Rosemarys Restaurant Week: West Village

Sicilian Chopped Salad

Last week I dined at Rosemarys, a West Village neighborhood spot with an Italian flare, for the kickoff of restaurant week here in New York City. The deal was too good to pass up, standing at twenty-nine dollars for a salad, pasta dish, and dessert… practically unheard of, especially in downtown Manhattan. I knew I had to take advantage of it. I had eaten at the sister restaurant, Roeys, a number of times before and loved it. The menus are basically identical, but Rosemarys features pasta dishes and Roeys features pizzas. What I love about this restaurant is its devotion to featuring seasonal items and highlighting a variety of vegetables, which is something I like to do in my home cooking.

We started off with the Sicilian Chopped Salad, with escarole, olives, crispy chickpeas, sun dried tomatoes, almonds, artichokes, and ricotta. Now, I’ve said it before and I’ll be happy to say it again- crispy chickpeas are the new croutons. This salad was so delicious, and if you like vinegar, brined-like flavors than you’ll love this. It immediately made me think of my sister who loves artichokes and olives. Even if you don’t make it for restaurant week, I would highly recommend ordering this off the regular menu.

Rigatoni all Arrabiatta & Pici

Next up, the pasta dishes. I ordered the rigatoni and my friend ordered the pici, which was almost identical to a cacio e pepe. The rigatoni was very good; it wasn’t the best pasta dish i’ve ever had but that being said I’ve eaten a lot of pasta in my day. For a weeknight dinner out, and the restaurant week deal, I was very pleased with this dish. The tomato sauce was just spicy enough, the rigatoni was cooked perfectly, and the burrata on top was creamy with a touch of salt. My one complaint about this dish was that it wasn’t piping hot when it arrived at our table, and due to the freezing temperatures outside and choosing to eat outdoors because of covid, this was a bit of a let down.

Olive Oil Cake with Blueberry Compote

For dessert we opted for the olive oil cake with blueberry compote rather than the tiramisu option, and this was a really solid end to the meal. It’s such a simple dessert and easy to put together but seems classic and sophisticated. The olive oil cake was a bit dry, but the blueberry compote was perfectly sweet and paired deliciously with the whipped cream on the plate. I wouldn’t go out of my way to order this again but I wouldn’t be mad to eat it again.

All in all, this restaurant week deal was solid. For a popular West Village spot with good service and good food, I felt like I got way more than twenty-nine dollars worth of a meal. If you choose to dine here soon, and you plan on eating outside, you should know that covid wise the set up is very safe but you should definitely plan to dress warm.