www.principe.nyc
450 West Broadway (between Prince and West Houston Sts.)
212-335-0509
Seafood. Principe is the total package. The setting. The music. The service. And, most deliciously, the food – all conspiring to bring you the pitch perfect night.
Entering, you can’t help but be taken by the sense of style. The walls and ceiling hunter green, the lighting intentionally seductive. The lengthy, oh so attractive marble bar beckoning.
I resisted the call and was soon led to my table in the dining room.
The server, who could not have been warmer or more welcoming, offered the menu options – à la carte or prix fixe. Or, as they call it, surrender (four courses, chef’s choice).
I chose no capitulation and began with a jewel from the raw bar (lobster salad with horseradish and lettuce, two pieces). It arrives on ice, the seafood resting upon a bed of lettuce. Tiny forks accompany but, right or wrong, I decided to skip silverware and slowly disappeared the presentation.
I then transitioned to greens that were definitely greenlit – the kohlrabi Caesar with cara cara orange and black radish. Forgoing the classic romaine for this compelling cabbage is a stroke of genius of which Julius himself would approve.
In addition to mains, there’s a tempting selection of pasta. I tried rock shrimp mafaldine with sugo bianco. By bianco, they don’t mean white, but few and simple ingredients. Yet they do not trade complexity for flavor to which this superior dish will attest.
I could not, would not leave the mains behind and opted for branzino. Theirs is olive crusted with fennel and salmoriglio sauce. Olives, yes. And now I want all my branzino so bedecked.
One would have to be certifiable to skip dessert. My choice – a milk and cookies ice cream sandwich. The sweetest ideal ending to a meal of this caliber.
It would be wrong to close without calling attention to the treatment you’ll receive. No water glass goes unfilled, no finished plate lies fallow for more than a nanosecond. Not a crumb left behind between each course.
As you may recall when we started this journey, I mentioned that Principe is the total package.
And clearly this package is a gift you should give yourself without question.