Salumeria Rosi Parmacotto

This is the second post in the series A Casual Weekend in New York. Other posts include Frank Pepe's Pizza.

I have a weak spot for these Italian markets-inside-of-a-restaurant (or is it vice versa?). After enjoying one of our favorite Italian meals ever at one of these quaint places in Rome, I longed to find something like that in the U.S.

Lucky for me, I live less than a five-hour train ride away from New York City, where these types of markets have been flourishing. We'd already discovered one favorite - a cozy, authentic Italian restaurant/market that sells incredible Italian goods (love their olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and bread!) as well as serves fantastic food.

I was thrilled to find another one of these types of places. This restaurant is unique because it comes out of a partnership between two very seasoned Italian entities: Chef Cesare Casella, a seasoned restauranteur and chef who earned his family restaurant in Italy its first Michelin Star when he took over as chef; and The Rosi family, who own Parmacotto, a specialty meats company in Italy.

It's no surprise that the salumi we tried here was among the best we'd ever had this side of the Atlantic.

Like a typical market/restaurant, Salumeria Rosi sells all sorts of Italian imports and various house made treats at the front counter.

You have your choice of a variety of antipasto ingredients.

Or maybe some of their house pasta or olive oil?

Of course, as I have mentioned before, the cured meats are the stars of the show. The selection changes daily and the menu can be an bit overwhelming if it's your first time.

I think the best way to experience as many as possible is to order a variety plate. We opted for the smaller size, which includes two of each kind. I think the larger plate includes three of each kind, which would be nice for larger parties.

We tried the following: Soppressato Picante, Soppressato Dolce, Finochioni (fennel), Chef's Signature Ham, Coppa, and Mortadella. Bryan's favorite was the Soppressato Picante, which had an intensely rich and deep flavor with just a bit of "funk" to it that he loved (yes, this is the same guy that loves blue cheese and the like). My favorite was the Finochioni, which was embedded with peppercorns for that extra little kick.

To give a semblance of being healthy, we ordered Chef Cesare's signature salad, Pontormo ($13), which consists of market greens tossed together with a soft-scrambled egg, guanciale and pancetta. It's hard to go wrong with that combination of ingredients, and the smoky, salty cured meats most certainly added a lovely dimension to this green salad.

We also ordered Sauteed Brussels Sprouts ($12), which was served with crushed garlic and crispy prosciutto di Parma D.O.P. Overall, the dish was fine but nothing particularly special.

According to our waiter, New York Magazine voted Salumeria Rosi's Lasagna ($15) as the "Best Lasagna in New York." The lasagna layers are filled with a pork and beef ragu and bechamel sauce. It's deep, rich, and quite satisfying to eat. The pasta sheets were a bit softer than I would have liked, but overall it was pretty tasty.

I personally preferred the Amatriciana ($15) over the lasagna. Amatriciana is a pasta dish that we saw constantly while we were in Rome. It's a gorgeously flavorful tomato-based sauce made with guanciale, Pecorino, and Romano. It's deeply rich and flavorful. The pasta, even though it wasn't freshly made, was a gorgeous al dente texture. I loved it.

The waiter strongly recommended that we order the grilled prime steak, Manzo ($17),  which came with heirloom beans from the chef's farm in Italy. We were surprised that such a simple dish was be so good, but it turned out to be one our favorites. The steak was cooked perfectly, and the beans were incredible! They soaked up all the jus from the steak and were juicy and flavorful.

According to the Chef Cesare Casella, he started his own heirloom bean business after realizing that he couldn't find really good beans in New York in order to make some of his signature dishes.

We tried a series of cheeses to round out the meal. You can get cheese individually for about $8 each, or try a variety of three for $17.Finally for dessert, we shared Semifreddo ($9), a Parmigiano Reggiano parfait (essentially a frozen ice-cream-like block filled with toffee and nuts with a Parmesan crust), Prosciutto di Parma brittle, and peaches. It was unusual, but it worked. I was expecting it to be more savory, like the Parmesan ice cream we had in Rome. But this was still very definitively a sweet dessert.

Salumeria Rosi seems to be the only Italian market/restaurant of its kind in the Upper West Side. It's probably only about a 3-minute walk from my aunt's condo (lucky her!).

