New York Magazine

Skip to content, or skip to search.

Skip to content, or skip to search.

Best Meatballs

  • Salumeria Rosi

    283 Amsterdam Ave., nr. 73rd St.; 212-877-4800

    Rocco DiSpirito might have started the whole meatball rolling when his mother first made her version at Rocco’s, but since then, meatball mania has taken over. Competitions are being held (last fall, nearly 30 restaurants took part in “Meatball Madness,” with Andrew Carmellini of Locanda Verde claiming top honors with his lamb-meatball sliders). Menus are rife with the things. And now, there’s even a Lower East Side restaurant called the Meatball Shop, featuring six variations on the theme. Our favorites, though, are the lush, juicy, complexly flavored duck meatballs chef Cesare Casella frequently serves on his Tuscan-inspired tapas menu on “Meatball Fridays.” He grinds the whole duck—meat, fat, and organs—then seasons it with a Tuscan spice mix and stuffs the center of each ball with a cube of Pecorino Toscano. The meatballs are baked and then braised in a spicy tomato sauce spiked with raspberry-flavored Chambord.

Next: Ice Cream

Join the Discussion

Read All Comments | Add Yours

Recent Comments On This Article

See All | Add Yours

From the 2010 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine

Advertising
Order the Issue Today

Cover of New York Magazine's Best of New York issue

Order This Issue

Other Best Of Guides

Where can you find the city’s top dog groomer? Last-minute tailor? Beef tongue? We eat, drink, dance, shop, shvitz, and trampoline our way around the city, not to mention poll scores of in-the-know colleagues, hard-partying friends, opinionated family members, and, this year, a team of guest expert bloggers to bring you answers to all of the above questions, and hundreds more, in the form of our annual “Best of New York” issue.

Read More...