Bianca Restaurant

I love affordable and delicious food.

Ever since I read about Bianca in the AMNY paper, I told myself I had to visit it. Described as a home-y and comfortable restaurant with amazing food, and it was everything it said.

I took my boyfriend here for his birthday and because we haven't had good Italian food in a long time. Other restaurants are either over-rated or just not authentic enough. Upon seating, we ordered a bottle of red wine. They only sell it by the bottle here so if you want to drink, drink up.

We definitely don't know which to choose so I chose red because J prefers that over white and I chose whatever sounded nice. Yes, I know it's totally the wrong way to order something but hey, gotta trust my instincts at times. This bottle of Rosso Veronese ($36) is smooth and light, I can really down this sucker but then what's the fun in that...

The bread and olive oil was good. I mean you can't really mess that up unless you give us really cheap and bad olive oil but that would totally ruin their reputation. Love the old rustic bread which soaks up the oil perfectly.

We had 2 appetizers and were really excited about it.

We're not so crazy about liver but we do give animal innards a try, a lot. The Fegatini con Aceto Balsamico ($7.50) is rich and decadent. Chicken liver swimming in a pool of aged balsamic along with toasted bread went perfectly with our wine. They give a generous amount of chicken liver too, there goes my weekly intake of iron!

Another amazing dish. How can J and I pass on cold cuts nowadays, it's just not possible. Gnocco Fritto ($9) was light and airy and when you bit it in half, it's like a mini hot pocket where you can stuff the cold cuts in. Genius! The cold cuts ranged from sopressata, prosciutto, mortadella, and capicola.

J had the Tagliatelle alla Bolognese ($9.50). It was what I wanted originally but it was his birthday and it sounded like he really wanted it. I gave that up for something else. But the pasta dish was really good. I haven't had such tasty pasta in a long time and this definitely hit the spot. The tagliatelle was cooked al-dente and covered in meat sauce. The shredded parmigianno really combined everything together.

I ended up getting one of the specials of the night. This Grilled Sea Bass ($??) was a ginormous portion, came with sauteed spinach and potatoes. Loved the spinach which had a garlic-y flavor to it. There was 2 pieces of sea bass, usually I only get one and it's a tiny piece which is probably the size of my palm. But here, it's like they served me the entire fish. It was nicely grilled with herbs and spices which I enjoyed a lot.

Wrapping up everything, I wanted to get a dessert. It was either the Tirasmisu or Panna Cotta ($6.50), and as you can tell we opted for the latter. The panna cotta was really rich in flavor but not overly sweetened. It's a lot denser than the usual ones I eat, it also really taste like the Breyer's vanilla bean ice cream. So milky and good.

I thoroughly enjoyed Bianca. This is definitely my absolute go-to spot for some Italian food.
Take your girlfriend here.
Take your boyfriend here.
Take your family here.
Take your friends here.
Take your first date here.
No regrets.

Bianca Restaurant
5 Bleecker St
New York, NY 10012
(212) 260-4666