Wolf

Summary

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. The left is a mai thai, and the right is a mezcal cocktail. The mai thai was doused with passion fruit liqueur which is why I got it in the first place. It wasn’t too strong, and everything tasted very tropically and subtle. The mezcal cocktail had a slight smokey flavor to it. I don’t remember what else was in this though, but it definitely was sweet.

The fried oysters came with calabrian chili aioli and a lemon. The oysters were an East coast oyster (I am guessing Bluepoint), but they were quite delicious. I think the best way to describe is that the oysters were incredibly juicy and reminded us of the ocean. The breading on the outside wasn’t excessive and spot on point. The chili aioli didn’t have much heat to it for me, but I typically can eat pretty spicy.

The Albacore tuna crudo came with proscuitto di parma, calabrian chili, taggiasca olive, and oranges. I’m typically not a fan of crudos, but this one was actually pretty good. At first glance I thought the sauce would be more of a ceviche consistency, but it was definitely very light. The combination of all the ingredients were refreshing and simple.

The first pasta we got was the spaghetti which was uni butter, leeks, chili, and pangrattato. The spaghetti was cooked a perfect al dente, and it had the right amount of bounce/chew to it. There was some sourness to the sauce which added a nice little flavor aroma to it. I thought the restaurant did a good job of not throwing in uni just for the sake of it. The sauce was quite balanced, light, and aromatic.

The second pasta we got was the paccheri which had prawns, tomato, sofrito, chili, and gremolata. The pasta here was quite interesting as it reminded me of a flattened rigatoni. I also asked for some pecorino cheese on the side just because. The chew on this pasta was really delectable. It was bouncy and at the right amount of padding. The sauce itself tasted pretty good as it really brought out the sweetness and tartness of the tomato. When you toss the cheese on the pasta, it was just euphoric. The shrimp was good too. Some might find the shrimp to be slightly overdone, but I thought the plumpness of it was at a good amount.

For dessert, we got the vanilla bean panna cotta which came with a seasonal fruit compote and shortbread cookie crumblings. I’m not sure what was going on here, but I thought the seasonal fruit compote tasted bitter. However at the same time, I was drinking my mai thai, so I do wonder if my tastebuds were distorted. The fruit reminded me of a gummy like texture. The shortbread cookie crumblings though were good, and the panna cotta was also good too. I think I probably would’ve preferred actual fruit chunks depending if my buds were deceiving me or not.

The service was fast and prompt. The decor was very modern and has a great view out towards 8th Avenue with all the lights. I felt the prices weren’t exorbitant for what you got, but maybe Manhattan has jaded me.

Final Verdict

I’m not usually ecstatic over an Italian style restaurant, but I was pretty impressed by how good this place was. It’s somewhere that I think would be a good spot to bring out of town guests or even the occasional date night.

Yelp Jabs

Meh. Tasty,but not extraordinary. However the prices were pretty big. Find another spot

Nah don’t listen to this Yelpist. If they find the prices expensive, that must explain why they are back in San Jose.