SD26 is one of my favorite modern Italian restaurants in the Flatiron District. I’ve dined here many times since their opening years ago, and the food never disappoints. Recently I dined here for lunch with a colleague during NYC’s winter restaurant week.
SD26’s restaurant week lunch menu features nine items, including soups, pastas, and meat dishes. One that stood out, and I had to try was the “Uovo” Soft Egg Yolk Filled Raviolo with White Truffle Butter, one of SD26’s most popular dishes. This palm-sized raviolo (singular) is stuffed with ricotta, spinach, and one egg yolk. It is cooked for a couple minutes and served over white truffle butter. Once you cut into the raviolo, the yolk seeps out of its shell and mixes with the butter. Quickly I mixed the yolk with the butter and indulged in every savory bite. If I could, I’d order plates of this wonderful dish.
“Uovo” Soft Egg Yolk Filled Raviolo
The Homemade Spaghetti Alla Chitarra with Tomato and Fino Basil was excellent. The pasta was perfectly cooked and the rich sauce clinged to it. Chitarra is Italian for guitar, and is a type of pasta made with a special piece of equipment that resembles guitar strings and chords. Chitarra pasta is thicker than spaghetti and has a dense and chewy texture.
Spaghetti Chittara
For the main course, I had the Sauteed Veal Loin “Bergese”, Smoked Pancetta Cream Sauce, Carmelized Cipolline & Endive (pictured, top). The tender veal was delicious and was a perfect dish to follow the raviolo. The Pan Roasted Cornish Hen “alla Romana”, Rosemary Potatoes was perfectly cooked with crispy, well-seasoned skin, and juicy meat.
Pan Roasted Cornish Hen “alla Romana”, Rosemary Potatoes
For dessert, I ordered my favorite treat – Pannacotta with a Balsamic vinegar reduction and strawberries. In each spoonful of pannacotta, you’ll see speckles of vanilla bean. The pannacotta is sweet and delicious, yet light and satisfying. My friend had the Baba al Rhum, Fresh Orange Sauce & Whipped Cream. It wasn’t the best dessert, and was a bit much to eat for dessert since it was saturated with rum. A few spoonfuls are enough.
Pannacotta
Baba al Rhum
While there’s still one week left in NYC restaurant week (which ends March 7th), SD26 serves a similar menu daily, where you pick two items off the lunch selection and one dessert. If you decide to dine here, I highly recommend the raviolo. If the thought of runny yolk scares you (I’ll admit I’m not the biggest fan of it), still try it.
SD26
19 East 26th St
New York, NY 10010
Tel: (212) 265-5959
www.sd26ny.com
Update: This location is closed
