Where can you find an authentic New York Italian restaurant where the goombas aren't ashamed to take their grandmamas and the owner makes his own wine (and probably shoots his own rabbits for the stews)? Look no further, pardner. Dinner tonight (if you can get a reservation) should be at
PICCOLO ANGOLO
621 Hudson Street (at Jane St.)
(212) 229-9177
Okay, so it's noisy and crowded, but then so is New York. The neighborhood regulars hope that you'll be so discouraged by the crazy Greenwich Avenue streets that you will give up before you find this place. Okay, there are two different Jane Streets a few blocks from one another, but don't give up. The easiest way to find this place is to tell the cab driver (who will be just as confused as you are) to go down Hudson from 14th Street. Jane is just before Abingdon Square.
The owner comes out to your table when you finally get seated and rattles off the menu at eight hundred miles an hour in broken English. Don't expect haute cuisine. This is Peasant food. The portions are big and flavorful. The atmosphere is very casual, but this is no dive. And though it seems crazy to order a bottle of wine knowing that owner Renato Migliorini makes it himself (is that the sound of family members stomping grapes in the basement?), you'll be pleasantly surprised.
So what to order? It seems crazy to steer to you a dish from a prior century like Veal Parmigiana, but a foodie friend told me that it was the best he'd ever had, so old-fashioned guy that I am, I ordered it the last time I was there. I am happy to report that it was the best Veal Parmigiana that I had ever had, too. Absolutely incredible (and large)! Our friends had the Osso Buco, which was fantastic, too (I had a bite), and Arlene swears by the rabbits (and the pasta).
Only in New York (or Italy, maybe)!
