This was a visit long overdue. I had read about the guys that created this 3-store chain over two years ago, right when they first opened their first shop at 84 Stanton, and never bothered to come until today, after recently coming across a very convincing Yelp review, and a meatball craving settling in.
This place doesn't take reservations, so I got there shortly after opening, hoping for an outdoor seat on a gorgeous Sunday; the place was completely packed with what seemed like loyal customers enjoying their meatball brunches. We ended up sitting at the communal table, centered in the middle of the shop. I'm not sure how I felt about sitting so closely to a complete stranger, but I made do.
I kept it basic with my order. Photographed below are the classic beef meatballs lounging in its classic tomato sauce pairing. I was surprised to detect hints of smoky ground prosciutto in every bite, and the light and tart tomato sauce was delicious. And the coarseness of the ground meat was perfect. If only it came with a bigger slice of foccacia, and toasted while at it.
Another recommended flavor are the spicy pork meatballs (not shown), which reminded me of a fresh Italian sausage with meatball consistency.
The daily greens special featured snap peas and pickled hon shimeji mushrooms tossed in herb butter. Refreshing, but the snap peas were bland. I don't remember that last time I had picked up a salt shaker.
The "Everything-But-The-Kitchen-Sink" salad really did have everything but the kitchen sink. The dish fearlessly embraced its lengthy name, sporting blanched broccoli, roasted chilled cauliflower, cucumber, arugula, roasted fennel, three meatballs smothered in its sauce, and a fried egg.
A mega scoop of ice cream sandwiched between two dark chocolate and hazelnut cookies finally came looking after much anticipation, at least on my part. The limited-time creme fraiche-cherry combination was what led me to choose this location in place of its brother shop, which was featuring blueberry (fro-yo) as its special. The cookies, which were also the special of the day, were inedibly hardened, but the ice cream center more than made up for that. The buttery, almost salty base with swirls of tart cherry made it the most memorable ice cream I've had in a while.
The caramel scoop arrived so melted it was nearly impossible to consume with the brownie walnut cookies. Although the ice cream was tooth-achingly sweet, we all agreed the thicker, softer cookies were better than the chocolate hazelnut ones pictured above.
After my last spoonful of ice cream, I sat there, please with simple, no-fuss food churning in my happy stomach. I was then ready to endure the three-hour long Batman movie and the terribly long wait then came with it.
84 Stanton
(1 of 3 locations)