Overall, we really enjoyed our meal here. Dishes are all served in small plate form and cost around $15 each, so prices can quickly add up. Everything we tried here was quite tasty - it seems like you can't go too wrong with the food selection.

Despite all that, when it comes to food, we still give the edge to Il Buco Alimentari, whose pastas and secondi plates still stand as one of our favorites in New York. In fact, we went back to Il Buco for lunch the last day of our weekend trip.

However, Salumeria Rosi Parmacotto has a definite edge on the quality of the salumi. Everything we tried on that variety plate was seriously really, really good. Don't skip the salumi plate and definitely order something with their heirloom beans.

We liked our favorite cured meats so much, we walked up to the market after lunch and took some to take home with us.

And yes, we carried it all the way with us back to Boston. Yum.

Related Posts
Il Buco Alimentari
Roscioli
Il Convivio
Sunday Night Suppers via Formaggio Kitchen

Salumeria Rosi Parmacotta
283 Amsterdam Ave.
New York, NY

Ramps Pesto

Perhaps I'm ignorant about food, or maybe the craze has just popped up recently, but I had never heard of ramps until about 2 years ago.

And it wasn't until last spring that I tasted ramps for the first time (at a restaurant) and proceeded to fall in love with that pungent, garlicky flavor.

And then it wasn't until this spring - just a couple weeks ago, in fact - that I finally saw them in the market. I pounced on my chance to pick up a few stalks so that I could finally, finally try cooking these gorgeous plants myself.

Ramps, also known as spring onions, wild garlic, or wild leeks, grow wild throughout the forests in Massachusetts and pretty much up and down the East Coast. These vegetables are one of the first things to pop up in the spring, and people go crazy when they appear for their short, short season.

Ramps are not really cultivated, so if you see ramps on the menu or the market, someone has gone out foraging for them. Some have expressed concern about the fanatacism surrounding ramps leading to over harvesting of the delicate plant.  In fact, Quebec has outlawed the sale of ramps since 1995, called it a "threatened" species.

I think ramps are still growing healthily in many parts of New England. However, I wouldn't be surprised if there are patches that have been picked in an unsustainable manner.

With this knowledge and understanding about ramps, I approached my first (and likely only encounter) with ramps this spring with a heightened level of appreciation and awareness.

Ramps are both garlicky and "onion-y" - pungent, almost spicy, and very fragrant. I think they work super well in pesto because they act both as the green "leafy" agent and the strongly flavored "garlicky" agent.

I always hated peeling all those garlic cloves when making traditional basil pesto, so this saves a previously annoying step!

Making ramp pesto is super easy and there's really no "exact" recipe. Essentially, you need ramps, some sort of nuts, some sort of hard, salty cheese (grated, please), and oil. As for nuts, try using toasted walnuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, or almonds. You could also use pine nuts, the traditional nut used in basil pesto.

And that's it!

Throw everything into a food processor except the oil. Give it a whirl until you have a chunky puree.

Turn the machine back on and start adding the oil in a stream. Add enough until you are happy with the consistency.

You want a smooth paste.

The whole process takes all of 2 minutes, really.

Taste test it, though. You can add a bit of salt if you think it needs it (it all depends on how salty your cheese was). Alternatively, you could add more cheese too if you so desire. It's really up to you.

Once you're satisfied with the flavor of the pesto, you can do all sorts of things with it. You can freeze a portion of it for later use. You can throw a dollop of it in soup (yum!). You can eat it with bread, or you can serve it with pasta!

You can see what I chose to do. I eye-balled the whole thing and didn't really measure exactly. I just added enough pesto so that it nicely covered all the pasta I had made. If you have leftover pesto, you can always freeze the rest and eat it with crostini or a tomato mozzarella salad.

In my case, there was quite a bit of pesto (compared to pasta). I don't mind a saucier pasta at all, so I threw it all in. It's your call.

Enjoy!


