Saturday night I decided to go to Lupa, one of the Italian restaurants in Mario Batali's empire. I got there at 10:15 and it was around a 45 minute wait til I got seated. I've been wanting to head to Lupa for some time now, for I heard great things. Now, I don't know if I'd recommend waiting 45 minutes for pasta, but Lupa doesn't disappoint.

It's a nice medium sized restaurant, with a rustic and casual feel to it. I started with a special of sliced Copa -pork shoulder ($12). They have a guy in a "meat" station next to the bar who slices many different types of fresh meat. The Copa came in 10 thinly sliced pieces. It was very fresh and delicate, and went nicely with a red wine I had.

I had been craving to try the pasta at Lupa, so I went with a special of Orecchiette with pork sausage and broccoli rabe ($22). This pasta dish was great. It was the most al dente pasta I have ever had. It was dressed with olive oil and had a nice kick to it from crushed red pepper. It was definitely a perfect pasta dish.

For dessert I tried the Lupa Tartufo ($8), which came with hazelnuts and hazlenut ice cream. It was a big ball of chocolate surrounding the hazelnut ice cream on top of some chocolate sauce. I love chocolate and hazelnut together, so of course I loved this dish. It was the pefect ending to a great little meal.

Lupa is a great place to grab some wine and some non-fussy Italian food. It's worth the wait.

Lupa
170 Thompson Street

New York, NY 10012