Rocco Restaurant is a sleepy presence on a bustling block of Thompson Street that features the ever-crowded Tomoe Sushi and Lupa. Rocco is never that busy, but it doesn't seem to care. It has its following and its been around a lot longer than any other restaurant on the street. I imagine it figures it will still be around when those other eateries go.
Rocco was not a culinary revelation the way previous Who Goes There? subject like Chez Napoleon were. The food was about as mediocre as I expected. (I have heard that under the original owners, the food was fantastic. Sigh. I will never know for sure.) It was more the atmosphere I relished. A lazy air when it was possible to lead a lazy existence in the Village.
i do i do! went to rocco a couple of years ago - stumbled upon it on a lazy sunday myself. i remember being pleasantly surprised by both the food and the atmosphere. happy friday!
ReplyDelete"I have heard that under the original owners, the food was fantastic. Sigh. I will never know for sure."
ReplyDeleteI was taken there a lot for free in the early 80s, 30 years ago, and, although, no expert currently on Italian cuisine and less then, even at that time I recall how bad the food was. Really bad.
The guy who took me was an Italian-American orphan, who liked the place. He'd eat there at least weekly for years, because they treated him like family.
How bad was the food even 30 years ago? Well, Johnny, the young chef and son of the then-owner, would take his girlfriend on dates to IHOPs! 'Nuff said about his taste in food.
Perhaps, these were not the owners when the food was alleged to be good, but, boy, the ambiance sure wasn't worth the misfortune of having to consume a meal there.