Torrisi Italian Specialties

Everyone in New York has been raving about Torrisi ever since it opened; they have a $50 pre-fixe dinner every night that has all of New York singing its praises in addition to their lunchtime sandwiches. They don’t take reservations (you have to physically go to the restaurant and put your name on a list). I tried (once) but they didn’t have openings until 11pm and there was nothing to do in the neighborhood since all of the shops in Soho closed early. We walked over after running errands in Soho and were lucky because they closed at 4pm (to prepare for dinner service):

The shop is pretty small – they have some of their assembly line by the cash register but the majority of the food is coming from their downstairs kitchen (they had at least three runs of chicken parmesan from the basement while we were there). Their dining room:

They have a limited menu – chicken parmesan, and Italian sandwich, eggplant parmesan, and cold cuts (you can make your own combination). They also have sides – brussel sprouts, beets, roasted red peppers, and marinated veggies:

We went with an order of beets and the chicken parmesan:

And the chicken parm sandwich that took a solid 30 minutes to arrive:

The sandwich was completely worth the wait; perfectly breaded chicken with tomato sauce, fresh basil, and amazingly delicious mozzarella on a Parisi bakery hoagie bun. Ken and I split the sandwich because we had dinner plans (and had just eaten not too long ago) but I totally regretted the decision to not stuff our faces with Torrisi’s awesome sandwiches. The side of beets came much later than the sandwich – a small side with some citrus wedges and toasted almonds (the only downside of Torrisi: good luck getting anyone’s attention to get your food).

We are definitely heading back soon for their $50 dinner – I have heard so many great things about their dinner that I’m going to bring a book to read while I’m waiting for my reservation.