Dining With Out-Laws

By Rina Oh

If you’ve travelled the Italian coastline like I have, you’ll immediately note the authenticity that this new eatery, packed with multiple food stations which include a bakery, espresso bar, and market has to offer. It’s a multi-faceted business conveniently located within walking distance to the bustling west village apartments, and near major subway stations. Why not stop here for a routine morning coffee and snack, grab a lunch midday or come after five and try the dinner menu.

Travelers Poets and Friends located at 457 6th Avenue is the latest pescatarian friendly eatery launched by proprietor Emanuele Nigro who is behind Osteria57 and Alice. It’s filled with several stations with 50 seats scattered throughout with an open kitchen. According to Nigro, he began his culinary adventure as a traveler from Italy distributing imported food products as a supplier twenty years ago. His main goal is to provide a good ambiance, experience, while delivering amazing food and hospitality. The Italian way of life is to eat food, talk about food, plan your next meal and enjoy it all with a great attitude. The following day, and every day, it is repeated. Nigro was not too far off giving the place the name: Travelers, Poets and Friends. He sees himself as a traveler and mentioned making frequent Transatlantic voyages to bring the latest bite from the birthplace of pizza and pasta. The live music will provide that poetic ambiance while sharing a family style sit down meal whether you come as one or many- you will surely have a great time.

Tuna Lasagne: Photo Credit Rina Oh

There are three menus offered: breakfast, lunch, and dinner with Italian native chef Riccardo Orfino’s creations incorporating seasonal ingredients. I got to sample small bites from the Fritti, Pizza and Focaccia, Pasta and Zuppe, and the Salad section of the lunch menu with my party of four. Our editorial team planned the next issue as the food melted in our mouths delivering the familiar flavors from my recent travels to Italy. The Tuna Bolognese Lasagna was perfectly cooked, made with a ragu simmered for at least two-three hours. Its consistency mimics the traditional lasagna invented in Bologna, Italy minus the bechamel sauce. I was surprised at the delicate flavor notes created with unfamiliar ingredients for the classic dish. I’ve eaten lasagna throughout my life, and this was a unique and thrilling experience as a seafood lover. It is the closest Bolognese lasagna made not of ground beef and bechamel- rather tuna ragu layered with six sheets of house made pasta. It was so good, I wanted to take the majority of our portioned pieces.

Pasta Station: Photo Credit Rina Oh

Home cooks will cheer to find both fresh and dry pasta variations available to purchase so they may create their own concoctions while spending a lovely evening staying in for the night. The pasta makers rolling the dough making orecchiette, fusilli, lasagna sheets, bucatini, fettuccini along with every other pasta under the moon give food lovers and passersby a storefront peep while simultaneously giving a chance to post their latest drool worthy Instagram story.

Roots Salad: Photo Credit Rina Oh

The Roots Salad triumphs over most of the variations I’ve had with the star ingredient, beets coming out as winner all thanks to the chef and his team who make daily early morning trips to local markets fetching a fresh supply of produce. I noticed the beets had layers of color, telling me they are not the standard purple colored root vegetable found almost anywhere. These beets are most definitely of the heirloom variety, and you can taste it for sure. The Tuscan kale along with the root vegetable and pistachio, is tossed with a winter citrus dressing and finished with grated Pecorino Romano cheese.

Margherita Pizza: Photo Credit Rina Oh

The Margherita pizza was spot on, reminding me of the Neapolitan original found in the Napoli region of Southern Italy, where I recently went on a major pizza crawl. This version was better than all the Margheritas I tried in Naples, Salerno, Rome, and many little villages in the Southern Coastline. The rectangular pizza topped off with cherry tomatoes were so fresh- I could taste the sunlight. Tomatoes that are ripened naturally in the sunlight supersede with a sweetness that cannot be imitated. The other kinds that sit on the countertop as they mature in flavor will never come close. The main ingredients: San Marzano tomatoes, Buffalo mozzarella, and basil for this dish mirror that of the best versions I tried in the Neapolitan coastline of Italy last Summer. This pizza stays true to the food origins, and tells me the eatery is the real deal.

