Halfway through my dinner, it hits me how sad I am that Da Franco is located so far away from my Union Square digs – otherwise, I’d be here all the time.
The lovely little risorante italiano is located near Astoria Park out in Queens. Readers who have more than a passing acquaintance with me know how rare it is for me to venture into the outer boroughs. In this case, however, I made an exception to the rule, and I am so glad I did.
In the recent past, Manhattan eateries have had a disturbingly torrid love affair with the most faddish of gastronomical inventions. In the summer of 2006, I suddenly couldn’t sit through an entire meal without finding foam somewhere on my plate.
Over the last year or so, it seems like I can’t avoid having something sous-vide on my plate. (I blame Thomas Keller’s recent book for that one, but I will forgive him because… well, he’s Thomas Keller.) Da Franco is the very antithesis of the cuisine du jour. Instead, it’s a return to simplicity that shows how an inane amount of complexity is not the only road to coaxing out an immense amount of flavor.
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The first dish that we tried was the Pizza Alla Modeno, which was an instant favorite. If you’ve never had a real slice of pizza before, you should know that what most Americans call pizza is really just a cheese delivery device. In a real pizza, like the one at Da Franco, the cheese and the sauce work together rather than at odds with one another, and less cheese is actually better.
As a lover of prosciutto, I can’t fail to mention how fresh I found the prosciutto in this dish and the antipasto that followed it. Oftentimes, I find prosciutto to be overly salted, and that was not the case with the prosciutto served at Da Franco.
The prosciutto here was salted to perfection with the slight sweet taste that I’ve come to expect from a truly fresh piece of prosciutto. I was a little taken aback by the arugula on top but quickly found that the faint bitterness of the arugula worked quite well as a foil to the sweetness of the cherry tomatoes.
The next dish we devoured was the Antipasto Italia. The mozzarella was amazing, as expected, since the proprietor, Franco Spatola, also owns Spatola-Latticini, a mozzarella factory in Ridgewood. The man is a font of information when it comes to mozzarella.
As he stood next to the table and answered my questions about his incredible product, I began to realize that Franco has probably forgotten more about mozzarella than most people will ever learn about it in their lifetimes. There’s a reason why people call him New York’s Mozzarella King.
For my pasta course, I chose the Linguine Alle Vongole (linguini with clams). Readers of my previous review on Brasserie Ruhlmann know that I really like to try the staples in order to get a sense of the kitchen. I know that a completely different skillset is required in order to make say… a chianti stained pappardelle than a Linguine Alle Vongole.
However, I think that the way a kitchen treats the simple dishes truly shows me the depth and capabilities of the kitchen, and I’m happy to report that the linguine was fantastic. I was a little worried that the dish might be bland because it didn’t quite smell like a traditional linguine alle vongole—usually the smell of white wine is very prominent, if not a bit overwhelming, and I didn’t get any of that.
The first taste of the pasta dispelled all doubts though, as there was a subtle complexity to the taste that I would not have expected at first blush. And of course, this was all bolstered by the fact that the linguine, and in fact all of the pastas, are made directly on the premises.
I can’t stress enough what a difference fresh made pasta makes.
My friend decided on a rigatoni dish with eggplant that was very similar to the Rigatoni Alla Siciliana. She found the rigatoni to be slightly al dente for her tastes, but she was positively effusive about the eggplant. When I was finally able to wrestle a piece away from her plate, I realized why.
The eggplant was cut very thinly and literally melted in my mouth. As someone who has tried, and failed repeatedly, to correctly cook eggplant, I was in awe of the perfectly cooked slice that I was able to have. In fact, even though I was already rapidly approaching the point at which I could no longer eat another bite, I contemplated asking for a little side dish of eggplant.
Thankfully, however, I decided not to order some eggplant because the next dish we tried was the Branzino Alla Franco. I was definitely not expecting to contend with a whole fish, but as I took my first bite, I knew it was going to be one of those situations where I would be negotiating with my brain to delay recognizing that I was full for just one more bite.
The branzino was sauteed with garlic in extra virgin olive oil, and the presentation included mussels, clams and calamari. The fish was sparsely garnished with parsley and the entire dish sat upon a very light tomato sauce, which belied the impact it would impart on the entire dish.
Somehow, this sauce was neither too thin nor too thick and neatly complemented the astoundingly tender fish.
The branzino also came out at the same time as the scalloped mashed potatoes, and I must say that I’ve never quite had mashed potatoes like these before. The scalloped mashed potatoes were much heftier than I expected without being heavy. It’s hard to describe the texture except to say that one should imagine eating potatoes gratin that have somehow been whipped without losing that very unique hardness that comes from scalloping the potatoes.
You absolutely have to try it for yourself.
Finally, we come to the dessert. From the moment we sat down at the restaurant, we had already decided that we were going to try the tiramisu. This was definitely the right choice. The presentation was quite lovely as you can see from the picture.
I was surprised to find that, despite all odds, the ladyfingers managed to stay perfectly spongy without becoming soggy. For some reason, against my better judgment and experience, I always expect tiramisu to be much sweeter than it is, and I was glad to once again be proven wrong with this dessert.
There is a richness, however, to this dessert that shouldn’t be underestimated. I definitely found myself scraping around the inside of the goblet to make sure that I had mopped up every last bit.
The delicious food is really just the tip of the iceberg at Da Franco. Franco has been in the food business for over forty years now, and in that time he has collected many stories about his various restaurants and businesses.
When you listen to him describe how he used to hop on the train and deliver all of his mozzarella personally, you begin to understand the love and care that goes into all of Franco’s endeavors, including Da Franco. This is the type of place where you come for the food, but you stay for the company.
Next week is Valentine’s Day, and Da Franco has a special Valentine’s Day menu. Be sure to ask about it when you drop by.
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