Da Andrea Greenwich Village

Review: Thirty-Year-Old Italian Restaurant Da Andrea Is Still Great | Eater NY

"When it opened in the early ’90s on Hudson Street it served Bolognese pastas in a narrow storefront with low prices that attracted neighborhood devotees; by 2002 it had earned a rave review from Sam Sifton, and after changes of ownership it moved to 35 West 13th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues, where it remains today. From across the street the premises glow like a city in the desert at night, with strings of tiny lights on outdoor sheds and a mix of real and fake foliage; inside a greeter stands at a podium, the bar and double dining rooms sit up a few steps, the walls are covered with art, and closely spaced tables seat roughly 80 so the place is full by 7 p.m. and servers must contort themselves to reach remote tables. The food lagged when the new location opened in 2009 but has improved tremendously, and on a recent revisit we had a near-perfect, mainly Sicilian, three-course meal served as requested. Highlights included a warm octopus salad ($19) heaped with potatoes, Gaeta olives, and sautéed peppers—the octopus perfectly poached then grilled—and a Caesar boldly topped with anchovies and a Parmesan-heavy dressing. Two pastas were ample: pennette con melanzane ($25), a bouncy, red-sauced twist on pasta alla Norma with eggplant and mozzarella, and ravioli di vitello ($26), half-moon ravioli stuffed with veal and spinach in a thick cream sauce dotted with mushrooms and ham, which I called one of the best pastas I’ve had all year. We also shared a generous Sicilian seafood stew (zuppa di pesce, $36) loaded with mussels, fin fish, shrimp, and scallops in a bright orange broth, and finished with adequate desserts—ricotta cheesecake (my preference for its Amarena cherries) and panna cotta ($11 each). If there’s a flaw, much of Da Andrea now feels a bit corporate: the art has faded, the service is regimented, and the wine list seems split between a limited by-the-glass selection aimed at run-of-the-mill customers and pricier bottles for high rollers; I noted an Umbrian Sagrantino di Montefalco from Colpetrone ($81) that caught my eye but we instead drank by-the-glass Sicilian whites—grillo ($14) and an Etna Bianco ($19)—and left pleased with the meal but missing the original Da Andrea." - Robert Sietsema