Dinner at dell'anima in NYC

Dan and I went to dell'anima for dinner, which is a sister restaurant of L'Artusi.  We had a pretty early reservation (as in early bird...5:30) but it was okay since I knew I'd be too full to do anything afterwards.  The food overall was good but I was less wow-ed than at L'Artusi.  I think the spaghetti at L'Artusi was just so mindblowing that the bar has been set super high.  The meal was definitely solid but not quite as memorable.

Delicious cocktails.  Forgot what Dan's was on the left, but on the right I got a Chamo-Mule - Chamomile-infused Vodka, Ginger, Honey, Lime, Mint

DIY Bruschette trio: (1) Roasted red pepper - smoked marcona almonds, pecorino romano, (2) Roasted mushrooms - smoked pepitas, scallions, and (3) Avocado -  lemon, aleppo pepper

Bruschette with bread.  I didn't care for the red pepper one, too pasty.  But I enjoyed both the avocado and mushrooms a lot.  The avocado was def my fav

Charred Octopus with rice beans, chorizo, chicories - the octopus was perfectly cooke and the beans were perfect with it

Tajarin Alla Carbonara - speck, egg, black pepper, ramps, pecorino romano.  Great fresh pasta and everything together made a truly authentic carbonara, but it was too rich for me to eat too much of it

Bucatini Alla Arrabbiata - calabrian chilies, tomato, pecorino breadcrumbs.  My favorite of the two pastas.  Could've used even ore of a kick though

Espresso Rum Almond Cake with caramel sauce and sea salt gelato.  I had been really looking forward to this because the cake from L'Artusi was so great, but this cake was very dry and the gelato was too salty.  It would've been much better to have salted caramel gelato rather than just straight sea salt in my opinion.  There would have been a better balance but since the gelato was too salty, we were just eating cake which on its own was quite dry, especially because of the nutiness.