New Italian joint is on a roll with pinwheel lasagna
I F your winter tummy craves the starchy comforts of Italian food, but your palate’s tired of sameold orecchiette with broccoli raab, husband-andwife chefs Scott Tacinelli and Angie Rito have just the thing for you: Don Angie, their stylish new West Village spot, which offers creative riffs on classic Italian-American dishes.
Tacinelli and Rito invented the famous round chicken parm that looks like a pizza at Quality Italian. Their style is even more playful at Don Angie, especially with pasta — something fresh in a mostly dull dining season.
Red sauce is scarce on the menu. It pops up mainly in “lasagna for two” — pasta-sheet pinwheels set on their sides and filled with cheeses and pork- and-veal Bolognese. They look great on Instagram but also serve a purpose: They prevent the elements from collapsing into the gooey mess that happens with traditional layers.
The dish sounds overpriced at $64, but it’s enough for three or four. (Most menu items are otherwise priced from $11 to $34 and shareable as well.)
What’s the licoricelike note? Star anise, one of many spices and herbs that the chefs sneak into dishes unannounced.
Black sesame gives a zebrastripe flair to short, cylindrical caramelle pasta, stuffed with buffalo-milk mozzarella.
Other strong choices include barbecued calamari with crunchy pepperoni fried rice, and “blackened” chicken scarpariello.
The 60-seat space subtly alludes to the look of old redsauce joints with brown-andwhite checkerboard floors and leather-upholstered booths.
Don Angie isn’t about nostalgia, however. It’s for appetites eager to experience a new spin on Italian cuisine without clichés but full of its spirit.
103 Greenwich Ave. (at 12th Street); 212-889-8884, DonAngieNYC.com