CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Colicchio and Son’s Chelsea restaurant, situated at 85 10th Avenue, offers great options for all foodies. Upon first entering, it was hard to get the general vibe of the place when a perfectly groomed host immediately grabbed my attention as I walked through the door. With one glance around the restaurant, however, it was easy to see that the restaurant’s division into two different sections suit different dining needs.
First, there is the main dining room, which is only available for dinner. The second section is the taproom, which has a more casual vibe and is open for both lunch and dinner. Since I was there for lunch, I was directed to a table in the taproom. The room was beautifully lit, with natural light pouring in from windows adorning the room. The light changed Colicchio and Son’s from a tight New York City restaurant into a natural open-aired spot. One of my favorite aspects of the taproom is the miniature open kitchen in the front that allows guests to have a sneak peek of what goes on behind closed doors.
Another great feature (and bargain) of Colicchio and Son’s is that it has a pre-fixed menu for lunch. $25 buys an appetizer and an entrée. Given the location and degree of quality, I would say that this is a great deal. The menu changes daily, and although those variations are slight, it still ensures that you can dine multiple times and not become bored.
I started off with the beef tartare, which was tossed in a smoked-egg vinaigrette. Aside from the high quality meat, the dish was bland. Fortunately, thick sliced chips sprinkled with a sort of spiced pepper mixture and what seemed to be chili powder accompanied the tartare. If you ate the chips using the tartare as a dip it was actually pretty tasty, and helped balance out the blandness of the tartare. There was something about the creaminess of the tartare sitting on the crunchiness of the chip that worked very well.
For the main course, I ordered goat sausage cavatelli, which was delectable. While there was a bit of texture lacking in the dish, there was enough range in flavor from the sausage itself and the tanginess of the Greek yogurt in the sauce to make up for it.
One notable criticism of Colicchio and Son’s is that the waiter abandoned me about halfway through my meal. As a result, I decided to chat it up with the host, who ended up serving as my waiter for the rest of the meal. I told him that it was my first time eating there, and to my surprise the chef sent me over a free pizza.
The pizza lacked any interesting flavors, but it was free so I cannot really complain. It was a thin crust margherita pizza (I’m a huge fan of thin crust), and there was just the right amount of smokiness from the oven. The mozzarella on top was of poor quality, but the sauce was wonderful.Overall, I would recommend this restaurant, especially for lunch. As a student on a budget, I would not suggest Colicchio and Son’s for dinner because it gets rather pricey, but for lunch it was a great deal for a lovely atmosphere and tasty food.
Ratings:
Overall: 4 stars
Location: 4 stars
Food Quality: 3.5 stars
Atmosphere: 4 stars
Hospitality: 3 stars
Price: $$$
(Out of 4 stars)
