One of the hottest restaurants in New York City and the winner of 2011 Zagat Survey’s Best New Restaurant in New York is Maialino, a Roman-style trattoria in the exclusive Gramercy Park area. This quaint Italian restaurant is the newest addition to restaurateur Danny Meyer’s empire which includes the Shake Shack chain, Eleven Madison Park, Union Square Cafe and Gramercy Tavern (voted 2011 Zagat Survey New York’s most popular restaurant for the 6th time in 10 years). With dinner reservations being booked for months ahead since its opening last fall and the walk-in bar perennially overflowing with patrons, breakfast or lunch is an easier alternative to trying Maialino. In fact, lunch may be one of the best times to dine there, when the bright warm sun shines through the large bay windows that look out onto Gramercy Park- but even for lunch, you’ll have to make a reservation weeks in advance.
Located off of Gramercy Park Hotel’s main lobby, Maialino’s interior creates a warm and inviting atmosphere that naturally encourages mingling, conversation and feasting. Next to the large open bar are the charcuterie, cheese, pastry and bread counters that are lined with mouthwatering delicacies that emanate enticing aromas. Walk past the counters to arrive at the rear dining room where the blue checkered tablecloths and antique framed photos of Italy will transport you to a rustic Roman trattoria. The Italian menu comes courtesy of Executive Chef Nick Anderer, who got his first big start at Babbo, then spent a year working in Milan after which he returned to New York City to cook at Gramercy Tavern. The menu draws its inspirations from classic Roman dishes using locally grown seasonal produce.
When Danny Meyers used to work in Rome, locals affectionately called him Meyerlino, which means ‘little Meyer’. Eventually that name morphed into Maialino, which means ‘little pig’, hence the name of the restaurant and the theme of the menu which is slow-roasted crispy-skinned suckling pig. Trotters, guanciale and different cuts of suckling pig find its way throughout the menu.
Trippa alla Trastaverina is a beautiful plate of tender strips of tripe stewed in a tomato based sauce, coated with generous sprinklings of pecorino and mint. Pile the tripe onto their freshly baked bread, wait for a few seconds for the tomato sauce to soak through the top layer and devour it whole. The tripe melts like butter and tastes like heaven.
Other enticing antipastis include chicken liver and aged balsamic crostone di fegato, and fried artichokes in anchovy bread sauce (carciofini fritti). A plate of assorted charcuterie featuring prosciutto di Parma from Emilia-Romagna and soppressata picante from Long Island with buffalo mozzarella will make lunch even more perfect.
Insalata Misticanza is a simple salad made with seasonal greens, lemon and olive oil, and even this is fantastic, as all produce are from the Greenmarket farmers market.
One of their signature dishes is the Malfatti al Maialino, a buttery suckling-pig ragù that clings onto folded sheets of hand torn malfatti pasta. Generous chunks of tender pork are magnificent, its fattiness cut by bitter arugula. The dish is perfect, but I can’t help but wonder how the pasta would taste with a few bits of crispy maialino pork skin thrown in.
Other primi pasta dishes stick to Roman classics, like bucatini all’Amatriciana, fettuccine alla Carbonara (both with guanciale) and tonnarelli cacio e pepe. Paninis for brunch and lunch feature a porchetta sandwich with slow roasted suckling pig and egg.
Secondis offer a wide variety of proteins, like hanger steak bistecca di bue, pollo milanese, suckling pig terrine and suckling pig’s foot, but our server insists that we get the swordfish. How can swordfish be the best thing on the menu? It’s always overcooked, tough, tasteless and boring. I push through my skepticism and follow his orders. He is right.
Pesce Spada is a simple no-fuss dish with grilled swordfish, eryngii king trumpet mushrooms and sprinkles of fennel fronds, but so perfect in execution that it becomes sensational. The swordfish is tender, buttery, rich and delicious.
Desserts offer a classic lineup of Italian sweets, like gianduja budino, torta della nonna, affogato and a variety of gelato. Torta di Olio d’Oliva, an olive oil cake with vanilla bean mascarpone, pleases with a rich nutty flavor inside a soft moist batter.
Other sections of the Gramercy Park Hotel, newly renovated by Ian Schrager, are worth a visit. The majestic lobby lined with crimson red carpet and tall wooden ceilings are awe inspiring, and every nook and cranny shows a diffferent combination of design form. Some flaunt eerie goth embellishments like shark tooth sword lamps, while others transport you to the hotel in ‘The Shining’.
Large chandeliers and dramatic red velvet curtains set the stage for contemporary paintings by Warhol, Basquiat and Haring, but once you step into the exclusive bar that branches off of the lobby, you will see an expression of 21st century bohemia. Whichever section of the hotel you decide to browse, it will be a magical escape far away from the sights and sounds of the concrete jungle outside.
The Private Roof Club and Garden upstairs is another gorgeous Ian Schrager space, with tables and a bar situated underneath a retractable roof 16 stories above the city. The ceiling of the indoor lounge features an incredible mass of hanging light bulbs, perhaps numbering in the 300’s, that add to the drama of the intimate space.
The outdoor section evokes an urban oasis, a tropical greenhouse in the middle of the city, with wicker chairs strewn along a corridor of hanging ivy and potted green plants.
Most likely you’re not one of the privileged few who reside in and have a key to the private Gramercy Park, but the rooftop club will do for now. Gaze out onto the park and the rest of Manhattan while you sip on martinis on your private little bench in the corner. All yours, at least for a couple of hours until you close your bill.
Maialino at Gramercy Park Hotel
2 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10010
(212) 777-2410
Random trivia: Did you know that the swordfish has the widest temperature tolerance of any billfish, with the ability to swim the surface and dive to depths of 2,100 feet (650 m) or greater, where the water temperature may be just above freezing? They have a ‘brain and eye heater’, a special bundle of tissue that insulates and warms these organs. This helps to prevent rapid cooling and damage to the brain, and increases visual acuity in cold deep waters.
Large open wooden framed accordion doors separated the patio from the inside dining room and bar. The center bar, made of white and black marble countertops and tall teal colored leather barstools with brass studs, was lined with perfectly polished wine glasses and colorful bottles of liquer. Middle aged men in jeans and collared shirts drinking bourbon seemed relaxed and happy as they chatted with the handsome bartenders through hanging hams and sausages. To the left of the dining room was a gorgeous private room called the Butterfly Room, ornamented with a large chandelier, tall iron candelabra and a large orange heart-shaped wall installation with floating butterflies. As the servers promptly set my table with crisp white napkins, silver salt and pepper shakers and polished cutlery, I felt like nobility in this peaceful colonial chic restaurant.
TOMOSTYLE 