About two weeks ago a colleague of mine came into my office raving about
Zampa, a small wine bar in West Village, that she and her friend had visited the night before and telling me that I must go. I had plans to have dinner with two of my friends later that week so I called to make reservations. Upon our arrival it became apparent that they somehow lost our reservations. The small restaurant was crowded but we didn't really want to go back outside and face the cold New York winter weather. As we stood in the entry way debating what to do the host and owner, Anthony Briatico, came over to us apologizing that this had happened and said he'd be able to fix up the little self-like bar against the window to make it a table top and pull up three stools, plus he'd buy our first bottle of wine to apologize for the inconvenience. As I'm sure he predicted, the
wine sealed the deal! We chose one of the white wines that was recommended to us by our friendly waiter, who even chimed into our
Real Housewives of O.C. conversations (haha- love it!). And don't be fooled by three petite New York ladies, we didn't stop at just one bottle of vino, we had three!!!
We had almost finished our first bottle of wine before even looking at the
menu. Without any pressure from the waiter, we decided it was finally time to accompany our night of drinking with some of their amazing food. We started with a plate of three different cheeses- Robiola di Tre Latti (a mix of sheep, cow and goat milk), Parmigiano Reggiano, and Tuscan Pecorino. All cheese plates are served with a side of jam and bread.
After the cheeses we shared three main dishes- two salads: Roast Beets with French Feta, Lemon, Olive Oil and Herbs as well as the Anjou Pear, and Frisee with Shallot Vinaigrette (they had no problem substituting the Gorgonzola Dolce cheese with shaved Parmigiano Reggiano). We also shared the night's special Mushroom Lasagna, one of their excellent vegetarian options.
To ensure that you have no problem securing your reservations, I recommend you use
OpenTable.
Zampa is
located at 306 W. 13th St. (btw. 8th Ave. & 14th St.)
Nearly eight weeks ago the owners of Zampa (Anthony Briatico, Danny Emerman and chef AlessandroProsperi) opened another wine bar, this one in Chelsea. Barocco is nestled in on 9th Avenue between 17th & 18th Streets, down the street from the Maritime Hotel. Barocco is similar to Zampa- it's a small wine bar with a menu much like Zampa's in that they have amazing cheeses, homemade fresh pastas and an assortment of Italian sandwiches.
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