Ramps Pesto
Serves about 2

1 bunch of ramps (see my photo below, maybe 10 small stalks?)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated
1/2 cup nuts (many recipes use walnuts or pistachios; I had marcona almonds on hand, which worked fine)
~1/3 cup olive oil, give or take
optionally salt
1 lb fresh pasta

Giulia

This is the fourth restaurant post in the series, Welcome to My New Hood, focused on restaurants in the neighborhood between Harvard Square and Porter Square. Other posts in this series: Rafiki Bistro (no longer open), Super Fusion Sushi, and Temple Bar.

 "Why Giulia?" we asked.

Giulia is the name of a street in Italy where Chef Michael Pagliarini's brother works.
 
In fact, there are little hints of Chef Pagliarini's Italian roots all over the restaurant, from the generous sprinkling of Italian words all over the menu (we had to ask several times, "what does this mean?") to the traditional Italian cookies offered for dessert - baked by his mom - who  learned these recipes from friends in Italy.

If you haven't heard, Chef Pagliarini, who previously worked at Via Matta in the Back Bay, has just opened up a new Italian restaurant in Cambridge.

There has been much pent up demand for this place. In the past, people regularly bemoaned the lack of Italian restaurants in Cambridge, especially on this stretch between Harvard Square and Porter Square where gastropubs rule. Sure, you can head up north to Gran Gusto (excellent place, by the way) or to Huron Village and check out Trattoria Pulcinella . . . but for a place that's really close and convenient?

As you must know by now, Bryan loves fresh pasta. When we heard that Chef Pagliarini would be making fresh pasta daily right at the chef's table, we absolutely could not wait for this place to open.

Last week it finally opened on Tuesday. We immediately called them up and made a reservation for four (plus a baby!).

The inside is warm and cozy, with a long bar (yay, I love eating at the bar) and a chef's table at the back which functions as a pasta-making table by day. It has a similar layout as the old Rafiki Bistro, but it's much more spruced up and, frankly, looks much nicer.

The restaurant was surprisingly accommodating for my friends' newborn (only 4 weeks old!). They have a nice table that's right next to the window sort of separated from everyone else. We arrived right when the restaurant opened (5:30PM) and my friends were able to keep the stroller with the sleeping baby right next to our table the entire dinner.

The menu is divided up into five sections: Sfitzi, which are like little bites, cost from $3-$5. Antipasti ($10-$16) are appetizers, and include dishes such as a burrata salad, salumi plate, crudo, and bruschetta (just to name a few). Then there are various Pasta 'della Nostra Tabola', which are fresh pasta dishes made in-house (right on top of that loooooong chef's table) which are "primo" sized (starter portion) and cost between $15-$22. The Meat & Fish section contains various cooked meat and fish entrees ($18-$42), and then there are Contorni (sides), which cost $5-$7. Desserts come on a separate menu and includes dessert cordials, sweets, and cheeses.

One of my favorite bites of the entire evening came first. The Warm Semolina Cakes with Lardo ($5) was fantastic. Soft, light, fluffy, yet super moist inside, these bite-sized cakes were topped with a paper thin piece of lardo, which virtually melted on top of the warm cake. It was absolutely fantastic.

The Tiny Clams 'in brodetto' ($16) came cooked in a fragrant broth with pancetta, garbanzo beans and spinach. The flavors for this dish were excellent, beautifully aromatic and well seasoned. We couldn't help but soak up the broth with our bread in order to savor the flavor a bit longer.
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'Carne Cruda' crostini ($11) was beef tartare served with mini-toast (crostini) and pickled, roasted, and fresh "allium" (garlic, shallots, the like). Unfortunately, this dish was a bit disappointing. The beef pieces were just a bit larger than we liked, and the beef itself was slightly undersalted and not particularly flavorful. The accompanying mix of pickled vegetables was OK, but a bit too sweet for my tastes.

The Burrata di Puglia ($14) was served with charred peppers, golden raisins, and pine nuts. The ingredients were definitely good quality, and the overall combination of flavors was solid, though nothing particularly special.

We've been enjoying some incredible salumi at home lately, so Bryan was really keen on trying the Assorted Salumi ($15), which consisted of mortadella, soppressata, fincchiona, and wild boar.

Overall, the salumi plate was OK ("it's fine" according to Bryan), but probably not something I would order again. Bryan and I both enjoy the salumi we buy at the local gourmet market a lot more. To be fair, at the market we get to try a bunch before picking which to buy, which makes it a lot easier to get the ones that we love.

