I actually found out about the quaint Roman-style trattoria Emporio in Nolita through my friend Archana’s blog at LettuceVeg.com. She took much better pictures than I did with my camera too, but I’m glad I went on her recommendation because everything we had was delicious. Plus, I was obsessed with the candle-lit back room where we had our little girls night. The middle of the space has communal tables. Though, if you want more privacy, the booths along the sides have curtains you can pull on either side so you block out the distractions.
My favorite was the ricotta ravioli with tomato and baby zucchini. It was so fresh and delicious. The Squid Ink Fettuccine was a little too seafood-ish for me!
Afterwards, unfortunately, we had an underwhelming dessert experience at Balaboosta. We originally had planned to go to Village Tart, one of my favorite dessert spots downtown but it was closed for some reason (and PS, I just found out yesterday that it’s closed down for good…stab in the heart). So we decided to head over to Balaboosta which wasn’t too far away. It was my first time there and it’s a really cute Mediterranean restaurant. The special of the day was a some pistachio dessert with chocolate and whip cream and all sorts of goodness, but when we sat down, we were told they just ran out.
We instead ordered chocolate mousse and another bread pudding dessert. Both looked a lot better than it tasted:
But honestly, the rest of the menu sounded good, so I’m not writing it off just yet. I’ll definitely go back for another meal — just not for the dessert this time. Best part was when we ordered our mint tea…which wasn’t really mint tea. It was instead, hot water poured on top of mint leaves. Which basically tasted like hot mint water.
Eh. Can’t win em all.
Restaurant Info:
Emporio
231 Mott St. (near Prince)
New York, NY 10012
(212) 966-1234
Nolita
Balaboosta
214 W. Mulberry St.
near Spring St.
New York, NY 10012
(212) 966-7366
Nolita
x
Shy
Emporio is da bomb! Next time, definitely try the burrata pizza.