nyc: manzo in eataly

it was a day of must eats, i had gray's papaya which i was quite disappointed with. for a mid afternoon snack i had my much sought after cannoli and it was another disappointment. so i was getting frustrated and told myself i need a very nice meal. so eataly came to mind, it was a backup in case i find myself in the area or find time to eat there.

eataly is actually an italian food hall/market chain brought by mario batali and joe bastianich (masterchef us judge) to the us. it has several restaurants inside and i've already perused their menus prior to the trip and manzo piqued my interest. i was only supposed to get an entree but curiosity got the best of me and i ordered an appetizer as well.

i am so glad i ordered this!

it's veal sweetbreads with sea scallop, fava beans puree, and pancetta. sweetbread apparently is part of the throat or somewhere near the throat of the cow. it's soft and milky, what can i say i enjoy offal and the sweetbread is no exception. it was lightly battered giving a nice crunch. the scallop was so tender with a charred smoky flavor, the pancetta - thin and crispy and the fava bean puree is something that it can do without =). loved this one.

arcadian pastures pork belly with spring onions and rhubarb mostarda. this was good as well but perusing back at the menu i wondered why i ordered this, or maybe the other choices weren't in the menu that day. anyway, the pork belly was so tender and the fat was melt in your mouth (i eventually removed all the fat because it was just too rich!!!) it has an herb crust/dry rub of some sort, the rhubarb mostarda gave enough tartness to counteract the cloying effect of the rich fatty pork belly. it was heaven.


and to top it off, thanks to foursquare i had a free prosecco =).

manzo @ eataly
5th avenue
new york, new york