The staff was a bit confused about the salumi. At first they indicated that it was "local", but then affirmed that it was from Italy. When they served it, they were unable to distinguish between two of the types (they looked really similar), and told us we should be able to find out once we tasted it.

The fresh pasta is really, really good.
We love the fact that they make the pasta daily on that huge chef's table. Nothing beats homemade pasta, and all of theirs are excellent.
I loved the unusual Spelt Fusilli with Roasted Mushrooms ($15). Loaded with fresh herbs, this simple pasta is tossed with butter and grana padano. The spelt pasta adds a lovely nuttiness to the dish, which was excellent. Of course, the texture of the pasta was great - very dense and chewy. This was definitely one of the favorites at the table.

The Boston Bluefish Puttanesca ($16) was quite an unusual dish, made with with maltagliati (a type of pasta), capers, anchovy, tomato, and hot chilies. I personally found the very strong bluefish flavor to be a bit weird. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't my favorite flavor either. My friend thought the strongly flavored sauce worked well to stand up to the strongly flavored bluefish.

The Papardelle with Wild Boar came with black trumpet mushrooms, juniper, and aged parmigiano. Again, the homemade pasta texture was excellent, and the flavors of the dish were perfectly balanced and really came together nicely. The wild boar was soft and tender, and everything was executed well. This was probably Bryan's favorite pasta dish.

The Bucatini all'Amatriciana was my least favorite of the bunch. Even though I fell in love with this dish in Rome, this version was not nearly as flavorful. The tomato sauce was a bit too acidic and lacked a deep, sweet "tomato" flavor. Several of us thought it was a bit too salty, though one of us really liked it because it had a nice, real spicy kick. Of course, the texture of the bucatini was perfect - I just wished the sauce had something more . . .

The Brussels Sprouts, Orange Zest, and Hot Peppers ($5) was another one of my favorite dishes (it's just a side dish). How come I never thought of roasting Brussels sprouts with hot peppers? It is ingenious and so good. One of my friends didn't like how charred the sprouts were, (he thought the food was burnt), but I personally really enjoy sprouts when they are a bit charred, so I didn't mind one bit.

For $5, I would totally get this again.

Secondi - Meat & Fish

Rohan Duck Breast ($32) came with Umbrian lentils, cippolini, and pomegranate saba. This duck was quite fatty, and because the skin was not scored, none of the fat was rendered. This resulted in pieces duck that were attached to a rather thick and chewy chunk of fat. According to my friend, "the fat to meat ratio is off." Bryan thought the flavor of the duck was fine, though not particularly memorable. We did love the lentils, which were extremely flavorful and had a nice, al dente texture.

The Grilled Branzino ($24) was roasted with anise and potatoes and topped with sea urchin. The fish was perfectly seared and we loved the crispy skin on top. The fish itself was also nice and tender. We wished for more uni (that little dollop on top was not quite enough for the whole piece of fish). Other than that, the dish was pretty good. Solid execution, quality ingredients, and overall good flavors.

House Made Lamb Sausage ($18) came on top of a pile of broccoli rabe, pepperonata, and "gigante" beans. These beans were definitely huge ("gigante"!) and were really tasty, reminding me a bit of starchy mashed potatoes. I loved the flavors of the beans together with the vegetables underneath. The lamb itself was a bit salty to eat on its own, though it went well with the vegetables and beans.

Sicilian Style Swordfish ($24) came with autumn vegetable caponata and fresh oregano. Although I would have loved for them to cook the swordfish just a hair less, it was still executed reasonably well, better than most restaurants. The fish was tender yet fully cooked through. Though I found the caponata to be a bit too sweet, overall the dish was OK.

The server highly recommended the Cheese Plate ($14), which comes with these gorgeous homemade tninly sliced crackers that are filled with all sorts of goodies, like almonds, raisins, and walnuts. The crackers were absolutely fabulous. They were so delicate yet so flavorful at the same time. I longed for more than three slices to go with my cheese, which were all pretty enjoyable.