Fritti: Photo Credit Rina Oh

We tried all three versions of the Fritti (fried) croquettes, Truffle Arancini, Cacio e Pepe, and Cod Croquettes. Each one is accompanied by a special condiment. My favorite was the truffle aioli. I confess I did not bother to taste more than a dip of the other two and drowned my croquettes in the truffled version as I love truffles. I saw flavor variations throughout the menu containing the entirety of Cacio e Pepe as a main course pasta or a little taste of it- for instance in a dip. The classic Italian pasta made with bucatini or spaghetti with more than a spoonful of black pepper and cheese has been dubbed as the adult version of mac n cheese by the food world.

Fusilli Anchovies & Truffle Pasta: Photo Credit Rina Oh

Every seafood ingredient is carefully sourced. It’s always challenging to know where the meat comes from which is very hard to trace. You won’t miss the questionable meat products and cheer for the seafood that in contrast is purchased as a whole, thusly guaranteeing the quality and sustainably. Nigro says “we know where the fish, which is the whole product comes from”. A lot of the fish is land caught. For example, the tuna comes from the fisherman who’ll stroll with the fish over his shoulder. Most of the seafood is local- you won’t find the Mediterranean Branzino- because the Greek farming method of the Branzino is still not a sustainable practice and our friends at the eatery care about food sustainability. The alternatives include farmed lobster from Maine, or land caught American black seabass and Halibut from the North Atlantic Coast, and according to Nigro, that’s really the philosophy behind the product. You can sample the seafood in Cod Croquettes, Trout Burger, Fusilli Anchovies and Truffle pasta during lunch with a selection of locally sourced seafood starters for dinner that include fresh oysters and a lobster salad.

Photo Credit Rina Oh

The café station is filled with breakfast favorites: classic Italian cornetto and cornetto crema with a full lineup of early morning baked goods offering traditional Italian styled cafe pickings. You cannot leave an Italian restaurant without a shot of macchiato. The pastries reminded me of my morning run to the markets in Florence while the espresso, macchiato, and cappuccino reminded me of every corner café found everywhere throughout Italy. In Italy, it doesn’t matter where you are- you’ll always find a family-owned coffee shop filled with the buzzling crowd of locals standing at the espresso bar. The list of exotic ingredients in the cocktails menu include Maraschino liquor, Limoncello, Prosecco, and Lambrusco. They are mixed into the delicious concoctions. I had the Eliot Elixir on a sunny Saturday afternoon, skipping out on the standard Mimosa found everywhere else. My cocktail was made of Prosecco, Maraschino liqueur, and pink grapefruit soda. Service staff knew their product which is always an added bonus in my book of recommendations.

Photo Credit Rina Oh

The marketplace section offers fresh or dry pasta, exotic salts and spices, with a section reserved for specialty drinks. I wanted to buy all the dry goods on the shelves and taste everything in the menu. I’ll save perusing the remainder of the menu for the next visit. I wouldn’t mind making this a regular stop and calling it my go to place for a quick Italian pick me up away from Italy. It’s so authentic, the service staff and operators come with the accent. I was away and traveled back to Florence for some coffee then made a stop in Salerno for pizza for a few hours.

Chef Riccardo Orfino: Photo Credit Rina Oh

All the bread is made in house by a baker, along with the deserts and gelato found in the bakery next door. In essence, it’s a market, a café, an eatery, a bakery, and a dining room with a separate menu soon to open. The food is sustainable, affordable, and addictive. It’s also healthy and fresh. Pescatarians and vegetarians are most welcome here and for the meat lovers I assure you- you will not be disappointed. You can take a break from the steak and have something else here, in fact everything here.

Emanuele Nigro: Photo Credit Rina Oh

The proprietor has managed to successfully deliver to us, the authentic flavors of modern-day Italian Cuisine, in the most humble and comforting way, all the way from Italy to New York. This place should be on the bucket list for everyone who loves Italian food- whether it is classic, ancestral, Northern or Southern. They deliver a little bit of all- with a unique quality that’ll have you coming back as a regular. Italy in New York could not get any closer.

Emmanuel Nigro has parents from Sicily and Sardinia and said he comes from a “simple family where food was a necessity”. He always “grew up with people who treat food with utmost respect”. His philosophy is simple: “we talk about food while we eat, before we eat, and after we’ve eaten”. I’ve heard this before and it won’t be the last time. Anyone who’s been to Italy will understand the philosophy. It’s not a way of consuming food, it’s part of the way of living.