SD26

I noticed that SD26 had taken advantage of the warm weather by adding outdoor seating, which is fantastic because SD26 is adjacent to Madison Square Park.  Looking to enjoy a meal outside in the gorgeous weather this past week, I headed over to SD26 with my parents in tow.  Sadly, as we approached the restaurant, we were accosted with noise from scaffolding construction.  The once picturesque views from the SD26 tables on the sidewalk would shortly be obstructed by scaffolding.

The hostess, sensing our disappointment, still managed to persuade us to enter.  To the hostess and server's credit, they were lovely and engaging, ensuring that our initial disappointment was long forgotten. 

SD26 features a bar and lounge area in front of the restaurant and a large dining room in the back of the restaurant.  While the bar and lounge area offer an abbreviated menu, if you request the dining room menu, the server will bring it to you and allow you to order any items off of the dining room menu. 

Because of the large menu and multiple dining options, SD26 is a terrific choice for dinner with friends, a date, or family.  I chose SD26 because my parents are wine people and appreciate fun wine experiences. 

SD26 offers patrons wine cards to use to sample various Italian wines.  Customers put the card in a machine and hold their wine glass adjacent to the selected wine bottle.  The wine pours are offered in various sizes.  Customers are charged according to the type of wine sampled/selected and the amount of wine poured.  There are about one dozen red ones and a half a dozen white wines in the wine machine.  SD26 also offers a large wine menu for the main dining area.

I've never had a bad meal at SD26.  While I tend to focus on their pasta dishes, you can't go wrong with any of their appetizers or entrees.Occasionally, I will take food to go and enjoy it on a park bench in Madison Square Park. 

What to Eat:

Start your meal off with the Burrata appetizer.  One of the things I love about SD26 is that the staff will change/add whatever items you prefer as long as SD26 has the ingredients.  We ordered the Burrata appetizer, requesting the prosciutto on the side and the addition of tomatoes.  The creamy burrata is doused with extra virgin olive oil, which is delicious BUT make sure to ask for the balsamic vinegar because it is outrageously good and a necessary finishing touch to this appetizer.

Another thing I love about SD26 is that it offers half sizes for several of its pasta dishes.  SD26's homemade pastas literally melt in your mouth.  When I go to SD26, I usually opt for a meat pasta and a tomato based pasta.  My favorites are the Chittara and Homemade Fettuccine pastas.

The Chittara pasta noodles bring you back to Florence (or take you there for those who haven't been yet).  These square edged spaghetti noodles are served with an incredible simple tomato and basil sauce.  SD26's tomato sauce Chittara is light and refreshing.  And the portion size allows plenty of room for soaking up the remaining sauce with SD26's bread rolls.

Another must at SD26 is the Fettuccine with lamb ragu.  The ragu sauce features coriander, fava beans and mint, which creates a colorful and inventive take on a ragu sauce.  This pasta is a rich and hearty contrast to SD26's Chittara.

With an early dinner in sight we passed on dessert but our server sent us home with a few orange zest infused donuts (yum!).

Looking for another insider tip? The one below is worth a glass of wine (as long as you don't order the Barolo ;)),

Your foodie friend

Insider tip: if you go on the SD26 website, you can sign up for a $15 free coupon to use on SD26's wine card