Levante

A new Trader Joes opened up in Long Island City, and I was hoping to make turkey tacos with guacamole. Unfortunately, the avocados were not ripe enough yet, so I mentioned to my partner we can eat out. The first thought that came to their mind was this place because it’s one of the few nearby restaurants we have not tried yet but have seen a lot of people standing outside. Ever since I moved here, I’ve always kept glancing at the menu, but nothing really screamed at me that I have to try it. But now that I have tried it, how was it?

Ambiance

We made a reservation same day on a Saturday within hours of going to the restaurant, so happily it wasn’t a problem to get in. They actually have a backyard with both a patio deck seating and a lower “garden” seating. The wooden deck is maybe 5 steps higher than the lower “garden” seating. The tables had a lot of wood such that I was a little nervous about getting splinters. The backyard was pretty serene as it gets a good breeze from a wind tunnel that goes from the front of the restaurant to the back.

The service was pretty fast, but just know that at the end of the night they swipe your credit card on one of those portable tablets. I felt like the tip was calculated on top of the tax, so just be weary of that if that is concerning.

Food

The Bella cocktail was Italicus Bergarnot, Prosecco Rose water, and lavender bitter. I actually did not like this that much as it was very tart and tasted like a kamikaze shot. My partner as usual did enjoy it.

The complimentary bread came with 3 slices. There was some olive oil in a bottle that you can pour and dip the bread in. The bread came out room temperature, but it was very soft.

The tartara came with upstate NY beef tenderloin tartare, stracchino foam, hard boiled eggs, capers, mayo, and wild mustard greens served with toasted bread. The tartare was good and fresh. With the capers and other ingredients, it was definitely just a tad on the salty side as expected. The foam to the left of the plate in the picture reminded me more of burrata cheese after you open the sac to make it runny. In the picture, you might see a little glimpse of yellow, but basically the hard egg yolks have been grinded and served on the side. The mayo mixture had been “deviled” into the egg white. The bread was properly toasted but was heavily soaked with olive oil which some may not like. This appetizer was quite expensive at $22, but it was pretty good. It did feel like they were trying to do something upscale with this, but I thought it would’ve been fine if they just straight up served the beef tartare with minimal garnishing.

The pollo came with rolled chicken breast stuffed with bacon and thyme, roasted peppers, and wild rice over salsa verde. The salsa verde tasted like fine pesto purée. The roasted peppers tasted very good and were soft. The star of this dish was indeed the chicken. It was surprisingly very juicy, flavorful, and had the right balance of salt. Coupled with the wild rice and salsa verde, it provided a very solid complimentary balance to the saltiness of the bacon. Even though I tend to avoid chicken at places, this was surprisingly something I would order again.

The rigatoni ragu di tre carni came with baby back ribs, meatballs, and sausage slow cooked in tomato sauce. The rigatoni was cooked al dente, although I think it could’ve boiled for maybe 15-20 more seconds. It did have a slightly crisper chew to it but was perfectly matched with the meat sauce. The trio of meat was excellent, especially the shredded baby back ribs. It was tender and flavorful. Of all the dishes we got tonight, we agreed that this was our favorite dish.

The rucola pizza came with mozzarella, tomato sauce, prosciutto DOP, arugula, and parmigiano. I realized as I was eating this, that maybe artisan pizzas are not really something I enjoy. The pizza dough was very good, and so were all the ingredients. My only problem was that the prosciutto was sliced very large, such that it made it hard to cut and eat. Despite that, it was still pretty good even as a leftover. Even though it had good ingredients, I think I still prefer a standard pie with pepperoni on it.

Final Verdict

This middle scale Italian restaurant in the heart of Long Island City was actually pretty good despite it being just a little pricey. I can see why people come here, because honestly nothing here that we had today was bad. Surprisingly, the pizza was something we liked the least compared to the pasta and chicken. If you are in the neighborhood and want to enjoy a nice backyard garden with Italian food, this might be a good spot.

Yelp Jabs

Phenomenal pizza!! One of the top 3-4 I’ve had.

No way this is in my top 3-4. You’d have to literally only eaten 3 pizza places for this to be in the top 3.

Made an order of $180 at Levante to support small restaurants and even treated myself to a Manzo that costs $30. I received my order and was shocked by the size of my meal.

This Yelper shared a picture of their Manzo entree which literally just has 3 thin slices of steak and some vegetables. I don’t know how true this is, but let this be another lesson for people who don’t set their expectations correctly. Expect delivery to no where be as good as eating at the restaurant.