#frank-gs-meatballs

#frank-gs-meatballs

"Growing up, the business was always part of our daily life. It wasn't just work-it was a family tradition passed down through generations."

"We eat in the bar and have a glass of wine and a truffle pizza. We love that."

For travelers looking to enjoy their gnocchi or lasagne at a more under-the-radar spot, consider skipping Manhattan entirely and going to Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, or even Staten Island. I lived in New York for over a decade, from 2012 to 2025. While I enjoyed the hustle and bustle of Little Italy, especially when grabbing a gelato and wandering the streets in the summer months, my most memorable Italian meals were at quieter spots in Brooklyn, like the old-school, cash-only Noodle Pudding in Brooklyn Heights.

The behind-the-scenes look at the kitchen shows how the chef prepares the meatballs - first by chopping and stuffing frozen veal into a meat grinder. White Italian bread, milk, and egg - classic meatball ingredients - pair with sheep's milk cheese, scallions, caramelized onions, Italian seasonings, and more to form the base of the meatballs.

Brothers Fish and Chips is located in the charming village of Ossining, located less than an hour north of Manhattan along the Hudson. Ossining is generally known for its affordable house prices and historic prison rather than its culinary scene, but the wild-caught seafood at Brothers has put it on the map in recent years.

This soup relies on a layering of flavor from roasting both fresh and canned tomatoes, which each have different levels of sweetness, acidity and tomato-to-water concentrations. Then, a sort of vodka sauce approach enters the picture and contributes bisque-adjacent richness and spice. To develop the recipe, I tested through dozens and dozens of different ways to make vodka sauce so I could arrive at what I think is the perfect formula for this soup.

This creamy mushroom pasta is weeknight dinner gold: deeply browned mushrooms, a silky Parmesan-laced sauce, and just enough lemon to keep everything bright. The key isn't drowning the mushrooms in cream-it's giving them a proper sear first. A mix of shiitake, maitake, oyster, or crimini mushrooms brings layered texture and flavor, though even a single variety works if you give it enough time and space in the pan.

Alice is the kind of place you tuck into your back pocket and casually gatekeep. Perfect for a cozy date night with your favorite fling in the cityor yes, your long-term partner who still knows how to flirt. You descend beneath a historic Greenwich Village brownstone and suddenly feel like you've entered a velvet-lined jewelry box of small, glittering pleasures. Low light. Oceanic blues. Candle glow. A hum of conversation that feels conspiratorial rather than loud. The prosecco is marvelous, and it knows it.

Start with our cover star, food director Chris Morocco's one-hour bolognese that uses a pantry shortcut, Chinese black bean sauce, to kick up the umami. Then make his Green Chile Puttanesca Pork Chops where jarred jalapenos and guindillos offer buzzy heat and brightness to counterweight the rich meat. Senior Test Kitchen editor Shilpa Uskokovic also shared wintry vegetable dishes that can stand on their own.

Pasta and peas was one of the staple meals my mom made for us growing up. We probably had it at least once a week. She learned the recipe from my grandma Tina, and it was a simple, inexpensive dish to throw together-just pasta and frozen peas cooked with a bit of chicken broth and aromatics topped with grated parm.

The star of the show, the meatballs, get seasoned with a mix of crumbled feta, smoked paprika, and cumin, resulting in a tender, flavorful meatball that tastes far more complex than its trim ingredient list might suggest. The rice underneath is just as fun. Speckled with salty pistachios and plump golden raisins, and perfumed by a cardamom pod and a stray cinnamon stick, it strikes the ideal ratio of salty to sweet, contrasting with the savory meatballs.