We were invited to the family & friends only soft opening last night or should I say they made us an offer we couldn’t refuse ! Of course any restaurant that owner Matteo Cantaneo has his competent hands on is going to be a winner. My wife and I arrived around 6.15pm to see Forchettabouddit ( love the name ) lit up like a Xmas tree on the corner. We walked inside and were warmly greeted by Angela the manager & Manuel the head chef who are the part owners.
It was lovely and warm inside the restaurant which has huge glass walls on 2 sides opening out onto a long outdoor patio with heaters. Angela handed us menus and asked if we would like something to drink. A carafe of water and glasses arrived promptly. I decided on a Societe Brewing Co “The Pupil” IPA ( one of my favs ). They have some good craft beers on tap. The restaurant was slowly starting to fill up and yet Angela was taking care of everything by herself.
This is the 8th restaurant location of Matteo’s we have been to and there are more to come ! We asked Angela for her dinner recommendation . . can’t go wrong with MEATBALLS ( Beef and pork meatballs, marinara, parmigiano ) and from the New York Style Pizza list we picked the STATEN ISLAND PIZZA ( Spicy salami, calabrese, sausage, pepperoni ) in a 12 inch size. Check out the menu because you can buy pizza by the slice or whole pizzas in 12 inch / 18 inch sizes. GREAT CHOICE ! My ice cold IPA in a chilled glass arrived and tasted beautiful. I had barely sipped my beer when WHAMMO our Meatballs and Staten Island 12 inch pizza hit the table. MAN DID THEY LOOK MOUTHSATIONAL !
We hit those huge meatballs faster than the bullet train. Very delicious with top quality beef and pork. Talk about a good looking pizza . . our Staten island pizza looked and tasted fabulous ! We made everything disappear. The restaurant was quite busy by this time and yet Angela was still whizzing around looking after things with some extra help. One of her helpers named Curt ( husband of superstar photographer Angelina ) dropped by to ask if we would like some dessert.
It could have been SPUMONI, CANNOLI or TIRAMISU. I think any one would have been great but we chose Tiramisu. Meanwhile a few people had turned up who we knew from Matteo’s restaurants including our friend Luca the manager from Gelati & Peccati in North Park. And then I spotted Matteo cooking in the kitchen so we hooked up to say hello. It was now very busy and Matteo’s beautiful young daughter Isabella brought a mouth watering serve of Tiramisu to our table. It tasted perfectly delectable !