The Cookie Plate consists of cookies made by the chef's mother, who learned how to make these while she was in Italy. These were authentic and solid, though definitely quite sweet for my tastes. I can only nibble a bit before I need a big swig of coffee!

First Impressions?
Overall the food is very good at Giulia. Their strength is definitely the homemade pastas, which have excellent texture and really nice flavors. The starters were mixed but there were definitely some standouts (e.g., the clams). We fell in love with the semolina cakes (I hope he never takes that off the menu), but were a bit disappointed with the beef tartare and uninspired by the salumi plate. Except for the duck, we really enjoyed the "secondi" main dishes as well. All the fish dishes were executed well, with quality ingredients and nice flavors.
 
If you're a huge pasta fan and you live in the area, you'll be thrilled that we finally have some really nice pasta options right here in Cambridge. Instead of heading out to Boston for a nice Italian dinner out, you can just walk down the street.

It's actually quite expensive to eat at Giulia's. Although the individual menu items don't cost that much, expect to order at least a few courses (if not more) to equal a regular meal elsewhere. In fact, the server told us that the menu portions are designed to allow diners to eat all five (!) courses.

I couldn't believe it at first, but evidence speaks volumes. Four of us ordered two "sfitzi" (small bites), four "antipasti" (appetizers), four pastas, four entrees, a cheese plate, and a dessert. We ate everything, and though the women felt a bit stuffed, the men felt just right.

I think the "antipasti" are actually reasonably portions (comparable to an appetizer at any other restaurant), though I agree the pastas are a bit too small to really count as a regular entree. Bryan definitely thought he needed to order two pastas dishes if he wanted to eat it as a dinner, which means spending around $30 just for the pasta entree.

The place is priced like a higher-end Italian restaurant in the North End, but we're not quite sure if the ambiance, service, and location quite match the prices. I guess time will tell if this neighborhood is willing to pay those prices on a regular basis.

Nevertheless, I'm still really excited to have such quality food in the neighborhood. I'm hoping they think about offering more reasonably priced weekday deals like many of the other local restaurants (both Bergamot and Ten Tables offer a 3-course $39 deal, which is really nice). It would definitely incentivize locals like me to stop by more often on random weeknights for a more "casual" dinner at the bar.

Welcome to the neighborhood, Giulia. We're anxious looking forward to seeing what other cool pasta dishes you'll dream up next.

Giulia
682 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 441-2800

Behind the Scenes - the filming of Kitchen Nightmares Relaunch Night

Some of you may know that I made a brief "cameo" on Kitchen Nightmares on the first episode of the season when Gordon Ramsey came to Boston to "fix" La Galleria 33 in the North End. We weren't allowed to talk about our experiences until the week of the airing of the show. Now that the show has aired, I will share with you my actual experience that night.

It was early May, 2012. I had just won Saveur's "Best Food Blog Award" for Restaurant/Dining. Soon after, I received an interesting email from one of the producers at FOX.

"Would you be interested in dining on camera for this episode, and giving us your thoughts on the food/changes as Chef Ramsay's surprise guest?"

Surprise guest? Really??

I was intrigued, but also a bit anxious. I had searched around on the internet, and saw that another food blogger from Rhode Island had gotten criticized quite a bit by the public after they featured her heavily on one of the shows.

Nevertheless, I agreed and asked three friends to join me (Bryan was away on business at the time).

The moment we arrived, we knew this would be no ordinary dinner.

My friend Loren holding up the waiver forms. Chia Chi Sun and Peter Sun in the back.

First, there was a huge line outside the restaurant. Word had gotten out that Gordon Ramsey was filming in Boston, and reservations that night were open to the public (if you could nab one). There was an initial line to "check in", where we all signed our lives away on multiple waiver forms (essentially, they can do whatever they want with your image with no compensation to you).

Furthermore, as a media member, I had to promise to keep everything top secret until now, basically.

They did not want to overwhelm the kitchen all at once, so they only let people enter in small waves to emulate what a real restaurant would be like.

After about thirty minutes waiting outside in the wet rain, our names were called. We'd been lucky. Some folks waited well over an hour in the rain.

We stepped inside.


"Welcome to La Galleria 33."

The two owners, Lisa and Rita, stood at the front of the house. The environment was warm, quaint, and really cozy.

