The Lasagna Ristorante - Fantastico!

A friend of mine named Cindy told me about a fantastic restaurant named Lasagna Ristorante+.  It is located on 20th Street and 8th Avenue in New York City.  I wanted to go to another one of my favorite hangouts, Rafaella's on 21st and 9th Avenue, but she swore that I would like this one.

So, we went.  It was very lovely.  It had multiple tables with white linen table cloths and nice silverware.  It could have been a bit snobby, but it wasn't.  In fact, our waiter, JP, said that they try to keep it very down-to-earth at this restaurant.  The vibe was very casual and friendly. 

We started with a delicious spinach salad topped with cranberries and mandarin oranges.  I like garlic, so I created my famous garlic infused olive oil.  First, you take 3 tablespoons of minced garlic and pour a teaspoon of salt over it.  The salt gives flavor and helps you to crush the garlic.  Then pour enough olive oil over the garlic to cover it and mix.  Pour sparingly over the greens, bread, pasta, or anything you like.  It depends on how much garlic you like.  I love it.

The menu was filled with different Italian options, but we came for the lasagna and that's what I am concentrating on.  We could have gone conventional with the lasagna+, like ordering sausage and onion.  In fact my friend, who is basically a vegetarian, decided to get the plain cheese lasagna, which was delicious.  However, I wanted some thing different. So, I ordered the seafood lasagna with fra diavolo sauce.  It was spicy and filled with chunky shrimp and appetizing scallops.  My friend liked the fra diavolo sauce so much that she asked them if next time, she could have the cheese lasagna with that sauce instead. 

It's a great place for meat lovers and vegetarians.  I really loved the garlic bread they served.  I have never seen a place supply unlimited garlic bread.  The food was so good that my friend and I scarfed down the food at such an alarming rate that I think we scared the waiter.

He was kind enough to let me order a special drink.  I like to create my own concoctions with various juices. (I'll discuss this in another blog.)