Over the past couple of years, we’ve had our fair share of splurge dinners involving copious amounts of shaved white truffles. But the white truffle tasting menus at restaurants like Babbo and Del Posto and single-dish truffle supplements at Per Se come at a very, very steep price. Last night, we made the trek to Sapori d’Ischia, tucked away in a sparse industrial stretch of Woodside, Queens, to see if their extremely affordable Alba White Truffle 3-Course Dinner for $50 (offered Tuesday nights October-December) could satisfy our white truffle cravings, minus the sticker shock. Getting to Sapori d’Ischia isn’t nearly as bad as you would think. It’s pretty much a straight shot on the ‘V’ train from Midtown. It took about 20 minutes to reach the N. Boulevard stop and then just a few-minute walk to the restaurant. There is one fairly desolate stretch that made the walk a tad uncomfortable. You’re instantly transported once you walk in the door. For a gourmet Italian market transformed into a romantic restaurant by evening, Sapori d’Ischia has a nice vibe. There’s candlelight, soft Italian music, a beautiful mural on the wall, intimate tables, and Italian delicacies surrounding you. It’s quite transporting to be fine dining in a space surrounded by bottles of fine olive oils, jars of tomato sauce, a huge array of cheeses in the draped fridge, cured meats and, of course, that Italian fungus we’ve grown to love.

We were greeted at the table by a cone of fresh baked, crusty Italian bread served with their house olive oil in a bowl with olives. The white truffle menu changes weekly and the restaurant decides that morning what the courses will be. When you sit down there’s a menu that lists your three courses and also includes 2 recommended bottles of wine. We opted for a bottle off the regular wine list – Amarone Zironda Della Valpolicella 2006. After a couple of bites of bread and our first sips of wine came some good news in the form of a bowl: this was going to be a 4-course affair!

Amuse Bouche/Course One:  Chestnut soup.  A creamy, rich fall classic with some white truffle essence and shavings.  Hearty, creamy, and well done. The server called it an amuse, but it was easily large enough to be it’s own course.

Course Two:  A homemade fettucine in a light pink vodka sauce with rich prosciutto slices, a hint of white truffle oil, and shaved white truffle slices mixed in with the pasta and sauce. The prosciutto was savory and rich, the pasta was light and perfectly cooked, the sauce was delicate so as to not overpower the truffle essence. (Our waiter offered us additional white truffle oil if you want more of a truffle bang, which I would definitely recommend)

Course Three:  Rack of lamb with a savory truffle au jus and shaved white truffles, roasted asparagus and fingerling potatoes with garlic. I had my largest slices of truffle on the lamb and had the biggest truffle taste in this course.  The lamb was perfectly medium rare and the potatoes were perfectly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.  Everything was seasoned very well.

Course Four:  Truffle dessert!  It was what appeared to be a scoop of creamy hazelnut ice cream or gelato topped with a chocolate truffle and powdered sugar and finished off with a huge truffle-infused honey sauce. I never had white truffle, or black truffle for that matter, in a sweet course, and the honey mixed with the truffle and ice cream was a big hit.    

The Verdict

Jill: I would say that we have had some ridiculous white truffle experiences with decadent thin slices of white truffle shaved over our plates so high that you could not even see the dish underneath. This is not that type of truffle experience, but it certainly doesn’t make it a bad one. It’s a small amount of shavings, but the rich flavors of the pasta and meat compliment the amount of shavings perfectly.  It’s more of a truffle essence, and you can get more of that essence by requesting a drizzling of imported Italian truffle oil which makes a lovely addition. If you want a bang of huge truffle flavor, I would recommend going elsewhere (i.e. a truffle supplement at Babbo, Per Se, Eleven Madison parK, or even the truffle mac’n'cheese at Waverly Inn).  BUT, for the price point, you really can’t go wrong.  Quality Italian food, beautiful truffle essence with real white truffle shavings. 

Andy: For us mere mortals, truffles are a once-in-a-blue-moon splurge. I only experienced shaved truffles for the first time about two years ago. Sapori d’Ischia is ideal for people who are intrigued by what they’ve heard about shaved white truffles but have never had the opportunity to try them. It’s the perfect introduction to the essence of the white truffle and its allure without the insane price tag. Sapori d’Ischia is also ideal for the everyday truffle lover looking to get their fix in these economic times, so long as they know going in that you are getting trace amounts of truffle shavings with each course and not dishes that are generously blanketed in truffle shavings. While I would have liked our server to bring a white truffle out of a box and shave it over our dish at the table, it’s not happenin’ here. Nor is it practical at this price. If it were not for the underlying food being so delicious on its own, I may have even been a bit disappointed with the meal and the lack of that aromatic, rich, intense, in your face truffle flavor. But the homemade pasta with prosciutto and the lamb chops were so good that the mere essence of white truffle from the few shavings was synergistically pleasing. While we have read complaints about the service and the water situation, we found the service to be excellent and didn’t mind paying for the water. Oh, and I would recommend taking a bottle home of their Alba White Truffle Olive Oil for $29. Your scrambled eggs will never taste the same again.

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