Restaurant Review: Bar Stuzzichini

Bar Stuzzinchini, which opened last year, offers what is becoming very popular food these days in NYC, Italian small plates. The Spanish tapas of a few years ago paved the way, but over the past year we've seen a handful of high-quality Italian small plates restaurants. Most recently Bar Stuzzichini was names "Best Small Plates" by NY Mag and was also on their best "Cheap Eats" list. With that aside, I've always wanted to dine here, but the Flatiron location has never been very convenient. Finally, I made my way here last Friday with a small party of three ready and willing to try anything and everything, but with high expectations.

Fortunately, I had made reservations for 8:30 because the entryway was a mad house; a mix of hosts, customers, coats madness that started everything off on the wrong foot. There is a gorgeous long bar when you first enter the restaurant on the right side which is partitioned off from the dining area. Chalkboards have various wines and appertifs written on them and this area is constantly flooded with people. The entryway situation was difficult to forget as we were finally led to our table after waiting for 15 minutes; we walked by the open kitchen where meats and cheeses were carved and a number of tables before being led to a back corner table right next to the kitchen. Unfortunate about the kitchen being next to us, but fortunate because it was probably the quietest table in the house. From it's exterior Bar Stuzzichini does not appear that large, maybe seating 50, but upon entering you notice the restaurants is very very deep and can accommodate at least double that figure. Mahogany is the wood/color of choice here and the lighting is slightly dim and seems to be set for a rustic or bistro like feel. A little more wear and tear on the restaurant would do the overall look good as it still looks too fresh and "out of the box".

Yearning to forget my poor first impressions we all scanned the menu with pleasure. I had read about the Stuzzichini Misti a selection of five small plates perfect for sharing, and a very reasonable $24, and looked forward to it. The small plates or misti consisted of a handful of Crostini, Verdure, Pesce, Formaggi, Friti and Salumi. Each dish varries in quantity, but is suitable to share with as many as three people, if you have anymore I would order double. My table selected the Baccala Fritti (salt cod fritter), Scamorze alla Brace (smokey grilled cheese), Carciofi (fried artichoke), Panelle (chickpea fritters) and Polpette (fried meatballs). Unsurprisingly the fried items are delicious with the artichoke and chickpea fritters being amazingly addictive. The salt cod fritters were probably the only one I would replace as it was just bland and paled in comparison to the other items.

Next up we ordered the Crostini Misti (crostini sampler) which brought us one of each of the crostini's offered. Of the four the best was the Ricotta e Miele (Saffron Honey) with its sweet yet smokey flavor. The other three were forgettable.

Knowing that would not be enough food for three people, we opted to split a pasta and chose the
Gnocchi all’Amatriciana (Gnocchi in red sauce with chili's and italian bacon). The dish was a great way to fill ourselves up, but seemed to fall short. The gnocchi, very small may I add, were not as light as I had expected and somewhat chewy. The sauce had a nice smokiness from the bacon and chili's, however, I would have preferred more of the fried artichoke at this point.

Hoping to end on a high note, and also a little hungry, we decided to order three desserts: Crostada della Mela (baked apple tart), “Mucca Marrone” (a spin on a brown cow ice cream soda) and Cannolis The baked apple tart was very good, but would have been much better if it was hot. The cannoli's, served by the piece, were quite good and not overly sweet as has been the case with cannoli's I've had before. The brown cow arrived with a wonderful presentation, but in my opinion was hurt by the orange Pellegrino which was used. The orange flavor did not seem to work with the rich chocolatey carbonation.

Bar Stuzzichini also offers an extensive wine list with glasses ranging from $9-16 and bottles starting in the high twenties. Beer is also available with a short list of three on tap and three bottled.

From a hype standpoint, the food is quite good, but I will stick with the misti sampler next time. The service needs to be fixed, especially the front of the house. The disorganization and clutter, no matter how busy you may be, shouldn't be tolerated by the manager. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt as they've likely seen more business due to the NY Mag write up a few weeks back, but a serious fix is needed. I'll go back, but not for some time, hopefully giving them a chance to figure things out.
928 Broadway, nr. 21st St.; 212-780-5100, Reservations - Recommended, Price - Moderate ($30-40/person)