Da Andrea for dinner: enjoy the taste of fresh ingredients and no shortcuts

There is something to be said for a place that entices you to come back when you're only on the bread basket.

Not that the bread basket was mind-blowing, although it was a well-chosen variety of savory breads encompassing herbed focaccia and white and wheat Italian dipped into olive oil - from winter olives, judging by its deep flavor - with pitted olives (you can spy it in the pictures as you go along).  Not that the decor was incomparably gorgeous, although the space is homey, intimate, and warmly-hued.  As you can see, our round table was covered with butcher paper.  Not that the service was exceptional, which you'll notice by the the polite but harried waiters and the slightly terse host.  Nice, but could've smiled a bit more.

It had more to do with the fact that Andrea's place is pretty and clean, no dish is above $20, and everything coming out of the kitchen is well-portioned and looks and smells like it would be closer to $30 if you were at Del Posto or Babbo. 

I love when you can tell that food has been prepared with care.  Take a look at "le tigelle."

Flat hot buns pressed with a flower design (SOLD) over "Parma" prosciutto and parmesan.  The flat hot buns are the star of the show: definitely toasty hot with good elasticity.  The "Parma" prosciutto was a bit drier and saltier from what the Parma prosciutto I had in Parma, but small potatoes.  Still a great appetizer.

The second appetizer was the warm octopus salad with olives and capers.

Coming from a culture that often eats octopus simply steamed and dabbled with soy sauce and sesame oil so as to appreciate the oceanic flavor and resistance of fresh octopus, having octopus European-style always presents a nice contrast.  Where there was resistance, there is now flaccidity.  Where there was discretion, there is now boldness.

The octopus was mouthfuls of tender juiciness.  A tad oversalted, but the Gaeta olives and capers they use are of good quality and the dish just explodes with fresh flavors all generously steeped in fragrant olive oil.

Our pastas arrived, and the tagliolini al nero was one of my favorites.

Squid ink pasta with cherry tomatoes and clams.  Again, Da Andrea does not fail to adhere well to the one of the defining tenets of Italian cuisine: freshness of ingredients.  Fresh al dente pasta (dare I say that the taste of squid ink was noticeable?), fresh sweet cherry tomatoes, and fresh clams.

The veal and spinach ravioli swam in a cream mushroom and prosciutto sauce that was just creamy enough to be indulgent but not overbearingly rich.  The veal was lean but still tender inside the ravioli.

This pasta dish is perhaps the most popular at Da Andrea, given how many plates of it were coming out of the kitchen.  Cavatelli with shrimp and salmon in pesto.  You mix pesto, one of America's favorite Italian pasta sauces, with salmon and shrimp, two of America's most widely-eaten fish and seafood types, and you know why there are two orders on our table.  Plus, the cavatelli had that pleasant sticky and springy quality signature of fresh handmade pastas, and the pesto evenly seasoned the large shrimp and - smaller - chunks of salmon.

Now that I've finished this post, I've worked up an appetite for La Follia tonight.

Experience...4.25/5
There's a reason why you'll espy smooching couples as well as large families at Da Andrea.  Great food with a warm atmosphere is always in demand.

Da Andrea
Chef: Andrea from Emilia-Romagna (:P)
35 West 13th Street
New York, NY 10011
(212) 367-1979
Between 5th and 6th Avenues