Sweet Jeebus, I love Gnocchi! For my first review, I will hit my favorite place to order from:

Pasta Fina
30-10 Steinway St.
Astoria, NY 11103

They have a selection of pasta with which you can choose an assortment of sauces. They also give an amazing selection of free bread. Including, I kid you not, a couple of pizza breads. Last evening's choice was:

Gnocchi with Marinara- $10.50 A

The gnocchi was made just how I like it. Not soft, but not firm...a nice in-between. You don't want goo...but you don't want to have to chew to much either.

Warning: Pasta Fina does use olive oil like no one's business. If your tummy doesn't do well with too much oil, stay away. If your tummy does ok...eat up and enjoy the tiny poots sure to come.

Leftovers: A-
I find the leftovers to be quite tasty. You do need to nuke it, however. I suggest a nuke of 30 seconds, stir and then nuke for 1 minute. This of course depends on your microwave or bomb.

Launching in, cannonball-style!

My most recent rendezvous with gnocchi was at Angels on 1st Ave & between 62nd & 61st Streets. I must admit I had heard that it wasn't exactly stellar, but we the ladies were hungry and it seemed as good a place as any.

Beginning with the positives (though they don't relate directly to the pasta at hand), my appetizer was great, and so was the wine. Unfortunately, the gnocchi was...well, disappointing: a bit tough like it either had maybe been boiled too long or not long enough, perhaps it was frozen instead of fresh (a cardinal sin as well as a death sentence for the taste.) Something about tough gnocchi makes ya more conscious of the potato content, which really should be an afterthought. In my ideal world, gnocchi is an unassuming li'l mouthful of happy, a culinary hug if you will, and the taste should never make you hyper-aware of the ingredients. Instead, it should just merge gently with your system like a squishy comfort-filled quaalude. (A tall order I know, but not an unattainable one. The gold standard in my own mind was set by certain restaurants that I'll rave about in later posts.)

I hereby pass the baton to the other members of Team Gnocchi.

*slumps in desk chair*

*stares out window*

*twiddles fingers*

*slowly raises hands to keyboard*

Alrighty then. Just what the Dickens am I doing here? Fulfilling a recently-borne whim to share my armchair connoisseurship and fervent love for everyone's favorite starchy friend, gnocchi. In the absence of weightier (and admittedly riskier) subjects to address, an informal survey on gnocchi seemed as good a topic as any, one that offered the freedom to meander into other subjects should the desire arise. What other topics, you ask? Why, canneloni! Or...rigatoni! (Alright, I was thinking more like Mussolini or Lamborghini, but let's just leave it open, shall we?)

I hope to soon be joined by two other gnocchi connoisseurs (connoisseuses?), whom I have invited to join me on this Blog-yssey (haha! All those who despise puns, abandon ship now!), and in whose company I have enjoyed many an eye-rolling culinary experience. They should be here shortly. Hell, I can wait. I have a desk job.

May the digital universe accept our ramblings in the same spirit of sincere amateurship with which we offer them.

*shifts PC into 3rd gear and hits the metal*