Rosemary's

Rosemary's is undeniably beautiful.  Most NYC Italian restaurants are dark and overcrowded (see post on L'Apicio).  Rosemary's, on the other hand, is light and airy.  It feels like the dining room was plucked out of Napa Valley.  The walls are painted white and the dining room furniture is a light colored wood.  Plants and cooking supplies, like pots, are used as decor.  It feels like spring in Rosemary's.

Rosemary's large windows lining the dining room allow the sunlight to flood the dining room.  There is a long communal table down the middle of the restaurant, which has become somewhat commonplace in NYC restaurants.  Rosemary's doesn't take reservations but if you can snag a seat at the bar, the food is worth the wait.

The wine list boasts dozens of bottles of Italian wine under $40, a rare treat in this town.  But if you are a cocktail lover, you are out of luck.  Rosemary's only serves beer and wine.

While the decor and food were exceptional, the service was atrocious. Our server, who came across as affable at first, proved to be wholly incompetent. When we asked for bread, we received a regular sized bread basket with three meager slices.   It looked pathetic. We had to constantly ask for water. And when the bill arrived, the server incorrectly under charged our credit cards. When we politely brought this to his attention, he didn't thank us, he swiped the slips out of our hands and ran away to fix his mistake. Not an apology or a thank you.  Perhaps this was an isolated incident, but I wouldn't take someone here if I was trying to impress him/her (or at least give them fair warning about the service).

What to Eat:

Start with the Caprese Focacce.  The doughy foccacia bread is coated with a layer of marinara sauce and then topped with slices of mozzarella and basil.  The bread is then toasted in the oven to melt the mozzarella.  I would make sure to order one for every two people (or three people max).

For an entree, order the Cavatelli with Oxtail Ragu.  The soft, plump, homemade cavatelli noodles are mixed into a tomato based oxtail sauce.  The oxtail is shredded from the bone and stripped away from the fat so you don't have to eat around fatty pieces.  One of the reasons I sometimes shy away from oxtail ragu is I find it too fatty but Rosemary's oxtail ragu is perfection.

Feeling the spring weather today in NYC?  Rosemary's will definitely brighten your day,

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