Tonight was another venture out to the area around Vernon Blvd. There are so many restaurants here to try. This one here is an Italian restaurant near Gantry park. There are a lot of cars for some reason compared to other parts of Long Island City. The restaurant was able to accommodate us as a pair of walk-ins at around 6:30 PM on a Saturday evening easily. In our second visit, we were able to walk in at 6:30 PM on a Friday evening very easily.

Tony’s Di Napoli is a NYC Italian American restaurant that has been around for a number of decades. It’s probably comparable to Buca Di Beppo or Maggiano, but it is less of a domestic chain than a NYC chain. They serve family style portions, and they have both half and full sizes of many of their pastas. This particular location is located in Times Square, and normally I shy away from this.

It’s been difficult to restart eating out again. Usually we just resort to delivery or takeout from various places nearby. However, it seems that many restaurants that are trying to outlast the pandemic by coming up with ideas to do the outdoor dining experience. Some restaurants don’t have a real patio, and you’re seated outside on the sidewalk within reach of people. And some restaurants like this one have a legit patio experience away from bystanders without worry.

If you’re around the Rockafeller area and are looking for pretty decent Italian food at a not overly expensive price, this restaurant might be a good candidate. It is located on the 2nd floor of the Nordstrom NYC flagship store near the watches section. We walked in without reservations around 5:30 PM, and we were seated at the bar fairly quickly. Because Nordstrom doesn’t have the drinks menu online, I’m hoping my memory serves me well.

This is a local restaurant to Long Island City that classifies itself as an Italian Argentine restaurant. The place is super small, but it feels nice and cozy. The chicken piccata is served with capers in a lemon and butter sauce, served with roasted potatoes. This dish was actually really good. The potatoes had a nice crunch to them. The lasagna marchigiane has bechamel, bolognese, and parmigiano. The tomato sauce was pretty good.

This is another restaurant on my list to go. I am not crazy about Italian, but I was hungry and wanted something pretty straight forward. The lasagna bolognese came with ground beef, béchamel, and tomato sauce. The pasta consisted of several very thin sheets with a thin layer of ground beef between each. Careful though, the lasagna was piping hot. It was pretty good, but I think I would’ve preferred more sauce and more cheese as an ode to the normal lasagnas you’d normally get.

Vapiano seems like it’s a chained Italian fast eatery. For the NYC location, the front desk gives you a card, and you walk up to a pasta station if you want pasta or a pizza station if you want pizza. You then tell the cook what you want, and they make it fresh in front of you. They ask that you take the card and tap the screen with it to get it charged with what you ordered.

This place is located in the Upper East, and arguably walkable from the MET. The spiedino di gamberetti was OK to me. Nothing really memorable, but they gave you a decent amount of shrimp. The antipasto misto was actually pretty good, and they gave a decent variety of meats and cheese. For 2 people, this was quite filling. The pappardelle al ragu di vitello was good as expected. The pasta could have been cooked just a tad less, but the sauce it sat in was pretty good.

We came by in the spring when they boasted of lush flowers and decorations. Apparently the flowers were not real, but that still does not stop it to become a very photo friendly place. It still is nice during the day because they opened the canopy, and so there was a nice breeze coming in. I think for food, it wasn’t a whole lot of hit, but the ambiance is pretty appealing to those who want to get a drink and just enjoy the colors for photos.

This place was ok. Pasta was good, but it needs protein. The meat cheese board was just ok.