A Kitchen in Queens

You’ve all heard about my obsession with Booze and Balls.  Just to remind you, this wonderful happy hour at Stuzzicheria has 10.00 quartinos of red or white wine and 1.00 snacks.  Snacks = meatballs, chickpea fritters, olives, crostinis or fried risotto balls.  Cannot ask for a nicer happy hour.

Well, last week, I went twice in one day.  Once for happy hour and once for lunch.  I’ve been curious about their lunches.  I know they have a sandwich shop kind of tacked on to the side of the restaurant.  A sort of carry out for lunch, but I wanted to see what the options were for a nice sit down meal.  I helped my friend Heloisa get a job interview at my work, and she offered to take me to lunch, which was super duper nice.  She loves Italian, so we decided to try Stuzzicheria (sidenote: so glad I only have to write that here and not say it, because I think I constantly pronounce it wrong).  

After mulling over their fantastic menu, I settled on a light lunch of Fettucini with lamb ragu and ricotta.  Ok, maybe light wasn’t the right word to use there, but at this point everyone should know that I am not exactly a soup and salad kind of girl. 

I was a fan of this dish.  Nicely cooked, the lamb was flavorful, and it wasn’t actually as heavy as I assumed it would be on first glance.  I was able to finish the entire thing without feeling overly full, although I certainly had no room for desert.  The only complaints I had was that the pasta was slightly overcooked, not quite al dente, and a tad salty. 

The reality is that most of the food here is salty, from the meatballs to the fritters, but with the deals they have, I can overlook it.  I’ll be headed back to try the Ravioli sometime soon.