainy and I don’t think the proportions of the different types of seafood was equal, making the dish too crabby. Also, I don’t think the vodka sauce paired well with the seafood ravioli.

Il Mattone was a great place for pasta and it’s on a quiet street in Tribeca. There’s also outdoor seating, which is great for summer nights. I hear the pizza’s great, too!

How to get to Il Mattone:

Il Mattone
413 Greenwich Street between Beach and Hubert
New York, NY 10013
212-343-1210

A conversation I had with a person that would not like to be named (PTWNLTBN) two nights ago…

Grace: Chris and I are going to Nobu tomorrow night - I’m really excited!
PTWNLTBN: Oh, I’ve heard of that place!
Grace: Have you? They have locations all over the US and London.
PTWNLTBN: …don’t they make stuff for…black people?
Grace: …are you thinking of…FUBU?

So last night, Chris and I headed to Nobu in Tribeca to try some of their specialties (they’re actually not known for the sushi - it’s more of a fusion restaurant, so it’s recommended to order hot dishes instead). I liked the decor at Nobu - there were tree trunks in the middle of the restaurant with large pieces of wood to resemble twigs:

We started off by ordering their signature dish, Black Cod with Miso:

Chris’ reaction to his first taste of the cod: “mmmm it tastes like beef jerky!”

…yay!

He probably thought it tasted like beef jerky because it was a little on the salty side. It is incredibly delicious, maybe they shouldn’t steep it in the miso for so long (it says 2 - 3 days on the recipe).

Chris ordered the the rock shrimp tempura with creamy spicy sauce:

Apparently, some food bloggers that tried the dish and have had bad experiences….I thought the dish was good, but then I had a piece of shrimp that left a REALLY bad taste in my mouth. Luckily, it was only one piece, but it definitely lingered. The tempura sauce had some kind of lemon juice that made the shrimp really tasty - there were also some salad-type veggies underneath the shrimp that had a better dressing of the creamy spicy sauce.

The prices for both dishes weren’t that bad ($20 for the cod, $19 for the shrimp)…probably because the portions were SO incredibly SMALL!! We were both still pretty hungry after our food (even though I was pretty satisfied with the taste) so we ordered some tempura (sweet potato) and a spicy tuna roll. I don’t have pictures of either, but the spicy tuna wasn’t as good as Morimoto’s (Chris refused to be around while I took the pictures so I had to take the main course dishes while he was in the bathroom…seriously).

For dessert, we ordered the bento box:

Chocolate souffle cake on the left, green tea ice cream on the right. The chocolate souffle cake was dark, rich, and creamy and paired well with the green tea ice cream. I don’t really have anything BAD to say about Nobu, I guess there isn’t anything really SPECTACULAR to say though. If we went again, I think we would try the “Omakase,” which is $100, $120, or $150/pp and the chef basically gives you a tasting of what he thinks represents Nobu the best (just smaller portions).

My new rating metric will be up soon…I just have to set it up through Flickr.

By the way, I’ve started watching 30 Rock and ONE question - WHY DIDN’T I START WATCHING SOONER?! It’s HILARIOUS! Will Arnett (Gob from Arrested Development) is absolutely hilarious in the most recent episode (Fireworks). A special shoutout to my cousin, Andrew, who reads my blog ALLLLL the way from Korea!!