The Everyman and I are always on the lookout for new and delicious places to clink a fork and knife in our neck of the woods. In some ways the search becomes so serious that one might almost consider it a sport. But don’t worry, no foodies were harmed in the writing of this post!
Recently I noticed a little spot called Negroni going in downwind from Gamelle, but hadn’t any indication of what type of fare would be served, other than my assumptions based on their name. Since I’m usually pretty open to foodie experimentation, I filed it away in the to-inquire-about later section of my brain and went on with my day.
Over the course of the last few days I found out that Negroni happens to be a casual little panini bar/cafe, operated by the owners of another College St. resto, Sidecar. This would be right up the Everyman’s alley. Having spent several of his formative years living in Italy, he’s rather fond of most Italian dishes, prosciutto-laced ones especially. I’d initially planned to mention it to him as a weekend lunch spot, but while driving home from work on Friday night and discussing what to have for dinner, it just sort of fit. Knowing that they were only open until 9, we dropped our gear at home, quickly changed and headed down the street for a little pressed bread action.
Negroni is a beautifully small space. It’s bright, airy and hums with it’s cheerful café-ish, open-door persona. At 7 pm on a Friday night the room was less than half full but an inviting and comfortable atmosphere still prevailed. The staff are friendly and overly attentive, though not annoyingly so. The gentleman serving us noticed I had their card (which I’d grabbed on my way in the door) and asked whether we’d come over from their sister spot. I just like to collect business cards, but he promised to take good care of us anyways.
After ordering a beer and a glass of wine, we set to work perusing the food carte. The menu’s not large, but includes a handful of temptation-inducing appetizers, as well as a dozen paninos (which based on their contents I’m hazarding a guess and saying are seasonal). Being meatavores, we ordered a cured platter to split between us, and were not disappointed. The quantity was spot on, with only a few delicate slivers of each meat dispensed, plus a small dish of house-cured sweet pickles and onion slices. The trio of meats included a silky prosciutto, a tangy bresaola, and a sumptuous wild boar cacciatore (reminiscent of the Pingue Abbruzese, actually). All served with a small stack of their achingly crisp and aromatic ciabatta. The bread alone is worth coming for, with it’s yeasty, malty, savoury smell emanating from the many irregular crevices. Eating that appetizer makes me think that the people behind Negroni really get what they’re doing, because it did everything an appetizer should. By the time we were done we were yearning for more, sated but still possessing a discernable appetite.
When our paninos arrived several moments later, we knew we’d made an excellent decision. The Everyman’s was a lesson in simplicity, melding prosciutto, bufala mozzarella and oven-dried tomatoes. My own was a delectable spring-like combination of prosciutto, asparagus spears and taleggio (one of my favorite Italian cheeses ever). If there’s any problem with their menu, it’s that too many of the options sound amazingly palatable, which is why it took me almost 10 minutes to order. When I lamented that sentiment to our server, he suggested that we should try them in order, that way when we come back we always know where we are and where we want to be. This is not a bad idea, and when we go back that’s exactly what I’m going to do, because I just mentally threw a dart at the menu to make my selection this time. The sammies were served with a superfluous salad of parmagiano, fennel and arugula that was tasty, but I was more interested in concentrating on my sandwich.
