PrintCampo: Does Morningside Heights Finally Have A Good Contemporary Italian Restaurant?
Campo
2888 Broadway, New York NY 10025 (b/n 112th and 113th; map); 212-864-1143; camponyc.com
Service: Sloppy if well-meaning
Setting: A long narrow dining room with pleasant sidewalk seating
Compare It To: Gennaro, Celeste, Bianca
Cost: $35 for two courses, a glass of wine, tax, and tip
Grade: C
The neighborhood around Columbia University has never had a really good Italian restaurant. Yes, there's old school V & T for thick-crusted pizza and red-sauce Italian-American cooking; Max SoHa has let me down on more than one occasion; and Sezz Medi' has pretty good Neapolitan-inspired pizza, but I've never had anything else there that blew me away.
So I was psyched when I read about Campo, a new contemporary Italian restaurant with a chef, David Rotter, whose pedigree includes a stint at the late Vincent Scotto's fine restaurant, Gonzo.
The first time I tried the food I ordered a couple of grilled pizzas to go, a Margherita ($9.95), and one with meatballs and ricotta ($11.50), That turned out to be a serious error of judgment on my part. Alas, the crust was rather cardboardy in large part because it had cooled, so to be fair I decided to withhold judgment until I had one of Campo's pizza right off the grill.
So when we actually sat down for a meal at Campo I ordered the local heirloom tomato pizza (the restaurant is committed to serving as much local and organic food as possible), which when presented looked like a salad on a piece of flatbread. Alas, the crust was no better, though the heirloom tomatoes were sweet and just acidic enough.
Robiola cheese with flatbread.
Two other appetizers, fried green tomatoes caprese ($8.95), with balsamic and red wine vinegar, and a rectangle of robiola cheese topped with pistachios and honey and served with house-made flatbread, were both undermined by excessive sweetness that turned them into candidates for dessert.
Pasta with fresh local corn.
An undistinguished, flaccid pasta with fresh local corn was also too sweet, and a pasta with clam sauce and pancetta ($13.50) had so little of the latter I couldn't taste it.
Murray's organic chicken alla diavolo ($14.95) was too peppery and rather dry, and a hangar steak with truffled french fries ($19.95) ordered medium-rare arrived at the table well-done. The french fries would have been great if they didn't taste like a bottle of truffle oil had been accidentally spilled on them.
The dessert to get is the fruit crisp ($6) with vanilla ice cream. A molten chocolate cake ($6) had sprung a leak by the time it got to the table, and the zeppole ($6) had way too much honey on them.
So all my rooting came to naught. The Columbia community is still in need of a really solid Italian restaurant. I actually think Campo has good intentions. The kitchen's execution is too unsteady at this point, and when I read the menu, it feels like the restaurant is trying too hard to be all things to all people. Who knows? Maybe Campo will get its act together. As is the case with the Columbia football team, hope springs eternal.
Read more of Ed's reviews.
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12 Comments:
So basically the fruit crisp sounds like the only good thing there? And that thing pictured is a PIZZA? It really does look like a salad.
Adam Kuban at 12:00AM on 09/10/08
I went to Columbia before food was invented. And when I spent two weeks up there this spring with my husband in St. Lukes, shaken to my core because he might die, I forced myself to eat every couple of days, usually because friends insisted. Even in that state, I was horrified by what was available. We were in NYC, for crying out loud! I hoped that this restaurant was something wonderful when I saw the header. So disappointed....
islandexile at 12:34AM on 09/10/08
We waled in sat down, asked the waiter "How big are the pizza's?" He held up his hands and said about this round. So not knowing what he could mean from his desription said: "how many slices are in a pizza?" I can have it cut in as many slices as you want. We got up & left. On the way out, we saw the individual pizzas & they looked pretty ordinary. I know people who liked the pizzas & not much else. We have been going to Covo, north of Fairway on about 137th St. & 12th Ave. The wood burning pizzas are nicely charred with fresh mutz & good ingedients. The pasta is from scratch (same owners as MaxSoHa) and a lot more space in an old wharehouse. Very reasonable, a 6 slice full pizza $8.95 and the housemade pastas from $9.95 - $13.95.
hondo3777 at 7:36AM on 09/10/08
I work in the area and I'm desperate for something delicious and not-too-heavy for lunch. Too bad about Campo, I was considering heading over there at some point soon. V&T is awesome- but not for lunch.
ashkashbgsh at 8:25AM on 09/10/08
Though I haven't returned in several years, a number of my neighbors continue to highly recommend Pisticci, at 125 LaSalle.
EatingInTranslation at 10:59AM on 09/10/08
At first I was sad that you were just blocks from my apartment...then I saw the C-rating and now feel less sad.
Jenn Sit at 11:25AM on 09/10/08
recent CU grad here...listen, as far as I'm concerned, that spot, previously occupied by Pertutti, is eternally cursed by the aforementioned restaurant's undescribable badness.
Anyway, I've been to all the Italian places in the area and Sezz Medi is easily, EASILY the best one around. It's a good bit better than Pisticci, which is 2 steps up from Max SoHa, which is a step up from V&T, which is a step up from Famous Famiglia, which is a step up from Dominos, which is a step up from the worst food imaginable, which is a step up from Pertutti.
It sounds like Campo settles in somewhere between Max SoHa and Pisticci, but I've heard from friends who are still there that it is, "much better than [Pertutti]," which is not very informative.
The ingredients look great on paper, so I'm sure there's a crowd.
z911empire at 1:22PM on 09/10/08
by the way, your reviews rock Ed.
z911empire at 1:24PM on 09/10/08
EatinginTranslation: yes! I live on 110th and Broad, and walk up to eat at Pisticci at least once a week (or once every two) and it is excellent. It's a little north, but Ed, so are Max Soha and Sezz Medi.
pemabuk at 1:24PM on 09/10/08
I used to bartend at Pisticci (when it just served beer, wine, and cappuccinos) and the best part about working there was the food. I've read reviews where the service can be so-so, which, having worked there, is kinda true, but I found the food simple and consistently good. I'm glad there are those people out there still enjoying it - I live in NH now and haven't been able to stop in on my visits to the city.
leeapeea at 10:30AM on 09/11/08
that "pizza" looked like a salad served on a plate-sized tortilla chip. Think I'll pass; that does seem too far to go for a good fruit crisp w/ ice cream.
iamon02 at 6:04PM on 09/12/08
I'm a Columbia grad student, I've lived in Morningside Heights my entire life, and I would say DEFINITELY go for Cafe Pisticci. It's the best Italian in the neighborhood, in my opinion.
emilyzd at 10:10PM on 10/09/08