I told one of the producers, "this is really, really nice! I love the exposed brick. It really makes it cozy."

"Wait! Can you repeat that for the camera? That's perfect."

It wasn't until later that I realized why they loved my statement. Gordon Ramsey had torn down all this artwork to expose the brick. I had inadvertently said exactly what they wanted to hear.

I repeated it for the camera, though that particular statement didn't make it onto the show.

There were cameras everywhere - a huge one in front of the restaurant, multiple cameramen walking around the dining room, a hanging boom mic dangling over our heads. It was almost comical, in fact.

It was hard to act naturally when the cameras and microphones were hovering over us, but we tried.

What I didn't realize until later was that our table was bugged! The "plant" on our table actually had a microphone wire coming out of it, and there was a huge security-type camera pointed at us the entire time. If you watch the show carefully, you can tell which shots are taken with the "security" type cameras. They are usually lower quality and everything is a bit distorted in a weird, fish-eye, spherical kind of way.

Scene from Kitchen Nightmares where Jen is trying the arancini and says,"It's fried perfectly. I like it."

The restaurant coordinator, holding a clipboard in one hand and sporting a headset, came up to our table and warmly welcomed us to the restaurant.

"Thank you so much for coming here tonight. I want you guys to be honest. Really tell us what you think. Any feedback would be really helpful to the restaurant. Enjoy!"

A friendly and sweet waitress named Sarah (who became a major character in the show), handed us our menus and told us about the new small plates concept as well as the "special" that day, the branzino. We ordered a variety of dishes (including two orders of the branzino), as well as a bottle of wine.

The meal did not start out well.
The bread arrived. It was comically hard. Peter had trouble biting it, and I had a really hard time pulling it apart.

The wine was reasonably priced (we got a $50 bottle), and the wine list had a nice variety of lower price choices. Sarah, in her nervousness, forgot to pour Peter his glass of wine. Not a huge deal, but it was a bit funny.

Shortly afterwards, Sarah came by and offered us an appetizer "compliments of the chef."

It was a small plate of Cheese Agnolotti with Pesto. Unfortunately, this was one of the most awful dishes of the night. Although the flavor of the pesto was reasonably good, the entire dish was much too oily.  Furthermore, the homemade agnolottis were not evenly cooked. Some were not yet done and had pretty hard skins. Others were OK. We did not finish it. For me, it was just too oily.
 Thankfully, the Basil Arancini was much better. An unusual shape, these arancinis (deep, fried risotto balls) were square, sort of like a deck of cards, and green inside (from the basil).

"It's perfectly fried. I liked it." I said. Not surprisingly, this was the only statement of mine that made it onto the actual show.

I did think it was perfectly fried. The execution was good, and the dish was fun to eat. My friend Loren thought that the heavier breading (which oddly reminded him of frozen chicken patties), overpowered the subtleties of the risotto. I agree that it's harder to taste the nuances of the basil flavor. Nevertheless, the dish is enjoyable to eat, even if it's not exactly that authentic.

One of the best dishes of the night was the Chicken Liver Crostini.  We all thought that this appetizer was perfectly executed. The topping was not too "livery", making it more friendly to those like me who don't particularly care for the flavor of liver.

The coordinator stopped by again.

"How is it so far?"

He had been working very closely with me up to that point, wanting to know when I was going to tweet, what I was going to tweet, etc.

We gave a ton of honest but very constructive feedback. I mentioned the weaknesses of the agnolotti, and praised the chicken liver crostini. We gave specific feedback regarding various aspects of the dishes we had tried.

He looked a tad nervous. He asked if we could only tweet publicly our positive comments. These people are really trying hard to turn things around.  "We really want to help this restaurant out."

So much for true reality TV.

It's understandable, though. It's their first day trying to execute a brand new menu with a new concept. They are on camera. Gordon Ramsay is yelling at them. It's not surprising that the staff is super, super nervous.

Not Entrees, but "Small Plates"
We started with the Cioppino, a fragrant seafood stew. Although the flavors of the stew were pretty tasty, the seafood was unfortunately overcooked and suffered a bit in texture.

My friend Peter ordered the Chicken Marsala. He thought the chicken breast was very tender, likely achieved from being pounded so thin.

