Zia Maria – New York, NY

I was staying in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York recently and it was dinner time. I took a walk around the area to see what I could find. I came across a small Italian restaurant called Zia Maria.

I popped in to see if they had a table and good for me they did. It was a cute little restaurant inside. It was perfect for me to get a quick dinner for myself.

I saw they had arancini on the menu. Naturally I had to try these. Four little rice balls came out with a homemade pasta sauce.

They were crunchy on the outside. Inside the tender rice was covered with creamy cheese. There was no meat or peas in the middle of the arancini. I was a little disappointed by that but they were still good. I did love how much cheese they used. The homemade pasta sauce was full of flavor.

The served up freshly made bread. It was light and fluffy. It was perfect to scoop up the extra sauce on my plate from the arancini.

For my dinner I got the Gnocchi Alla Bolognese. The portion size was huge.

On top was melted mozzarella cheese. It was nice and crispy from the oven. The gnocchi were tender. It was covered in a traditional beef ragu sauce. The meat in the sauce added a heartiness to the dish. This was a very filling dinner.

Zia Maria was a great neighborhood restaurant that was perfect for a quick dinner. Check them out at www.ziamarianyc.com

Enjoy!

T