Polpettina, opening in Larchmont the week of Dec. 9 at the space vacated by Espana, will no doubt be a hit because of the food, like the gourmet pizza you can find at its Eastchester location and its creative barbecue and pork plates.
But there’s more.
Here, I think, it’s going to be all about the bar. Forget the word ‘Chardonnay.’
Order a Gin Quince Old Fashioned and while you’re sipping this treat, check out the hand hewn ice block keeping it cold. Watch the staff mix a Barrel Aged Manhattan quickly flaming the orange rind to enhance the flavor. Get the idea?
Partners Michael Abruzese, Kyle Inserra and Joe Lodi hope to repeat the success of their first location (which the Wall Street Journal called “comfort food that on occasion is wildly ambitious”) but are adding the apparent genius of Mixologist Jonathan Forester.
Explaining to us how he sourced the elusive quince for the aforementioned cocktail, he explained that after extracting the elixir, he will centrifuge what’s left to create artisanal pastes for the kitchen.
Friendly and warm with walls of brick and reclaimed wood siding, Polpettina (“little meatball”) opens next week. Next. we will talk more about the food.
Meanwhile, save me a seat at the bar.
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Polpettina- 147 Larchmont Avenue, Larchmont polpettina.com
get your act together guys!
i really wanted to love this place– honestly i did-especially since one of the owners spent time on st john–one of my favorite asylums.-
we tried twice– first time the wait was 45 minutes so we deferred – tonight we went again and scored a table– VERY excited!– we ordered calamari ,my son ordered a pizza ,my daughter a pasta (bolognese) , for the table escarole and beans and myself eggplant parm. the young man serving us was very attentive — so i am not sure where the disconnect was– my son got the calamari (a pretty small portion considering the price) but it was quite good. and then his pizza — also very good. the table was cleared by the staff thinking we had finished (after my sons pizza) when they asked us if we wanted the check –when we hadn’t had our meal (at least my daughter and i)
the bolognese that my daughter ordered was also quite good and if it had come within 2- even 5 minutes or so of the pizza — well it would have been perfect–
but we waited for 30-45 plus minutes — the eggplant (which came before the bolognese ) was so -so–not really hot, not really cold, and th mozzarella was sort of rubbery…… folks YOU CAN DO THIS BETTER!!!
the escarole and beans (something i thought would be very fond of) was basically , meh… really meh.
i was really hoping for better from this place and the waiter (who claimed it was his issue — but I don;t think it was) was charming, but the house needs more training on what is happening and the front and kitchen apparently need to talk more (or maybe it was just a bad night….)
Polly, thank you for being our guest on Thursday December 5th, the 80th Anniversary of the Repeal of Prohibition! I just wanted to let you know that the name of barman in the photo above is Joe Price. In the photo of the cocktails, the one on the left is a Sazerac on a rock, the one on the right a Gin Quince Old Fashioned, and the one in back is Violette’s Dream. See you soon. -Jonathan M. Forester-