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I Bleed Marinara
My love of Italian food came in large part from my mother’s cooking, which would seem only natural, IF my mother weren’t 100% Irish… But if you think that ever stopped her from making some world-class meatballs, sausage and pepper sandwiches, or chicken parm, you’d be sadly mistaken mister!

Anyway, since moving to New York City, I can’t get my mom’s amazing cooking too often, but a man still has needs! In my two years of city-dwelling, I have managed to find a few places that satisfy me, but since I live so close to Little Italy now, I decided that this weekend I would explore that neighborhood a bit further.

Just to add some background, Little Italy used to be a significant residential neighborhood for ethnic Italians, but it has lately been encroached upon by Chinatown to the point where it exists along only a few city blocks between Canal and Broome (according to gonyc.about.com).

Il Piccolo Bufalo
Despite the area’s diminishing size, there are still some gems worth visiting. In my humble opinion, Il Piccolo Buffalo is real diamond in the rough. Unlike several other Little Italy restaurants, the staff here is exceptionally friendly and helpful, and the food is excellent. I went there with a lady friend of mine on Saturday, and in this instance, I got a pizza called the Piccolo Diavolo, which is basically a good spicy sausage pizza with hot peppers and capicola. Delicious! And considering the portions and service, very reasonably priced!

Ferrara Bakery and Cafe
Afterwards, we decided to get some coffee, so we headed over to a fairly well-known Italian bakery nearby, called Ferrara. This place is pretty upscale as far as bakeries go. Marble floors, hardwood facades, and suited waiters and waitresses that could easily go serve a high society ball or wedding without a wardrobe change, all come together to make this place a very classy experience. The prices are reflective of this, of course, but once you get a table you can sit and enjoy coffee, dessert or a nightcap in peace and comfort. One thing they most definitely don’t do at Ferrara is rush you, so take your time and relax!

The Bottom Line
The bottom line for Little Italy, in my experience, is this: choose your battles. A lot of the shops and restaurants here have degenerated into tourist traps that get you in the door with sweet promises of authenticity and deliciousity that ultimately don’t hold up under even the most casual expectations. With a little trial and error, however, you’ll find that there are a few places worth visiting, and may find yourself coming back again and again!

My experience with House music is admittedly limited, but this past Saturday I was convinced to go see the stylings of DJ Hernan Cattaneo. We bought tickets online for the show for $30 which felt a little steep, but I was willing to give it a shot, so at 10pm we got in a cab and headed out.

The Mansion is a club in the Meat Packing district that we almost walked right by at first owing to a general lack of signage that I’ve come to expect of trendy Meat Packing clubs, but once we got inside we quickly realized how huge the place was. After dropping coats off upstairs, we descended down to the bar area. Actually, the first bar area was more like a very large anteroom, with the main club area lying deeper in.

After crossing a hallway flanked by flaming beds of stones, we were in the heart of the club. A large bar and a VIP area in front made up the main room, with an upstairs lounge circling the back of the club. Early on, I realized the bar was too expensive for my blood at $10 for a shot and $16 for mixed drink, so I determined it would be a sober evening. I did try ordering a glass of water, but it was crowded, so I waited for about 10 minutes to get a bartenders attention, only to wait another 10 minutes to get it after I’d ordered it, which made my already sober experience just that much more unpleasant.

Upstairs was muuuch better. It was less crowded and had a better view of the DJ booth giving us a good place to settle in and dance, which we did for five hours straight! The house DJ opened, and for the most part was pretty awesome, though unfortunately I don’t know his name. Hernan Cattaneo was also good, and the club’s special effects kicked into high gear for his performance with strobes, giant jets of fog, and dancing girls in their underwear. He did nearly make my ears bleed with about 2 minutes worth of straight feedback noise, but otherwise the entire show was spot-on.

The bottom line is that this club is way too expensive to go to unless you really love house music and a club scene with perhaps a touch of euro-flavor to it. The tickets weren’t cheap, the drinks were egregious, and the VIP area was bottle-service only with $1000 price tag attached. That being said, if you avoid the expenses and stick to the balcony area, you’ll be fine. I wouldn’t recommend this spot though, unless you have a very specific reason for going.

Koronet pizza isn’t the most famous, or even the best prepared pizza in the city, but it sure is the biggest! As anyone familiar with this unassuming pizzeria will attest, the major selling point for Koronet is it’s massive single slice. These things are enormous, easily equal to two slices of any lesser pie. whereas I can easily polish off half a pie from most of the other pizza places in NYC, one Koronet slice did the job for me. I really can’t stress this enough: Koronet slices are big!

The other important draw is the price. Where many places in the city charge upwards of $2 for a normal size slice these days, the doublesize Koronet slices are only $3. In my opinion, this makes them without question one of the best values to be had in the sprawling pizza community of New York.

Unfortunately, Koronet is not without its issues. Chief among them, from my perspective, is location. All the way up around 110th street, Koronet is a bit of a hike for many New Yorkers, especially if you’re from another borough. If you happen to be a student at Columbia, its just a short walk to Koronet’s pizza, but everyone else will just have to pile on to the 1 train and make the journey one stop at a time.

Koronet pizza is good, but not necessarily great. While it doesn’t pack the same complex, classic flavors of the city’s more iconic pizzerias, it does offer pizza by the oh so large slice making it perfect for the budget minded. The bottom line is this: if you’re looking for a lot of food at budget prices, make the trip. If you don’t live near 110th street and you aren’t necessarily in the mood for mind-bogglingly large pies, then Koronet is probably too far out of your way to be worth it. Instead, try a slice at Joe’s in the Village (review coming soon!) and give Koronet a shot next time you’re up in the 100’s.

For all my readers (I think there may have been five of you ;), who haven’t heard from me in a while, I have an update! I’m now living in TriBeCa!

Why TriBeCa? Well the reasoning is that while I don’t plan on actually doing much in this neighborhood, it’s a major confluence of subway lines that will give me easy access to both the east and west sides. For a young NYC adventurer, you couldn’t ask for much more in terms of location.

With that said, I’m starting the blog up again, and hopefully this time I won’t go dark for 6 months at a time