Bella Gioia — NYC Paula

Aug 17

Aug 17 Bella Gioia

Lou and I have been watching a lot of The Cooking Channel over the past few months. We started watching Cooks vs. Cons where cooking enthusiasts compete against professional chefs, but their identities aren’t revealed until the winner has been determined. In one of these episodes, we saw Chef Nico Daniele compete and we knew we wanted to try his restaurant. Fortunately for us, Bella Gioia is located in Park Slope just a few blocks from Lou’s work and they are now open for outdoor dining.

Bella Gioia takes reservations which is great since it’s hard to know if you’ll be able to get a table in more bustling neighborhoods right now. I had an aperitif with Campari, Lilet, and brandied cherries. Lou had a Sixtus. We split an order of the fried burrata which was incredible. I followed that with the Gnocchi Rustica. In both cases, the tomato sauce was the star. Lou had the Gaddina di Casa, which he let me try. I’m already looking forward to our next visit so I can order that myself. It is chicken cooked with cherry tomatoes and artichokes in a heavily white wine sauce. The portions are incredible. I ended up taking home half of my gnocchi for lunch the next day.

Lou is Italian so he’s very picky about dining out at Italian restaurants, but this is one we’ve definitely added into our rotation. If you are in the Park Slope area Bella Gioia is open for outdoor dining and takeout Tuesdays-Saturdays.