Foodies Delight: Bellavitae: NYC

We here at W4 don't often get excited about restaurants for their food, but rather for the dancing girls, methusalems of Cristal, and hidden bathroom drug compartments. Well, Bellavitae is an exception to our rule. Tucked away on Minetta Lane, far enough away from pesky NYU students and yuppies on a budget lies this lovely Tuscan winebar. Simple decor, simple not attractive but non-offensive crowd (youngsters on dates and foodie types), and amazing wines and cuisine. All dishes are made to share, which usually we find irritating, but the Italian version of tapas is quite generous. Our menu consisted of fried risotto balls with gorgonzola and pistachio (which our waiter assured us was too small to even consider a real dish--liked his style), crostone with baked taleggio and mostarda di cremona, Sicilian-style cauliflower with pinoli and currants, a wood-oven baked mozzarella with erbe picanti, a plate of garganelli pasta with bolognese ragu, a sliced steak with salsa verde, and a vanilla gelato affogato for dessert. Truly an amazing meal and we haven't even discussed the wine. Bellavitae has an impressive book of some of the finest and rarest Italian wines we'd ever seen, especially for such an unassuming restaurant. We chose the 2001 Fonterutoli Siepi-a wine we've been searching far and wide for since it received a strong recommendation from the esteemed Commandatore Sapere di Bologna. The wine like the meal did not disappoint--thank you Commandatore! After this dinner, suprisingly we were so drunk on food and great wine that bad behavior seemed unnecessary, and we realized that that's okay too--just kidding!
+Bellavitae, 24 Minetta Lane, New York, +1 212 473 5121.