(Photo credit: Amy W.)

Today me and Scott went to see a CONFUSING movie named Synecdoche, New York.  This post is not about the movie though, I am just gonna talk about it slightly then move on to my main drive to write this: my best dining experience! Anyway, so I generally is okay with mind-fuck movie like The Nines, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Memento, etc.  But I can not make head or tails with Synecdoche, New York, the fame writer Charlie Kaufmann’s first time directing feature.  It’s so confusing that I really can’t tell you what it is about – cos I really am not sure, all I can say is that it is depressing.  And since I really don’t understand the movie at all, I want to talk about the dinner afterward.

The movie was showing in Lower East Side at the Landmark Sunshine theater.  If anyone have been to that area you know it’s far from Broadway and any main subway lines.  After the movie instead of going to my regular go-to area St. Marks Place to find a restaurant, we decided to look around LES with no idea what to expect.  We eventually settled on Clinton Street.  We passed by an interesting storefront that is actually an Italian Restaurant. We were hungry and the menu looks good, so we went in.  Little did we know we just stumbled upon one of the greatest meal we ever have!

The restaurant is called Falai.  It is narrow with the open kitchen and the bar run across one side while the other sides are a single row tables.  The most interesting design is the storefront window.  It must be a boutique or a store before this and they keep it intact – and put a dining table in it! So whoever got seated on that table, you will be on display for everyone that passes by.  Inside it’s clean white walls with floral designs.  It’s simple and elegant~  

When they offer you 4 different types of made in-house bread to start off, you know this is gonna be a special place!  Then they offer you some kind of soup looking small dish to cleanse your taste palate, i forgot what it is, but it was tasty.  Our appetizer was Langua, a beef tongue dish that has vinegar foam and flower petals as decoration – seriously foam! I have never seen that!  the beef tongue itself was in tiny pieces wrapped in a tube shape, it was one of the best ever have.

The entree is even more out of this world, Scott has the Pici, which is egg-less pasta with italian fennel sausage.  Mine is the most interesting Ravioli, listen to this, scrambled egg stuffed in cocoa tortelli pasta, with stracchino fonduta, bottarga and sea urchin!!!!! First of all, sea urchin is my favorite! but the star of the dish is the ravioli – they are made out of what is essentially chocolate!!!! Tiny little chocolate colored ravioli!  Now not only the presentation is outstanding, the texture is just wow, (it’s not sweet, don’t worry~) the scrambled egg inside the ravioli makes it smooth and soft, every one of them is like a little piece of heaven! mix that up with sea urchin, what can I say? I was immediately enslaved~~

Before the dessert, they once again offer us something extra, a small lychee syrup kind of soup! Sea urchin and lychee all in one seating!!!??? seriously dream come true!!!!! (and is this really an italian restaurant? the ingredients are so fusion!) Our dessert is Raspberry Souffle.  It sounds common but it is not.  the raspberry sauce is actually little pieces of ice. The souffle itself is warm, but the bottom has some ice-cream like cream underneath that is cool. Now everyone knows that I LOVE dessert, I have tried countless souffle and this is the most interesting and one of the best.

The place is definitely not cheap, but it’s not crazy expensive either.  The whole dinner plus wine, my share was under just around 50.  With excellent food and fantastic service, I don’t care how much it is or how many blocks I have to walk from the subway (LES is far, you can’t deny it~)  I can’t wait to go back and try some other dishes!!!!

P.S. here is an interview of the owner/chef I found:

Falai
Address: 68 Clinton St. 212-253-1960

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Tagged: food · Movies