Romagna Ready 2 Go: Authentic northern Italian in the Village

In a neighborhood with famous Italian spots: Joe’s, John’s, Lupa and Carbone, why would you give a hole in the wall a shot? It’s tough to branch out, but sometimes it’s worth your while. Romagna Ready 2 Go, is like many restaurants on the inside, but on the outside lives a beautiful secret garden inspired by a small village close to Rimini (city in the Emilia-Romagna region in Italy) called Santarcagelo.

This covered garden is a little oasis in the heart of New York, decorated with special items like the Chef's grandfather’s original racing bicycle painted with the colors of the Italian flag, an everyday reminder of his home country and his family.

What really caught my attention is that Chef and owner Lorenzo Lenny Lorenzi is only 26 and built the restaurant and garden with his own hands! He wants people to feel like they are in his hometown, that’s why he makes his piadina, Italian flat bread, totally from scratch and uses only Italian fresh ingredients.

I started with a glass of Sangiovese and it was very light and refreshing for a red wine. The water they served was in a beautiful glass vase and was infused with mint and lemon.

To eat, we asked the chef for his recommendation and he said we had a get a Piadina, Burrata and one of the famous pastas. We chose two pastas, which was more than enough food. Take peek at what we got!

Rimini Piadina: Prosciutto Crudo, Arugula, Stracchino

This was delicious and light. I thought it’d be a little cheesier and didn’t realize the flatbread wasn’t open like a pizza, but it was very good and nice to try something new!

Burrata Caprese Salad: Fresh burrata, fresh mozzarella, yellow and red tomatoes with oregano and basil

This made up for the lack of cheese in the Piadina. I even stuck a few pieces in the sandwich. The burrata was perfect.

Lasagne Alla Fantasia Di Verdure, Con Verdurine Organiche Di Campagna Miste: Traditional vegitalian lasagne with local veggies.

This lasagna was very good and a great way to get all of my veggies in for the day. It was filled with zucchini, carrots, mushrooms and onions.

Panzerotti with porcini mushrooms, truffle and pecorino

So this looks like it is topped with some pubes (sorry to be gross), but it was SO GOOD. I do not think any camera could capture the dish great, but it was the best thing we had all night.

Nutella Ravioli

Well...the best thing we had aside from the Nutella Ravioli. All of the desserts sounded good, but this sounded exceptional and lived up to those expectations. As full as we were from the pastas, we didn’t leave one last bite of Nutella on the plate.

Romagna Ready 2 Go, everyone should go! I give it a 8/10. It’s a great summer spot either after work or the weekend. They have great happy hour specials by the bar, but I would totally spend the extra few bucks and sit in the garden!