The Chic-Cheap Showdown: Italian

A Voce

41 Madison Ave. (at 26th St.)
212-545-8555

Subway: R, W to 28th St

For my first installment, I have chosen a fairly impossible task: choose one location for a splurge and one for a bargain on Italian food. In this city, everyone has a favorite neighborhood Italian and a favorite fancy pasta purveyor, so I have decided to narrow my field slightly. I have chosen my two favorite romantic, modern Italian eateries: in the splurge corner, A Voce, in the bargain corner, Max SoHa .

First the splurge: A Voce, located on 26th St at Madison Ave, has appeared on virtually every list of the hottest and/or best new restaurants of the year, from New York magazine to Conde Nast Traveler. You might describe the room as British luxury meets Scandinavian chic—swiveling Eames chairs in beige leather, large, spherical lamps over the bar, cool, orange lighting, and dark-wood tables with bottle green, leather tops. It’s a beauty of a room, but nothing in it so much as hints at Italy. That is, until the menu arrives. From the appetizers, my table chose the duck meatballs with dried cherry mostarda, and Sardinian Sheep’s Milk Ricotta with sea salt, herbs, and olive oil. Neither of these starters was a showstopper. Instead, the flavors of these sensational dishes were so subtle, soft, and disarmingly rich that they acted as a sort of comfort blanket, breaking down all possible resistance. The ricotta especially, whipped to a mouse-like consistency and served with grilled and seasoned bread, tasted at first like pure air. Not until a few bites in did the soft flavor of the cheese creep up on me, followed by the gentle bite of the sea salt and the supple sweetness of the olive oil. I moaned aloud.

The main courses continued in the vein of Italian comfort foods. For our main courses we ordered the gnocchi with lamb ragu and ricotta, and the jumbo prawns, one of the daily, market-driven specials. The gnocchi literally melted in my mouth, and the shrimp were tender and fresh, served over a mixed bean salad so rich and flavorful that it could have made a sufficiently delicious appetizer. On the side we ordered wild mushroom orso with truffle oil and white string beans with parmigian, pine nuts, and onion, both outrageously good.

The desserts at A Voce surprised and delighted me. We ordered a peach tart, an olive oil cake, and bomboloni, cream-filled Italian doughnuts with dark chocolate dipping sauce. Though all three were delicious, the olive oil cake was absolutely my favorite.

Max SoHa

1274 Amsterdam Ave. (at 123rd St.)
212-531-2221

Subway: 1 to 125th St.

If A Voce presents you with the kind of Italian home cooking that you could never really cook at home, Max SoHa, on Amsterdam Ave at 123rd St, serves a meal that feels like the first meal you cook for a date that you really want to impress, except in this scenario you actually do manage to impress said date. Instead of A Voce’s confident swankness, Max SoHa trades in casual, neighborhood charm—exposed brick walls, about 10 tiny tables, mismatched chairs, chalkboard specials, walls decorated in wine bottles (still my favorite aesthetic statement), and ample amounts of candlelight. Actually, for my money—and quite a bit less of it at that—Max SoHa is far more romantic than A Voce, if less sexy.

I have less to say about individual dishes at Max SoHa mostly because, as my neighborhood Italian place, it’s enough for me to know that anything I order will be delicious. I have ordered pasta, meat, and fish from the regular menu and the specials and have found myself neither disappointed nor blown away; I invariably leave Max SoHa happy and content, with a smile on my face, and a widespread hand on my belly. And generally I can leave with around $15 dollars missing from my wallet.

Okay, so this isn’t really a showdown, because there’s no winner (except me, because I’ve eaten at both places). The food at A Voce is more impressive, certainly, but then so is the bill (thank God for visiting parents); the room may be sleeker, but the intimate charm of Max SoHa never fails to loosen the knots in my shoulders. Ultimately, A Voce and Max SoHa are kindred spirits separated only by cool and cost…oh, and about 100 blocks.