Casellula

My plans ended up changing on Sunday night and it was just me for dinner. That said I had a wonderful meal at Caselulla. This is the perfect little NYC neighborhood restaurant, which I wish was in DC!

The service was incredibly friendly. It was busy (the place is tiny) but they were incredibly helpful and paid the perfect amount of attention to me (sometimes as a solo diner I feel...+READ My plans ended up changing on Sunday night and it was just me for dinner. That said I had a wonderful meal at Caselulla. This is the perfect little NYC neighborhood restaurant, which I wish was in DC!

The service was incredibly friendly. It was busy (the place is tiny) but they were incredibly helpful and paid the perfect amount of attention to me (sometimes as a solo diner I feel ignored...but not here).

To start I got an order of 3 cheese. If you like cheese this place is a find. They have a long, nice list and every single cheese comes with a different garnish. I knew I wanted to try one blue cheese in particular (an award winning cheese from Oregon) and then allowed the cheese monger to choose 2 additional American made cheeses for my platter. All 3 were delicious with perfect garnishes to match (poached pears for the blue, a lemon curd for the soft cheese, and candied pine nuts for the harder cheese). They also helped me choose a nice glass of a jammy red (my favorite).

For my 2nd dish I ordered the chicken liver. I thought this was going to be 2 pieces of toast with the liver already on it. Instead it was a small bowl with a thick layer of white fat (it looked like frosting) and pink peppercorns on top. It was served with crostini and fig jam. SO DELICIOUS and decadent. This dish easily could have served 3 people (there is only so much rich liver one can eat).

Overall it was the perfect end to a hectic, stressful travel day. I only wish I could stay in the city long enough to explore all these other restaurants. I come a couple times of year though so I think I will keep Kuma Inn and L'Oubli on my list.-COLLAPSE / REPLY (16 Replies) (by Elyssa, created October 25, 2011)

Haven't tried Artisanal, but did visit Casellula. They offer flights of cheese on the menu or you can tell them what you like and they will custom build one for you. We sat at the bar and watched all the food come out, everything looked fabulous. REPLY (1 Reply) (by waitress, created February 3, 2010)