new york city : caffe cielo.

since my friend, melissa, left chicago and moved to nyc almost two years ago (tears), i've heard rave reviews about caffe cielo ... an adorable little restaurant featuring northern italian cuisine, located in new york's theater district / hell's kitchen. (by the way, it's pronounced chello ... i continuously said it wrong the entire trip.) 

here we are! aren't we cute? 

we sat at the bar so we could talk with the cute (lady) bartender.

also, a friend of melissa's.

i've been eating a ton of italian food lately (which you will see more of later, since we went to yet another italian place for dinner the next night) ... and all of it has been so good. 

caffe cielo was no exception. here's what i had :

peperoni arrosto con olive e basilico :

peppers (roasted in house!) with olive oil, olives & basil. 

pepper perfection. i ate the entire plate myself.

it was extra good when i laid the pieces on top of my ...

bruschette al pomodoro e rucola :

toasted bread topped with chopped tomatoes and arugala.

i had a lot of bests while i was in nyc ... and i think it's safe to say this was the best bruschetta i've ever had. and i've had a lot of bruschetta in my life.

rigatoni con broccoli, peperoni e olive.

rigatoni with broccoli, peppers & olives in a white wine sauce.

(prepared with no butter)

okay, so this was my second ever experience with white wine sauce (the first being at spiaggia in chicago) ... YET AGAIN, SO DELICIOUS. i snarfed it up very, very quickly -- in fact, i burnt my tongue. oops.

caffe cielo is the perfect spot if you happen to be seeing a show after dinner like we did ... actually, it's the perfect spot any night of the week.


basically, just check it out.