Restaurant: A Voce

41 Madison Avenue (at 26th Street)
212-545-8555
www.opentable.com
www.avocerestaurant.com

Worldwide Italian wine consumption is exploding thanks in large part to the popularity of Italian food and restaurants. We learned this interesting fact at an Italian wine lecture that was held at the NYU Stern Alumni conference this past June at La Pietra in Florence, Italy. So when we returned home to NY—which is to us the food capital of the world—we wanted to go back and eat at our current favorite NY Italian restaurant.

A Voce is that place. In Italian it means, “word of mouth.” This is modern Italian cooking with a NY twist. Even though the cuisine is very sophisticated here, one of our favorite dishes is called, “My Grandmother’s Meat Ravioli.” So if you are a pasta lover, this is also your kind of place too.

We remember when Chef Andrew Carmellini was cooking uptown at Café Boulud. For years, this was always our #1 choice in Chef Daniel Boulud's empire of establishments. So when Chef Carmellini went out on his own, we were sure to follow to see what he was up to. Since then, we’ve had several meals at A Voce and always had a great time.

The boss of the dining room is maître d' is Dante Camara, who always wears a big smile you when you walk in. At our last meal he gave us a table by the window because we told him when we made the reservation it was our anniversary. We ordered a perfectly cooked sliced duck breast with roasted figs, and the most delicious marinated chicken breast topped with outrageous looking tomato foam.

After you place your order be sure and have a discussion with the wine director, Oliver Flosse, a native of Marseille, France. When we told him what we were having, he picked out the most delicious Italian red, the 2004 Le Volte, from Tuscany.

The meal ended with a citrus tiramisu made with a Meyer lemon crema that was smooth as silk and a chocolate caramel tartino. There is also a nice selection of Italian cheeses to end the meal.