My friend Jenna and I had the most delicious Italian dinner a few weekends ago at Fratelli on the Upper East Side. It was in the middle of one of those freezing, windy, snowy weekends, but the two of us were warm inside, enjoying a bottle of wine and some delicious food.
They started us out with crispy bread (pizza dough, perhaps?) with herbs. Thin and crispy, yet a bit soft, these were addicting.
The accompanying sauce / dip, however, was one of the highlights of the whole meal. Our waiter described it as sun-dried tomato spread: anchovies, olives, sun-dried tomatoes and olive oil. The chef makes it fresh every day, but they also sell it separately in jars to take home. That would make such a cute NYC souvenir! I’ll have to remember the next time I go visit someone (I’ve been bringing people Momofuku Milkbar cookies). Now that I finally have a food processor maybe I’ll even try to make this.
We ordered a salad to share, and they kindly split it for us without asking (I love when places do that, it’s less messy and there’s less reaching). The Insalata Fratelli had tomatoes, cheese, olives, carrots and artichokes (we had them hold the anchovies… those were good in the dip, but neither of us was ready to eat them whole).
With cracked pepper and a balsamic dressing, this simple salad hit the spot; and half was the perfect appetizer size for each of us.
Apparent in the restaurant’s name, Fratelli makes brick oven pizza, so that’s what we ate next. We chose to make our own; in other words, choose our own toppings – broccoli (what can I say, we both love veggies!), roasted peppers and pepperoni.
Super thin and crispy, the pizza was almost like a flat-bread. All the veggies loaded on top made it a little hard to eat, but all the flavors worked well together. Even though this is what they’re named after, I would say the appetizers and dessert shone brighter than the pizza.
Speaking of which, on to dessert. We knew immediately we needed to try their specialty, the white chocolate polenta cake. Not only is the dish beautiful and unique, it’s delectable. Jenna and I went back for bite after bite of the super spongy, crisp on the outside, moist on the inside cake. Topped with chocolate sauce and whipped cream, it was so good that we almost finished the whole thing, even after all that other food!
Fratelli is totally unassuming – hard to find online, a bit out-of-the-way uptown, and passed off as just another New York Italian restaurant. However, they are serving up fresh and interesting food that is worth checking out, and I would definitely go back for more.
Fratelli Brick Oven Pizza and Wine Bar
Tagged: artichoke, balsamic, bread, broccoli, cake, carrots, cheese, chocolate, dessert, dip, flatbread, Fratelli Brick Oven Pizza and Wine Bar, herbs, Italian, Italian food, lettuce, New York, New York City, olive oil, olives, pepperoni, peppers, pizza, polenta, polenta cake, restaurant, salad, salad dressing, spreads, sun-dried tomatoes, tomato, vegetables, whipped cream, white chocolate, wine, winter
