Molly T.
Yelp
I've known about the La Pecora Bianca franchise for some time now, but until this past weekend I had never visited any of the locations. I know it tends to be wildly popular (so popular, in fact, that a good friend of mine was at the Flatiron location at the same time that I was dining on the UWS) and trendy which has led me to assume it certainly must be overrated. But as an Upper West Sider desperate for new, youthful restaurants in my neighborhood, I was excited to see that a La Pecora Bianca was moving into the old Isabella's space. It's an unbeatable location and the corner has been home to restaurants for decades. The restaurant scene is up here is pretty tired (though there are a few exceptions), so we ~needed this~. My hope was that my experience here would be above average, and it turned out be pretty great.
Came here at 8:15 on a Saturday night. We're being extra COVID-careful these days so we got a table outside, which would honestly be the move in non-COVID times too. We got to experience a beautiful summer evening and say hi to the many many doggos that passed us by, sniffing for some very high-quality table scraps. It did take about 15-20 minutes once seated for a server to notice us and come our way, but thankfully that was the only service hiccup of the night.
Cocktail here are pretty solid. There's a spritz menu, a negroni menu and then a short list of other cocktails. Though I'm as far as one could get from being a spritz girl, the Lavender Spritz (gin, lavender, prosecco) looked too good to pass up after walking 15 blocks in the heat. It needed to be stirred but once that was done it was exactly what I needed. My fiancé's first drink was the Montenegro Mule (montenegro, dimmi, ginger), which was a low-ABV variation of the classic and super refreshing. His next drink was the
Summer Negroni (gin, lillet rosa, grapefruit) which was okay, and I got a perfectly-done dirty martini was three nice juicy olives. We finished with two different glasses of white wine -- the Vermentino was particularly tasty.
There's good variety on the food menu and I'd recommend trying a plate or two from each section. We got a snack, and appetizer, a salad, a pasta and a main. I'm proud of us. Notably, they can make any of their pastas gluten free, meaning that for the first time in many years I was able to eat a pasta dish at a restaurant (I don't have celiac so I'm fine if my food touches gluten or I have a little crouton crumble or something, but straight wheat will mess me up for days). Given our expert sampling of the whole menu, I'm confident in this review's trustworthiness. Eats, below:
Whipped Ricotta w/ truffle honey, country toast: A+
I didn't eat the toast, but the ricotta and honey was mind blowing. The portion of ricotta is decent so we actually took some of it home to be devoured the next day.
Summer Melon Panzanella w/ tomatoes, cucumbers, torn country bread: A-
The ideal summer salad, super fresh with perfectly ripe summer produce. Fairly straightforward but hit the spot.
Brussels Salad w/ shaved brussels sprouts, pickled raisins, sunflower seeds, parmesan: A
I love a shaved brussels salad (I love any brussels -- particularly those that are roasted -- but shaved/raw is ideal in late summer) and this was excellent. Pretty standard ingredients, some dried fruit, nuts/seeds, light dusting of cheese. Great execution.
Garganelli w/ roasted wild mushrooms, arugula pesto, garlic, pecorino: A-/A
I don't know if this was incredible because I haven't eaten pasta in years or because it was downright delicious. I don't think I've ever had garganelli specifically and it's a fun shape. My main critiques were that this was fairly greasy yet they went very light on the pesto. We were both hoping for a very pesto-y plate. But it was still yummy.
Branzino w/ spinach, olives, meyer lemon: A
Classic Italian dish. We love branzino and this was cooked perfectly, sitting on a generous portion of spinach that soaked up all of the yummy lemon/garlic/olive flavors. Given the fact that we tried a lot, it was a good choice to opt for a lighter main.