Wednesday, May 1, 2024

Nettie's House of Spaghetti, Tinton Falls, NJ: A Restaurant Review

netties house of spaghetti

"This fell into our laps," Chris Calabrese, 40, said one recent weekday from his seat at the bar. Until owning a place of his own, he said, he had been "a cooking gun for hire." Nettie's House of Spaghetti is open for dinner 5 days/week. Closed Monday & Tuesdays.Reservations necessary. This popular restaurant fills up early, especially on weekends.

WE ARE OPEN FOR INDOOR DINING ONLY.

The dessert menu offers two choices, and we enjoyed them both. The Sicilian Orange Cake is a dense, heavy cake with a distinct orange punch. It comes covered with an aromatic orange glaze and is sprinkled with sea salt and served next to big scoop of whipped cream. It’s a pretty little thing, with a perfectly rounded scoop of ice cream, wearing a topping of whipped cream and a cherry. The flavors change daily, and we had chocolate espresso on our visit. It had a nice chocolatey taste and paired well with the delicious coffee.

Chef Chris Calabrese's small-plate approach is a welcome break with Italian-American tradition.

Rather than set rules, more New York restaurants are using their restaurant story or narrative to encourage parents to bring kids to restaurants — or not. “How do you have something that’s family-friendly and still accommodates the 9 p.m. Baked clams were all about breadcrumbs; my guests and I made a game of finding the clams. Nettie’s chicken Savoy was the wrong side of pink the night we had it, and the vinegar sauce was wan.

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The methodology used is research, analysis driven --- as opposed to that of a single restaurant critic or a social media platform, viewer comment posting board. Dishes are scratch made, with high quality ingredients, both imported and locally sourced ingredients that change seasonally. Prior to opening Nettie's House of Spaghetti with his wife in 2018, Chef Calabrese was the Executive chef at the very successful Porta restaurants in Asbury Park and Jersey City.

Headed Back to the 80’s With a Delicious Meal at Nettie’s House of Spaghetti

I had to be convinced by my guests to order the fresh mozzarella. Around the Garden State, everyone and their nonna makes it fresh, right? True as that may be, not as many manage to produce mozzarella with the same creamy, melting qualities of Nettie’s. Standouts included log-shaped arancini (not the traditional orb). A favorable increase in crunchy exterior relative to warm, cheesy interior. Minimally sauced meatballs were crusty and caramelized, delicately showcasing meat and parsley inside.

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Spaghetti arrabiata had a fresh-tasting red sauce touched with butter that balanced the heat of the Calabrian chilies. Others at my table liked the simple carbonara, the mango-yellow, egg-based sauce courtesy of some local chickens. This carbonara, lighter than most, let its few ingredients shine. (Having grown-up with my mother’s carbonara, a more buttery, cheesy version she learned from a lovely lady in Milan in the 1960s, I found Nettie’s on the bland side.) Tortellini stuffed with mortadella, prosciutto and Parmigiano-Reggiano floated in a mild broth. It would be as at home in Emilia-Romagna as it was in Tinton Falls. In a post comment, the restaurant elaborated that "kids running around the restaurant in circles when we’re trying to carry trays of food and drinks has made doing our jobs extremely difficult."

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Nettie's House of Spaghetti honors classic Italian cooking

The back room dining area is more upscale with tables set with white linens, mid-century modern lighting fixtures, velvet seats, and dark blues walls adorned with picture frames. Desserts follow the simple-is-better formula. Pillowy bomboloni redolent of warm yeast and sugar were served with olive oil-enhanced whipped cream. The Sicilian orange cake, with its dense crumb and sticky orange glaze, was the star (especially when eaten with whipped cream from the bomboloni).

netties house of spaghetti

we cannot accommodate any modifications to our menu.

Restaurants banning kids seems like cyclical news, with this round noteworthy because many young kids just hadn’t been out in restaurants because of COVID. "Between noise levels, lack of space for high chairs, cleaning up crazy messes, and the liability of kids running around the restaurant, we have decided that it’s time to take control of the situation." But it’s a place to consider for a cocktail and a low-key dinner with friends. It certainly has its fans, and it was at capacity on our mid-week visit. Rather than a pounded cutlet, this dish is made with ground organic chicken thighs, formed into a circular patty and dusted with a good quality pecorino Romano and 24-month Parmigiano Reggiano, but there’s no gooey mozzarella. The patty was juicy, but its taste took me back in time too.

WE DO NOT OFFER TAKEOUT AT THIS TIME.

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(However, it was served with a clever fried-to-order breaded confit of chicken leg.) Another evening, the spaghetti in clam sauce was watery and shudderingly gritty. (It has since been replaced with an intriguing-sounding spicy squid in tomato brodo pasta.) We also were served a link of housemade fennel sausage that had burst its seams and dried out. As this year comes to an end, the Dining with Draz team sends five Js to all the incredible people who make up the restaurant community. From the servers to the chefs, the farmers to front and back of house staffs, the restaurant business is never easy and this year, your never-say-die spirit has inspired us all. We also send five Js to the folks who continue to support their favorite restaurants with curbside pick-up, dine-in evenings and meal donations made to frontline workers. It’s easy to see how important dining out is to us all, and we hope 2021 will be a year full of great new recipes shared again in our favorite places.

Calabrese’s small-plate approach is a welcome break with Italian-American tradition. Bring people who love to share, and enjoy the varied wine list and each other’s company. For all my quibbles, my guests and I always left Nettie’s in a jolly mood. The combination of good food, happy staff and convivial atmosphere will do that.

It leans into the grade school motif in design and with a menu of dips, blooming onion, adult fish sticks, and a root beer float, childlike appetites. He also just recently just bought games for the restaurant like Connect 4 and Uno for kids to use in the space. “Between noise levels, lack of space for high chairs, cleaning up crazy messes, and the liability of kids running around the restaurant, we have decided that it’s time to take control of the situation,” the announcement reads.

The showiest was the Fried Hen of the Woods and shiitake mushrooms with lemon. It’s dusted with za’atar seasoning which does include oregano, but is more often seen in Middle Eastern dishes. These are deep-fried and super crunchy, and the mushroom inside were sweet and tender. I would have liked a little dipping sauce of some sort on the side. The restaurant has a kind of retro feel, from the reminiscent-of-the-80s revival art deco logo, to the cocktail menu; there’s even an old phone booth (which I loved) inside.

At $25, I was surprised that it did not come with a side of pasta, especially in a place called Nettie’s House of Spaghetti. These are big chunks of free range, organic chicken with peppers and a vinegar sauce served on the side. This seemed more like a French dish to me, but the chicken was juicy with a nicely crisped skin, and the vinegar sauce was not tangy. The restaurant named for his mother is his most family-friendly restaurant, he says.

Pasta, mozzarella, ricotta, sausage, bacon --- which is cured in house --- and desserts, are all house made. Chef Calabrese oversees a limited menu of well-executed Italian dishes with a mix of regional Italian lighter sauce dishes, served as small plate offerings to encourage sharing and sampling. Some despised the policy, while others sought out the restaurant solely for a dining experience sans noisy children. Find classics respected, revered and fashioned with craftsmanship at once time-honored and modern at a restaurant that relies on the familiar without resorting to cliché.

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