Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Food
Camera in the Kitchen: Frankies 457 Spuntino
By
youngna park
Published Apr 1, 2008
Modified Apr 1, 2008
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
youngna park
Published Apr 1, 2008
Modified Apr 1, 2008
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
The menu at Frankies 457 Spuntino reads like a gourmet marketplace, and placing an order amounts to trusting the chef to choose an antipasto plate full of cheeses and meats of superior quality. Lists of vegetables like broccoli raab and cremini mushrooms--usually compliments to a pasta or a meat dish--can stand alone on a plate, with sauces soaked up by the perfectly crusty bread from Grandaisy Bakery.
On a recent rainy Wednesday night, the wait for a table at the Carroll Gardens restaurant was an hour long but worth the way for anyone hankering after choice meats, cheeses, handmade sandwiches, small roasted-and-cured vegetable salads, and homemade pastas, which live up to the namesake idea of the Spuntino: a casual restaurant that serves small plates of the above. As fair warning, a serving of each item--cheese, vegetable, meat, crostini--can be small, and is best shared by two, so order copiously or in multiples if your party is large in number.
The wine list has a copious number of Italian wines, divided by region and then by varietal. The most reasonable is a decidedly decent $12 carafe of the house red (a half liter), with a dozen other wines also available by the glass or carafe.
It can be hard to separate appetizers from mains with so many options for nibbling, but a safe bet is the refreshing fennel and celery root salad dressed up with red onion, parsley, lemon, and pecorino. Alternate bites between salad and our antipasto plate, full of tissue-thin prosciutto, both spicy and sweet soppressata (the spicy is better), roasted cauliflower and a buttery taleggio eaten with the Grandaisy bread, were almost enough to fill one up before splitting an entree.
Of the specials, it was a tough choice between gnocchi and cavatelli, but the latter was highly recommended and arrived billowy with hot sausage and browned sage butter. The pasta must be eaten as soon as it arrives at the table, before it cools enough to get a tad soggy from the sauce. Of a handful of dessert options, the smell of torched sugar wafting over our table all night made the vanilla bean creme brulee the obvious option, a delightful combination of crunchy and creamy.
Frankies 457 Spuntino is located at 457 Court Street (at Luquer Street), 718-403-0033. Another Frankies outpost, Frankies 17, is located at 17 Clinton Street in Manhattan, 212-253-2303.
Tagged
brooklyn
carroll gardens
frankie's 457 spuntino
italian
new york
restaurant
review
youngna park
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE food
10 dishes that demonstrate the delicious diversity of curry in New York City
The global dish is shapeshifting and ubiquitous.
By
Robert Sietsema
Published Sep 12, 2026
Frozen yogurt is back in New York City. So are the super long lines.
Is it worth the high price and ridiculous wait? Gothamist needed to find out.
By
Sonia Rao
Food
Frozen yogurt is back in New York City. So are the super long lines.
Is it worth the high price and ridiculous wait? Gothamist needed to find out.
By
Sonia Rao
5 NYC banana puddings as good as Magnolia's
By
Hannah Frishberg
Where to eat in Greenpoint, Brooklyn right now, from Polish to Sichuan to Iberian
By
Robert Sietsema
Can a congressional candidate's dumpling diplomacy win over Queens’ immigrant communities?
By
Caroline Shin
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .