NYC Grand Central Pasta - Cipriani Dolci

A weekend trip to New York is always extremely difficult. A city well known for its diverse food culture that makes it impossible to decide where to eat. The next few posts will be a few of the places we were lucky enough to visit and take a glimpse of what NYC has to offer.

First stop was Grand Central station and home of Cipriani Dolci, Mr. Z's go to place for his pasta cravings. Located at the Vanderbilt Avenue exit of Grand central station a seat near the railings allows for a panoramic view across the busy station and though unlikely to see anyone famous still provides a great venue for people watching.

After ordering we got a nice little basket of warm bread including little slices of baguettes and triangles of whole wheat toast. This kept us happily occupied till the arrival of our pastas.

Mr. Z ordered his regular of Spaghetti with fresh tomato sauce. Simple to execute and therefore more often then not carelessly prepared. This, however, was not a problem at Cipriani Dolci. The spaghetti which was slightly thicker than the usual was cooked al dente and smothered in just the right amount of tomato sauce so that every single strand was covered but not swimming in it.

For myself, my weakness for squid ink prevailed and so I ordered the Tagliolini with black squid ink. What makes the Cipriani Dolci's pasta so special is the pasta itself. The much thinner tagliolini was also cooked al dente and saturated in savoury black ink sauce. The little pieces of squid was rather tasteless in comparison but hardly able to diminish the dish as a whole.

We finished with a cup of hot chocolate and accompanying sweets to warm ourselves from the winter cold we were soon to face.

Great place to stop by for a quick pasta lunch while watching the hustle and bustle of the world passing by.