Panna Cotta

by Celia Cheng
May 17th, 2007

FALAI
68 Clinton St
(Stanton & Rivington St)
212-253-1960

(This article is the continuation of a larger piece that starts in the above Frankies Spuntino’s Meatball Parmigiana Sandwich post.)

In contrast, our starting and ending meal at Falai was on the opposite spectrum of refined and studied Italian cuisine. Falai has recently switched to its spring menu and is currently serving crudo of nairagi — a.k.a. marlin or a’u — from Hawaii. Light and extremely fresh. The gnudi — doughless ricotta cheese and baby spinach dumplings — were voted best in town by New York Magazine for a reason. They are larger in size than I had expected, little domes sitting like small scoops of ice cream in a butter, cream and sage sauce. As a pasta dish, it is incredibly light, despite the cheese, cream and butter, but I had filled up on several pieces of homemade black-cabbage rolls and onion rolls.

For dessert, Falai’s deconstructed version of tiramisu made me think. Unlike the oversaturated and traditional tiramisu with ladyfingers, espresso and other ingredients mixed and layered, Falai’s version has the ingredients placed separately on the plate, with espresso then poured over them, so you can play with the proportions as you please. It’s rather unconventional, and I was a bit apprehensive at first, but then realized that this is much more amusing and thought provoking. However, my pick for dessert is the panna cotta with dried strawberries in orzata — an Italian almond syrup — foam and cocoa butter. It was delicate, precious and stellar!

The evening reminded me why the Lower East Side and particularly Clinton Street stands apart from other areas from a culinary standpoint — where else in the City can you have such a fun and diverse culinary extravaganza within a one-block radius? With more time and a larger appetite I could have hit many more restaurants on the street or in the area, but even the glutton in me knows that it’s best we leave that for another time.

Also in Italian, LES, Pasta, Sweets