Lunch at Maurizio's

Yesterday the Office went out for a birthday lunch at Maurizio's Italian restaurant (264-E McLaws Circle, Williamsburg). I was not keen on this having had a less than stellar Sunday dinner there in the fall but other people were eager to try it, and I'm very glad they were! Lunch was a completely different animal and I'm ready to try dinner again.

First, a word on the garlic knots. These were disappointing to me. IMO, Doraldo's has the best garlic knots in town. They're smaller, more dense and chewy. On the plus side, the larger size and airiness of Maurizio's knots was helpful when it came time to soak up the sauce. The knots were the only part of lunch that wasn't really great.

*** They had sweet tea, always a plus! ***

I had the special, homemade sausage with onions and peppers over pasta, and it was fantastic. I chose bucatini and half wish I'd gone with the fettucini like my boss did, but there's always next time. Other folks at the table were gushing over the gnocchi which looked lovely in both cream and marinara sauce.

It was easy to tell that everything was made fresh on order. My pasta was perfectly cooked, and the homemade sausage was hearty and nicely spiced to match the red sauce. We had birthday cake waiting back at the office so didn't order dessert, so that and espresso are definitely on list for the next visit.