'inoteca

98 Rivington Street
(212) 614-0473

It's been a while since I ventured to the Lower East Side to check out this super-hip establishment, so I'm a little fuzzy on some of the details. But here's what you need to know about the food: it's essentially Italian tapas.* YUM.

It's kind of trendy and crowded, so expect to hear your neighbor's conversation about the booties he knitted for his dog or the new loft she she just closed on in DUMBO — and expect to wait for a table. My advice is to go when you are not all that hungry yet and have a glass of wine at the bar first. I don't know Thing One about Italian wines, but I know the barman picked for my friend and me a light, spicy red that quite pleased us.

Being also unfamiliar with the actual Italian names for Italian ingredients, we depended heavily on the explications and expertise of our server, who didn't steer us wrong. I can't remember the specific dishes we got, but I remember that much bresaola and polenta were involved.

Read more about 'inoteca:

Official Web site
Citysearch
MenuPages
New York Magazine
Time Out New York
Yelp

*I know that if any actual food snobs start reading this blog, I will get skewered for calling food "tapas" when it is not indeed Spanish. Whatever. You say "Italian small plates" and let's call the whole thing delicious.