Michelle (from my Hungarian birthright trip) was visiting New York City, so Michelle, Paola (also from the trip) and I had a mini reunion over dinner one night.
After our failed search for Hungarian lángos during Michelle’s last visit, I wanted to give her a taste of how fabulous NYC is. So I suggested Avena, a brand-new Northern Italian restaurant in Midtown.
When you walk in everything is a classic white, with pink flowers and really unique light fixtures as accents. It feels like the New York version of this famous Los Angeles restaurant!
We started with an assortment of bread, and Michelle joked that we needed to try every kind so I would be able to report to you that they’re all delicious!
The things we do for this blog!
The chef sent over cold soup while we browsed the menu, and it was a delicious start to the meal.
For an appetizer, Michelle had the Spinacini Salad with baby spinach, pear, pistachio, sheep ricotta salata and white balsamic.
Paola selected the Carpaccio di Manzo with red angus carpaccio, chanterelles, parmigiano reggiano, fleur de sel and laudemio olive oil.
And I had the Capessante Scottate which are seared sea scallops with potato mille-feuille and fresh black norcia truffles. They were fabulous!
For our main course we all had pasta, reaffirming why we’re friends!
Michelle chose the Maltagliati alle Erbette alla Bolognese, which is a herbed pasta with red bolognese sauce.
Paola had the Risotto, which is served with zucchini flowers and king crab. She also had them add truffles on top, which I insisted she do. I’m such a good friend!
And I selected the Ravioli filled with ricotta and quail egg yolk and topped with fresh black norcia truffles.
This dish was so cool! Whenever my fork cut into a ravioli pillow the egg yolk oozed out, as if I were breaking open a poached egg rather than pasta. Plus it was delicious too!
Avena’s chef, Roberto Deiaco, is incredibly talented, and we loved all of our dishes. Plus his wife is the sweetest person, and she really made us feel welcome. I can’t recommend Avena enough!
To find out more information, and make a reservation, click here.
Come back soon Michelle!
~A