"It's good, though the sauce does not really taste like marsala.  It tastes more like chicken with sauce." (whatever that means, maybe chicken jus?).  Overall, Peter said he enjoyed the dish and that, for $15 in the North End, it's not bad at all.

My friend Chia Chi ordered the Linguini with Clam Sauce. The fresh, homemade pasta was cooked a decent al dente (within acceptable range, though I personally though it could be just a tad more al dente). Peter and Loren wished the noodle strands were longer (for some reason they were all cut in half). Everyone agreed that the flavor of the clam sauce was excellent, and they were generous with the amount of chopped clams. Peter thought the clams were fresh, although Loren was convinced they were canned (no proof, though if they had used real clams in shells then it would have be indisputable).
The Gnocchi was another winner. Nice, pillowy soft, it had fantastic texture. The tomato sauce had pretty good flavor, and our most critical friend, Loren, actually said he would consider coming here for this dish. Though I liked the texture, I personally thought the sauce was a tad salty and not particularly deep in flavor.

I ordered the Asparagus risotto with Black Truffle. We all thought the black truffle must be missing - there was absolutely no black truffle flavor. The risotto was cooked just a tad  under (with a slight crunch in the middle), and the dish was a bit soupy. There was inconsistency in execution, because the same risotto that was later served with the branzino was perfectly cooked.
 Speaking of the branzino, the Branzino over Asparagus Risotto ($24) was the daily special. The risotto was perfectly cooked, though the dish was a bit boring in flavor because the asparagus was merely blanched, not roasted or grilled. The branzino was a bit undersalted and overcooked, though the skin was nicely seared. It was unlike most branzinos I've seen in Italian restaurants because we were only served the filet, not the entire fish.

We had wanted to get two orders of the branzino. Because they had run out, the chef recommended that we get the Porchetta ($24) instead. It was little dry, though it was properly salted.

Dessert

We tried two desserts. It wasn't until later that we found out that the Tiramisu was featured quite a bit on the show. It was one of the few original dishes that Chef Ramsey actually thought was good. The tiramusi had a nice dark espresso bitterness and the marscapone cheese was denser, thicker, and creamier than what I typically encounter. Overall it was pretty good.
 Similarly, the Olive oil cake with Fruit was solid. The tartness of the berries offered a nice contrast to the spongy and light olive oil cake.

At the end of the day, standouts were Chicken Liver Crostini, Liguini with Clam Sauce, and the Gnocchi. The Chicken Marsala and Basil Arancini are nontraditional, but still enjoyable to eat.  Desserts are pretty good. The risotto is hit or miss, and the meat dishes are probably their weakness.

Overall, they seem to execute basic pastas well (although I'm still not sure why the agnolotti failed so much!)

We briefly met Gordon Ramsay. I shook his hand and said "nice to meet you." All he said was "sorry about the branzino" and then he ran off. I thought he was apologizing because it was overcooked, but Loren thinks it's because they had run out. That makes more sense, I guess.

Service was understandably slow, but I think this restaurant has promise. They were able to execute some of the dishes quite well. They just need to keep working at it, getting their act together so they can consistently put out good dishes.

Walking out the first time in the show. We actually did not visit the restaurant twice, though in the show you see us walking out after the initial "bad" dinner as well as the relaunch dinner. In fact, we only went to the relaunch dinner. I guess there were just good "exiting" shots of us.

Have I gone back?
Not since May. It's really hard when there are so many excellent options in the North End. If La Galleria 33 were down the street from me in the Harvard/Porter Square area (where there's such a dearth of Italian restaurants), I'd probably go pretty frequently. However, if I'm making the trek all the way out to the North End, right now, it's not my top choice.

Having said that, their prices are pretty reasonable, and I like the idea of small plates for those of us who don't like to eat that much.

After watching the show, I kind of feel like I know these owners, and I really do hope they succeed. They've made major improvements already, and hopefully it can only get better from here.

Our group walking out of the restaurant - the closing scene of the entire show was us saying good-by and walking out.

Credit: Thanks to Fox for providing the images of the food and of me dining at the restuarant. There are also three screenshots from the TV show.