The Best Chicken in NYC?

In 2009, Bon Appetit published a recipe for chicken al mattone, or, chicken under a brick. The author of the recipe was Sfoglia's former chef Ron Suhanosky, who counted it as one of his signature dishes (the other is pappardelle alla Bolognese). I would not be exaggerating if I said that this is possibly the most delicious chicken dish in NYC. (I rarely write about forgettable or unappetizing meals, and I realize that this blog is full of praise and superlatives, but last night at Sfoglia actually left me speechless.)

Sfoglia is a lovely little trattoria across from the 92Y. Murano crystal chandeliers shed an amber light over a stucco-walled room with rustic, communal wooden tables. The ambiance is casually elegant. Sfoglia has been open for six years, and the restaurant fills quickly with appreciative locals and 92Y subscribers. Last night, My mother and I waited at the entrance for a while as the hostess gracefully dealt with an apparently frustrating phone call; a potential diner was miffed at the lack of available reservations.

We sat at the end of a wooden table adorned with apricot-colored roses, and were soon presented with fresh bread so hot that steam emanated from it. This crusty bread had a soft, moist interior, making it a good vehicle for the dish of of olive oil served with it.

A chilled cucumber soup with salmon roe sounded season-appropriate, but we decided to split an appetizer portion of the pappardelle alla bolognese. (If this was an appetizer, I'm almost afraid to see what the dinner portion was.) A rich sauce of beef, veal, pork and lamb with a sprinkling of fresh parmigiano coated wide al dente noodles, and there was plenty of meat and sauce left over for sopping the bread in.

Lamb, chicken, fish, skate, what do we appreciate? I'm sure we would have loved all of it, but we thought the chicken sounded so tasty that we both ordered it. The half-chicken, marinated in olive oil, rosemary, thyme, and garlic, served with a lemon wedge, was bursting with flavor. The seared, crisp, crackly skin enveloped moist, fragrant white and dark meat. The manager informed us that the secret is in the searing; some restaurants do not wait until the pan is hot enough and lay the brick too early. (In her spare time, she told us, she actually visited various restaurants in NYC that serve chicken under a brick, and all of the other preparations paled in comparison.) I ordered mine with the advertised dried, crushed red pepper, while my mother opted to omit it.

Desserts were another revelation. Mint chocolate-chip gelato was obviously made with fresh mint, while wine cracker gelato had a savory hint in its sweetness. The server had also told us about a special dessert that had to be ordered at the beginning of the meal. If the chicken had got my tongue, this dessert indeed left me completely speechless. An open-faced warm tart, filled with the freshest ripe peach slices and tart blackberries, gave off a heavenly buttery aroma. The juice from the summer fruit seeped into the sweet biscuit crust base, while the crust on the sides could be broken off and eaten like a cookie. Atop this masterpiece lay two scoops of the homemade wine cracker gelato. I finished much more of this than I should have.

I was really unprepared for such delight at a neighborhood Italian restaurant on the Upper East Side. It really says something when my mother, who eats no dark meat, finished her chicken in its entirety.

Trattoria Sfoglia: 135 East 92nd St., (212) 831-1402.