Lindsay Loves It All: dell'anima NYC.

For the very last Orioles vs Yankees series of the season, I had one glorious night to have dinner with my husband in my favorite city. That never happens, so I wanted to be sure the night was special and the restaurant/food was amazing! My little honey always lets me pick the restaurants, for which I am very grateful because I love doing that! It's my little hobby :) This may seem dorky, but I keep a running list of restaurants that I want to try (or that I've found and loved) in almost every major city - and some not so major cities. So if you want any suggestions for your next trip, just ask! I've already given dozens and dozens of recommendations to my friends and family, with great feedback, so just let me know! I would be glad to point your fork in the right direction!

I decided that we would go to dell'anima, in the West Village. I had read about it on several blogs, so it was already on my NYC "list." We wanted something intimate, cozy, and nice - yet low key. This was the perfect choice! Dell'anima means "of the soul" in Italian. The service was wonderful, and our server gave us all the right food and wine suggestions. I would highly recommend this place to anyone, for a great date night or even dinner with your closest girlfriends. Along with Graffiti Food & Wine Bar, which I blogged about here, these two are my new favorite NYC places! Check it out...

The cozy West Village restaurant.

Inside.

We shared two appetizers... this is the Roasted Beet salad with hazelnuts, pecorino romano, roasted fennel, and an orange vinaigrette. SO AMAZING! I found a similar recipe here.

The second app we shared was the sea salt ricotta spread on toasted baguette slices.

This was such a simple recipe, but it was so flavorful! We really loved this one, too!

We each ordered the "Pollo Al Diavolo" after I read a rave review about it in this month's article of Bon Appetit. The food critic said it was his favorite restaurant meal. I cannot RAVE about this dish enough...WOW! Chris and I never order chicken at restaurants, but we made an exception here. We were so glad we did, because we both agreed this was the best chicken we've ever had out.

Here's the description the menu gave: Chicken with broccoli rabe, garlic, and chilies.

They under sold this chicken in the description, because it was crispy on the outside & perfectly juicy on the inside! I asked our waiter how they did that, and he said it was by searing it in a hot pan then sticking it in the oven to finish cooking. It was coated in paprika and fennel powder.

We're going to try and re-create this soon.