I tend to favor heading west towards 9th Avenue for more casual fare - burgers at Island Burgers, Thai from Wondee Siam or some simple Greek at Uncle Nick's. But a birthday dinner that included three generations meant one thing: Italian.
Maria Pia is nestled on West 51st between the 60+ year old veteran bistro Tout Va Bien and the throngs at Ippudo. Unassuming and welcoming, when you step down into Maria Pia's first level townhouse time stops. You no longer feel that New York City buzz, instead you feel at home.
The friendly staff gave us a round table at the front of the narrow restaurant. A plentiful bread basket included peasant bread and foccacia. Apparently my 5 year old has a thing for focaccia - who knew?
A three course prix-fixe dinner for $26.95 was tempting, even more so was the $16.95 3 course lunch, too bad it was 5:00. We found too few choices on the set menu, though and opted for a la carte while sipping some celebratory Prosecco.
Always a sucker for a Caesar salad, I split that with Bubba. It was fine, not extraordinary. JB's salad of beets and goat cheese was borderline extraordinary (kinda wish I tasted it - hint hint).
I had been craving eggplant for weeks and the time to fulfill that craving was at Maria Pia. Nothing fancy just rigatoni with eggplant, tomatoes and some ricotta salata. JB's craving was pumpkin ravioli and it did the trick. Meats and fish are adequate but the homemade pastas trump everything. Go for it.
And since it was a celebration there was dessert. I have never seen a tartufo so enjoyed as it was by Big Z. His face covered in chocolate with a big smile was the best dessert of all.
Until our next Berger,
KLB
Maria Pia
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