Apizz
Chef/owner: John LaFemina. Also owner of Peasant and The Orchard
This isn’t so much a review as a reflection on something. Last night I revisited one of my favorite restaurants in my neighborhood, Apizz. It’s John LaFemina’s Italian rustic restaurant. Beautiful space with a wood burning oven for the entire dining room to see — if you are looking for a date place, this is the place to go. But what has kept me going back over and over again is the food.
The food is just warm, filling Italian comfort food. All food is cooked in a wood burning oven thus imparting each dish with that smoky goodness rarely found in plates served in NYC. If i like something, I REALLY like something so with certain restaurants I visit often, I tend to get the same plates repeatedly. I usually get their gnocchi with braised short ribs. The dish is composed of soft light pillows with flecks of honey glazed braised prime short ribs scattered throughout. I’m absolutely addicted to that dish and have converted many a friend to that plate as well.
The lasagna with wild boar is also quite good. So good that I can never wait for it to cool down and end up hastily shoving those cheesy tomato-y rich bites into my mouth overeagerly and walk away every time with a burnt tongue. One would think that wild boar would impart a “game-y” taste to the lasagna but it does not. In fact no one would ever know the lasagna was cooked with game meat. The lasagna is exactly the way I like my lasagna: minus the bechamel and simply TONS of melted ooey gooey cheese, layers of pasta, tomato sauce and dense flavorful meat.
But you see, I had Mcdonald’s at lunch (seriously I love ALL foods 
) and in an attempt to balance out the thousands of calories I consumed at lunch, I decided to take a healthier approach at dinner and branch out to non-pasta options. So i opted for the whole deboned grilled striped bass with rosemary, thyme and lemon…again cooked in that wonderful oven.
The flesh was perfectly cooked, moist and dense. You could taste the herbs with each bite. The dish was exactly what I expected. BUT i realized this: if you are going to eat out, don’t go healthy. Get what you want because really, why waste money on a dish that doesn’t make you go “ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…..yum”? Leave the healthy eating to nights at home or at the office but when dining out, indulge in that extra glass of wine and most definitely go for exactly what you want…even if it’s laden with cheese and meat and cream….because hey, you only live once and if you are spending the money and energy to eat out, go for it!!
Nothing is better than a nice glass of wine, great conversation and a plate of food that makes one swoon. I learned my lesson.
Apizz, 217 Eldridge Street, New York, NY
