East Village Restaurant Spotlight: New Italian Eatery Mandolino

EAST VILLAGE, NY — A new pizzeria called Mandolino opened this past weekend at 137 East 13th St. between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue. Mandolino offers a variety of Italian fare, from pizza to meat to pasta.

"The magic and the art happens in the kitchen where bold flavors and fresh ingredients evolve into delicious meals created by the hands of our truly talented and skilled chefs," the website states. "At Mandolino our goal is to satisfy your tastebuds one bite at a time and to keep you coming back for more."

Chef Agostino Cangiano grew up in Italy and began his culinary career in NYC at 26. He previously worked at Rosso Pomodoro and Bella Blu. His partner, Chef Alejandro Ferrer Fuenmayor, grew up in Venezuela and attended courses at Le Cordon Blue in France and Los Angeles. He's competed in international competitions and food shows in New York and China.

The restaurant has nine reviews on Yelp so far, and all of them are five star ratings:

• La M. said: "Mandolino Restaurant is a homie, beautiful, different, and very authentical Italian restaurant. The staff is very attentive and friendly that you will feel at home."
• Alex G. said: "Talk about the hot new kid on the block! This Neapolitan pizzeria is as authentic as it gets with its Naples, Italy native chef at the helm! I tried their namesake pizza, "Mandolino", which consists of light sauce, chopped cherry tomatoes, capers, anchovies, garlic, olives, oregano, and e.v.o.o."
• Edgard L. said: "This is probably my new favorite pizza spot in NYC. I had the great pleasure to eat in this amazing place. Real Neapolitan pizza, real Neapolitan Chef. The only one I found so far that hasn't made the menu based on american's taste. Truly and completely in love with this cute little piece of Italy in the middle of the big apple."

The space was previously where the hummus restaurant Sahara Citi was.

Photo: Mandolino's Instagram