707 Willis Avenue
Williston Park, NY
Long Island
(516) 294-6610
website
latest tasting: February 1, 2006; total times visited: 3
I recently had business to attend to in LI, that involved hunting for a particular store. When we finally found the store, and took care of business, I noticed that La Parma, where I’d been previously twice (once, my sister took us all out there, to celebrate something- her first job after law school, perhaps?, and another time, I went back out there, not sure exactly why, but I know I was disappointed that time), was right next door. We were hungry, so the obvious choice was made, although a reputedly excellent seafood and oyster bar was just across the street- my companion was willing to try this place, since I’d never been, but I know how much he isn’t keen to seafood, so La Parma it was.
We started off with the baked clams. My first two clams were fishy, but my companion was telling me his were really good, so I forged ahead and the rest were very yummy. Matter of personal preference, I like the topping of bread crumbs to be crispy, crunchy, with the clam the moist part, while he admitted he prefers his the way these were: soft and almost mushy on top. The clams were good, though not baked the way I prefer.
As this restaurant is family style, we did have to agree on a main course. In the end, compromise, that dirty word, was reached with rigatoni a la vodka and chicken parmagiana. (The reason the picture is an individual plate: they serve you right when they set the plates down.)
The waiter asked us if we wanted prosciutto with our rigatoni a la vodka, which I’d never heard of before (Craig had), but we agreed.
I’m not a huge fan of parmagiana style in general, but I admit that this was pretty good. The chicken was pounded very thin, and there was a heavy layer of mozzarella on top. My biggest gripe with this part of the meal was the lack of a proper knife to cut the meat; I had my butter knife and it wasn’t easy.
The pasta itself, I enjoyed a lot, although, as with pretty much every Italian restaurant I’ve been to, it was just slightly beyond al dente, which is my major complaint about eating out generally. Other than that, the prosciutto added an extra dimension to the taste of the dish which was nice, and the sauce was pretty yummy.
Despite being so stuffed we had to take home like half of the pasta and half of the chicken, we managed to order dessert: spumoni for him, tiramisu (what else?) for me.
The spumoni was good, rock hard but other than that, to be expected.
The tiramisu was just a touch too much cheese for me, and way too much espresso as I later had a lot of trouble falling asleep and not talking my head off. It was tasty, but not the best tiramisu I’ve ever had nor would I order it again unless I was really fiending for some mascarpone.
Overall experience was pleasant, if I was in the area, I wouldn’t mind eating there again. New dessert however.
Yvo says: Don’t go out of your way for this place, but if you’re in the area and hungry, they do serve up huge portions and seem to be pretty yummy overall. Though we didn’t have them this time, I recall my sister recommending the mussells strongly, and seriously, everything we ate was good, not mind boggling but good. The whole meal came out to $90 with tip for two people, including a glass of wine, two desserts, one meat entree and one pasta, and an appetizer, with leftovers.
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