The owners of The North End Bistro have converted their restaurant to Trattoria Procaccini on the North end of Nassau street, and these two dopes are smiling because of it. While we loved the North End Bistro, Trattoria Procaccini serves some of the best Italian food in the area. The restaurant has a modern vibe and the room is filled with natural light from the large windows, which creates the perfect environment to enjoy a locally sourced Italian meal. We started our meal with the Burrata e Ficho, served with fig compote and prosciutto. We will be dreaming of the creamy filling smeared over the prosciutto and fig jam for quite a while.
We also ordered the Fritto Misto and Papardelle Bolognese. The Fritto Misto is a huge plate filled with lightly fried shrimp, scallops, calamari, lemon and baby arugula. The Papardelle Bolognese was a wonderful, traditional pasta. The wide egg pasta and Sunday meat sauce was expertly prepared. The meat sauce was savory, flavorful and so delicious that after eating it, you can close and imagine yourself at a Sunday dinner in Tuscany. Oh marone!
Dessert is always one of our favorite parts of the meal (says Dope #2). The Affogato was perfection. We ordered the fresh almond gelato and gleefully watched the espresso being poured over it. The flavor profile was a perfect pairing of bitter and sweet, which envokes memories of childhood days of eating waffle cones.
Trattoria Procaccini is a lovely new addition to the Princeton area and to the New Jersey Italian food scene in general. Go out and support your locally supplied restaurants that support NJ farms and agriculture. Trattoria Procaccini will not disappoint.