Pane Pasta

"This old-fashioned focacceria might have been transplanted from Palermo. The menu features the chickpea fritters called panelle along with fried and squished small potatoes made into a panino, as well as bomboloni filled with pastry cream, pastas bearing eggplant and ricotta, and thick, square slices of focaccia, the best of which features thin-sliced potatoes and rosemary." - Robert Sietsema

"Step inside this narrow storefront that feels like Palermo, Sicily: You’ll be regaled with the display of lushly topped focaccia fit for a quick lunch, small sandwiches on oblong rolls, custard-bearing pastries, and other baked goods. For breakfast, there are rice balls, cannoli, croissants, and the jelly doughnuts known as bomboloni." - Robert Sietsema

"Pane Pasta (“bread dough”) opened two years ago in Greenwich Village, just off the NYU campus. Though it emphasizes custard-stuffed and chocolate-drizzled pastries, it also offers a plethora of Sicilian snacks and sandwiches, the former including potato fritters and rice balls, the latter panelle-and-potato sandwiches, thick slices of Sicilian focaccia, and anelletti, pasta rings most often baked with tomato sauce. This is a great place to assemble a picnic for nearby Washington Square Park." - Robert Sietsema

"In Palermo, these slices are often found in focaccerias. These snack shops and restaurants have standing tables where workers can enjoy rice balls, small round sandwiches made with chickpea fritters or cow spleen, a plate of pasta dotted with eggplant or tossed with sardines and fennel, or a slice of sfincione, among other items." - Robert Sietsema

"Greenwich Village finally has its own Sicilian snack shop and carryout. Inexpensively priced Pane Pasta is located right on bustling 8th Street just north of the NYU campus, an area once known for its shoes. Perfect for a sandwich, snack, or sweet, Pane Pasta will add to that repertoire, once the other places reopen. Admittedly, Pane Pasta’s timing was bad. It opened March 11, right before the mid-March shutdown, and only reopened three weeks ago for carryout and delivery. You can still walk inside and examine the glass cases and look into the kitchen at the end of the narrow premises, outfitted with convection ovens and deep fryers. Those cases gleam with breakfast pastries, thick slabs of focaccia cut in rectangles, and desserts, as well as rice balls and other deep-fried snacks. On the wall is chalkboard listing the specialties of the house, which also include panini prepared to order. Both owners hail from Sicily: Vincenzo Virzi from the capital of Palermo, while Pietro Chirco comes from Marsala, source of a famous fortified wine. The two met while working at Sapori D’Italia, a restaurant in Little Italy. Virzi’s family has owned and operated a bakery in Palermo for 70 years, and that institution partly provides inspiration for Pane Pasta (“bread dough”). Nevertheless, the place most resembles the type of Palermo casual cafe called a focacceria, a bread-based snack shop. Pane Pasta sells its collection of focaccia by the thick slice. My favorite ($4) tops a layer of mozzarella with slices of potato seasoned with fresh rosemary, but there are also examples with arugula and prosciutto, and ham and mushrooms. The most distinctively Sicilian is sfincione, which heaps the slice with a sweet puree of caramelized onions and anchovies. The panini ($5 to $7) are made on short tapered loaves and are pretty much what one would expect, stuffed with turkey, cheese, ham, or an assortment of grilled vegetables. Far and away my favorite is panelle e crocche, containing squished creamer potatoes and chickpea fritters called panelle, for a starchy extravaganza. The pastas tend toward the southern Italian, engulfed in red sauce. The one to get is the Norma ($12), a fresh tagliatelle sauced with eggplant and ricotta. But the real reason to step inside Pane Pasta is to ogle the Italian pastries. The hole-less doughnuts known as bombolini achieve a rich brown shade, sprinkled with granular sugar, and with a dab of chocolate or vanilla pastry cream decorating the domed top. Though I haven’t tried them, also find slices of Italian cheesecake, cannoli, miniature cream puffs, and fruit tarts. Indeed, the Sicilians are known as Italy’s foremost pastry chefs." - Robert Sietsema