Le Zie

172 Seventh Avenue

(between 20th and 21s Streets)

A friend wanted to meet for an early Friday dinner, but she is very particular about her food. She’s not particularly adventurous and loves seafood. So to play it safe, I decided to recommend Italian.

Le Zie 2000 is a rustic, moderately priced Italian restaurant that has been around for a loooong time in Chelsea. That cinched it for me as a place to suggest as my friend also has a very sensitive stomach, so if a restaurant has been around for a while, I assume it must be doing something right!

 

The last time I’d been to Le Zie was over ten years ago. Part of my reason for not returning had to do with their uncomfortable old-school seating and design. Since then, though they’ve gone through a renovation, which I would give a resounding thumbs-up!

 

First off: Drink selection! I knew we were going to have a good dinner when our server happily let us sample four (4!) different tastings of red wines. We finally settled on the 2011 Primitivo di Manduria “Calidus” from Puglia ($13 per glass). As usual, the primitivo does not disappoint—with its smooth, non-tannic finish it’s really becoming my favorite red.

 

Since I knew that my friend loved seafood, we started off sharing the Price Edward Island mussels (white wine, tomato, basil, garlic croutons) for $15. Sauce was great for dipping our bread in.

 

Choosing an entrée was a bit difficult for me as there were so many delicious-sound entrée options to choose, and after much hemming and hawing and discussion with our server, I finally went with his recommendation of the orechiette, sausage, broccoli rabe, and chili dish ($20). Final verdict: Excellent recommendation. Loved the combination of the pasta and the crunchy rabe and the spicy sausage—topped with parmesan cheese. Delicious!

 

My friend ordered the linguine and clams, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, parsley, crushed red peppers ($23). I tried a little of her dish and I could definitely taste the clams on the pasta.

 

For dessert, the server convinced us to go with their special dessert: raspberry soufflé with chocolate ice cream on the side ($9). We were advised that we would need to wait a while (as it’s a 10-minute prep), but we were still drinking our wine and in no rush. And it was well worth the wait.

Amazingly light! It was like eating a cloud of raspberry. A perfect finish to a heavy pasta meal.

 

I do want to emphasize the excellent service. From on-point food recommendations and bringing us countless refills on our bread basket (as well as giving my friend a dish of fresh garlic cloves upon learning that she wanted some extra garlic in the olive oil that we were dipping our bread in) to not rushing us out even though the restaurant had quickly filled up with some diners waiting to be seated. I also noticed that there were many obvious repeat customers, as they warmly greeted the host and the servers throughout the evening.

I will definitely be a happy, repeat customer to Le Zie!

Pros:

Friendly, excellent service.

Comfortable atmosphere.

Tasty food.

Cons:

A bit pricey. Wished they had a prix fixe lunch/dinner menu.

Final Thoughts

Will definitely return!

They also have a “Lounge” bar located in a back room with a side-street entrance that I must try.