Last night we wedged ourself into a corner of the always-hopping Bar Veloce in Chelsea (it has an East Village sib too) with the main goal of stuffing our face with bread, cheese and wine. The menu, with sections devoted to bruschette, panini and piatti (composed plates), seemed purposely designed to help us succeed.
After some chickpea bruschette (bread, check) and bianco panini (bread, check; cheese, check), we turned our attention to the piatto veloce, a mixed plate of prosciutto, sopressata and three cheeses: a gorgonzola dolce, a grana padano and a caciota al tartufo.
The soft, creamy gorgonzola had a touch of sweetness, which was the perfect foil for the spiciness of sopressata, while the hard grana padano and its savory taste was our favorite to eat with the salty prosciutto. And the caciota al tartufo, a sheep and cow's milk cheese infused with black truffle, was too tasty to pair with anything, so it went right from the platter and into our mouth. (As a somewhat related aside, we've found the key to keeping our New Year's resolutions is to just make better resolutions. Like eating more bread and cheese.) Bar Veloce is located at 176 Seventh Avenue.
After some chickpea bruschette (bread, check) and bianco panini (bread, check; cheese, check), we turned our attention to the piatto veloce, a mixed plate of prosciutto, sopressata and three cheeses: a gorgonzola dolce, a grana padano and a caciota al tartufo.
The soft, creamy gorgonzola had a touch of sweetness, which was the perfect foil for the spiciness of sopressata, while the hard grana padano and its savory taste was our favorite to eat with the salty prosciutto. And the caciota al tartufo, a sheep and cow's milk cheese infused with black truffle, was too tasty to pair with anything, so it went right from the platter and into our mouth. (As a somewhat related aside, we've found the key to keeping our New Year's resolutions is to just make better resolutions. Like eating more bread and cheese.) Bar Veloce is located at 176 Seventh Avenue.