La Pietra Cucina

Fried stuffed olives and Proscuitto di Parma.

Recently I took Calvin to a (very) belated birthday dinner at La Pietra Cucina, a true Italian restaurant that opened within the past two years in Midtown. It also happened to be a place I had wanted to try for months. I suppose I was just waiting on the right occasion. We were seated by the window, which was slightly cold; however, our server soon closed the curtains, which helped with the temperature.

We started with the stuffed fried olives (very tasty) and the Proscuitto di Parma: flatbread and wonderful proscuitto with fresh-made ricotta and pineapple mostarda (photo above). In a word, excellent. Honestly I could make a lunch out of the flatbread and would love every minute of it!

See below for further details on what we ate. For a special occasion restaurant, I recommend this place wholeheartedly. It's also nice that they offer lunch; this creates an occasion to try some of the lighter dishes and end up with a lower price point.

Calamari in Sicilian tomato zupetta - perhaps the most delicious part of the meal. This is enough for a light lunch entree (with the bread).



Black spaghetti with rock shrimp, scallions and calabrese sausage - quite spicy and salty with a unique taste. Next time I'd like to try one of the pastas made in-house.



Porchetta - special of the day. This was a bit heavy, especially with the potatoes, but the meat was very flavorful.



Gelato with a cookie - yum.



Sicilian hand dropped zeppole.

These light, delicious doughnuts with thick chocolate on the side were an absolutely outstanding finish to the meal.