"When Sempre Oggi says they’re hyper-seasonal, they mean it. They make small changes to the menu every day, based on which ingredients are at their peak. Naturally, the Upper West Side restaurant makes a big fuss about the vegetable-forward dishes on their Sicilian menu. But, as much as we love a good summer tomato, or winter squash soup, Sempre Oggi ultimately excels because they put just as much effort into their meats and pastas. photo credit: Franceso Sapienza photo credit: Franceso Sapienza photo credit: Franceso Sapienza Thanks to a big oven in the center of the room, Sempre turns out juicy hunks of roasted chicken and porcelet porchetta with crackly skin. Breads and pastas are both made in-house; they use semolina flour for the latter, giving their dense noodles a nutty flavor and that precise al dente chew that Italian cookbooks are always scolding you about. It all creates a solid backdrop for the vegetables to get the shine they deserve. Porchetta served with Jimmy Nardelo’s one day, is served with English peas the next, and the consistently succulent pork guarantees you’ll get a good dish no matter what. Quality ingredients and an ever-changing menu make for a breezy dining experience that feels upscale, without any fussy preparations or overly formal service. However, the vaguely beachy dining room, which is divided into three large sections that get dimmer as you go back, can make this feel like a rather impersonal—and slightly cheesy—resort restaurant. But it also makes it a useful one, where you can always get a table and please any visiting relatives that you don’t feel like taking downtown. photo credit: Sempre Oggi Food Rundown Heirloom Tomato Salad An heirloom tomato salad is summer’s classic seasonal dish, but this one is a bit disappointing. The purslane and white balsamic tasted too bitter, but maybe the tomatoes just weren’t sweet enough that day. Porcelet Porchetta Sempre Oggi makes its porchetta in-house, in the big oven in the middle of the restaurant. The accompaniments usually change (in our case, we had charred jimmy nardello peppers), but it’s always extremely juicy, and always has that audibly crackly, glass-like skin. Tumminia Busiate with Pesto alla Trapanese Sicilian pesto is made with almonds instead of pine nuts, and a bit of tomato thrown in. It is the superior pesto, and you should order it any time it appears on the menu." - Neha Talreja
