This casual Italian restaurant serves farm-to-table fare in a charmingly cool space brimming with warm, rustic appeal, making it yet another example of Greenpoint’s growing popularity. Owners Luca and Giorgia Fadda and Nicola Paganelli draw from their Italian heritage in the 70-seat restaurant, starting with wooden communal tables, trolley-car bench booths and delicate industrial lighting, all of which are handmade.
Their dedication to authenticity is similarly echoed in the minimalist menu featuring locally sourced selections like steamed mussels with guanciale ($12), plump Long Island oysters (market price) and generously portioned grilled octopus ($13) with delectably crisped tentacles lacquered in a paprika vinaigrette.
The house-made pastas showcase Le Fanfare’s greatest strengths (and weakness), including the captivating Culurgiones ($15), a traditional Sardinian dumpling stuffed with potato, pecorino and mint, the surprisingly bland Red Beet Ravioli ($15) that disservices the robust gorgonzola cream sauce it’s paired with, and Chef Adam Ross' specialty, the Spaghetti Neri ($16), an exquisite squid ink pasta that is at once utterly decadent yet remarkably light, a deliciously dangerous dichotomy that ensures you’ll leave behind a perfectly polished plate.
Larger entrées, like the Creekstone Farm Hanger Steak with rosemary potatoes ($23) and the Goffle Farm Chicken with red Swiss chard ($20), are reliable if not tame, while the delightfully supple Grilled Berkshire Pork Loin ($22) sings against deliberately roasted apples that lend acidity and sweetness. A selection of seasonal vegetables can also be ordered a la carte, the star of which is the gently roasted asparagus ($8), served warm next to chilled six-minute eggs for a scrumptious juxtaposition of texture and temperature.
A formidable selection of craft cocktails and Italian wines complete the experience, along with a petite dessert menu that boasts appropriately traditional sweets, like made-from-scratch cannolis with pistachios ($7) and lusciously smooth panna cotta ($8).
BY: TIME OUT COMMUNITY REVIEWER CHRISTINE FISCHER HEWIT