Maiella in Long Island City
Long Island City will never cease to amaze me. Often mistaken for Long Island, this small city in Queens, right next to Astoria has great restaurants, but many New Yorkers who would be ok to go to Brooklyn for a meal, think that it is too far. Well between the 7 or E lines to name the main ones, it takes as much time to go there than going fron the UWS to Chelsea once at Port Authority. I mentioned M Wells Steakhouse that is one of the best, but now, I am totally excited about Maiella, an Italian restaurant located right behind the iconic Pepsi Cola sign on the waterfront.
NY Skyline
Pespi Cola sign in LIC
We went there on a Saturday evening. The place was packed and kept getting filled by hungry diners. Little I knew that this place was opened back in 2015, by Chef Rocco Sacramone from Trattoria Lincontro in Astoria, considered the best Italian restaurant there. At Maiella, Chef Sacromone crafted a delicious menu with both classic and elevetes Italian dishes. Here is what we had:
I started by ordering a cocktail: the Saronno sour, made with amaretto, Knob Creek rye, dry vermouth, lemon and egg white. Not too strong and smooth.
Saronno sour at Maiella in Long Island City
At the same time, they brought us their bread basket (I believe they make it in their wood fire oven), and. Sun dried tomato paste that I ditched.
Bread basket at Maiella in Long Island City
Sun-dried tomato at Maiella in Long Island City
We decided to share the appetizer and went for the melanzane or eggplant stuffed with mozzarella and spinach. It was one of the best I had: smothered by a robust tomato sauce, the eggplant was perfectly cooked and had more cheese than spinach inside.
Melanzane at Maiella in Long Island City
Melanzane at Maiella in Long Island City
Next, we decided to share two pasta dishes prepared table side and our waiter, Daniel, who did a phenomenal job, proposed to split the portions and serve one after the other. So we first had the homemade bucatini cacio e pepe. Prepared in a pecorino Romano wheel, it had lots of cheese and the right amount of pepper.
Bucatini cacio e pepe at Maiella in Long Island City
Just looking at them preparing it next to us made me salivate but not as much as the fettuccine Maiella that are made with Sangiovese wine infused pasta! The table side preparation was even more spectacular with the Parmesan wheel being flambéed so the cheese would melt. Then, at some point, I could not believe seeing the guy scoop even more cheese, before adding to the plates some truffle oil and then shaving a generous amount of truffle. Creamy, I would have thought that the truffle oil would overpower the dish but is was not the case. This is the kind of dish that I highly recommend.
Fettuccine Maiella at Maiella in Long Island City
Last was dessert. For me a great meal must end with great dessert, otherwise I feel that something is missing. And we were not disappointed. The first dessert (yes, we had two) was their torta di meringua that we saw as we entered the restaurant. This cake is amazing: made with venitian meringue, chantilly cream (whipped cream) and a vanilla cake, it was light and not too sweet, the best part being of course the meringue.
Torta di Meringua at Maiella in Long Island City
The second dessert, the Nutella panna cotta was also superb: with a texture closer to a pudding than to a panna cotta, it was very chocolatey with hints of Nutella, topped with a delicious milk chocolate ice cream.
Nutella panna cotta at Maiella in Long Island City
Overall, we had a fantastic dinner at Maiella and it has been a while I got so excited by a meal. It might not be your mom and pop Italian restaurant, but they surely know how to make Italian food. I highly recommend it!
Enjoy (I really did)!
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Maiella - 4610 Center Blvd, Long Island City, NY 11101