Il Bastardo!

No, I am not insulting anybody in Italian! It is just the name of an Italian restaurant in New York City!

We went there on a Saturday night, early enough so there was not that many people at the bar or in their lounge. The restaurant was quite dark and noisy: I thought I was in a Steakhouse, and in fact...it is an Italian steakhouse! The decor is a mix between modern and rustic with its mahogany floor and brick walls. I like that feel: warm and cozy.

In term of food, you can't really tell that it is a steakhouse: looks more like a traditional Italian restaurant to me, with its antipasti (literally "before pasta"), salads, pasta and main dishes that include items from the grill. There, no filet mignon or porterhouse!

We tried:

• Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes with citrus - mustard aioli: it was pretty decent! The mustard aioli had a nice kick.
• Salad with Anjou Pears, arugula, tallegio cheese and walnuts. The presentation was awesome: they sliced the pear thinly and laid out the slices at the bottom of the plate. Unfortunately, the pear was not ripe enough and they were cheap on the cheese...
• Linguine with manila clams, fresh parsley and white wine: the dish was ok. The clams were not tasty and the broth was too liquidy to give some taste to the dish. Too bad, because it is usually the dish I pick when trying an Italian restaurant for the first time!
• Rigatoni with tomato, eggplant, basil and ricotta salata. This was pretty good. 

So, overall, the food was just ok. For the same price, I would go to Morandi and have a fantastic Italian experience!

Enjoy (I did)!