franny's

amazingly, down the block from my apartment just happens to be one of the best casual places to eat in all of new york. and i'm not alone in this assessment either. in the past month, i've been to franny's three times and each time the menu was almost entirely different, due to their commitment to farm-fresh produce, but it was consistently very thoughtful and delicious.

while it is billed as an upscale pizza place, i don't often order pizza. it is good pizza, of course, but nyc has lots of great pizza to offer and i'd rather go to a place like grimaldi's or difara's if i want the real pizza experience. also, i'm not a huge pizza fan. what is really remarkable about franny's are the smaller appetizer dishes, which are unique and inspiring.

recent dishes i've ordered: (just paraphrasing here- the menu sounds much fancier)

salad of bitter greens with an anchovy vinaigrette
potato croquettes (the server explained that they looked like dunkin' donuts' munchkins!)
beets with peppers, walnuts and cheese (which i'm attempting to re-create at home)
coddled egg on crostino with bottarga (bottarga is dried fish roe shavings)
homemade pancetta on crostino with french butter
vanilla panna cotta with saba (like an italian flan)

yes, all of it was lovely, even the salad. i'm not a fan of bitter foods, so i was surprised when i liked this. the only downside to franny's is that it is a little expensive for my budget- around $30 per person for a meal.

last time i was there was on a six-person excursion (as the party liked to call it) and we had a hell of a time figuring out the bill. below was our attempt. one of the worst feelings is going out to dinner with friends and feeling like you paid more than you should have. this elaborate tally, however dorky, ensured that no one had to feel cheated.

Franny's