Rubirosa

A while ago, a group of us went out to celebrate our dear friend KC's birthday. She Italian through and through and we all love her. So what better way to celebrate that at Rubirosa for an Italian feast!

Instead of getting individual appetizers, we ordered some pizzas to share.  This is the Mushroom Pizza ($17) with prosciutto (+$2). The crispy think crust was really nice and helped not filling us up before the entrees arrived. This pizza pie was a nice balance of bread, cheese, meat and vegetables. Very well rounded though I didn't think the peas did anything.

Our second pizza was the Pesto ($15). When it arrived at the table, our eyes all lit up. Look at the abundance of pesto. Weee! We were all pesto fans so this was perfect. This pizza was definitely more decadence and rich. The fresh mozzarella stretched nicely while the pesto was fragrant and delicious.

A few people wanted to try the bruschetta as well. So they ordered the Shrimp scampi and the Duck Confit ($3 each). I didn't try them but I heard nothing but raves.

And then our entrees started rolling out. CT had the Veal Chop Milanese ($24) which looked fantastic. You can't really tell from the picture but this was a very large dish with the bone protruding off the plate. The thinly pounded bone-in veal chop was fried until crispy then topped with a delicious arugula salad. All I heard were mmms and aaahs. To be honest, I was quite jealous of her dish. Food buyers envy!

Cheese had the Pappardelle ($15) with sausage ragu and pecorino. Again, another good dish leaving him happy with the choice. Rich, filling, and warming. He had no issues finishing this in its entirety.

The birthday girl, KC, had the Brick Pressed Chicken ($22) with farrotto, figs, prosciutto, and black kale. She looked really happy with this dish and thought it was delicious. The chicken was crispy without being oily. Underneath was the accompaniments which helped lighten up the meat-centric dish.

TC had the Black and White Tagliatelle ($16) which came with a lovely mix of seafood including clams, mussels, shrimp, and scallops. He enjoyed this as well and slurped each and every strand up with the lovely seafood broth. It smelled really good.

The Feisty Foodie had the Spaghetti alla Chitarra ($12) with meatballs (+$4). This spaghetti and meatballs dish is often time easiest to mess up due to its simplicity. But the tomato, basil, and parmigiano was very bit delicious around the al dente pasta and meaty balls.

I was a freaking fat ass and ordered 2 entrees because I couldn't decided which one I wanted. First up was the Tripa in Tomato Sauce (~$15). The slow braised tripe was soft and delicious under the tomato sauce and parmigiano cheese. Though I enjoy a nice bite to my tripe, this was delicious and would be easy for any newbie offal eater.

My second dish was short ribs Ravioli with potatoes and collard greens (~$15). This was fantastic. The pasta was perfect pillows of super flavorful short rib only to be complemented with a light sauce and greens. I could eat this every day. Sure short rib can be heavy at times. But they added something tangy and balanced it out nicely. I want to say sauerkraut but I'm not 100% sure about it.

We also shared a side of Brussels Sprouts ($8) which weren't very good. Sure it was cooked in bacon but it wasn't roasted at all. Instead, it swam in fat. This was the only misstep of the night.

And we finished off the meal with some Zeppole's with Nutella dipping sauce ($8). Soft pillows of fried dough doused in powdered sugar only to even more sweetened up with Nutella. A perfect ending to a great night of eating.

A great meal among great friends. Happy Birthday, KC!

For another view of the meal we had, please visit the Feisty Foodie's post.

Rubirosa
235 Mulberry Street
New York, NY 10012
(212) 965-0500
rubirosanyc.com