The Best Thing We Ever Ate... in a Tupperware

Costina – Salumeria Rosi
Salumeria Rosi

Next door to Jacques Torres lies Salumeria Rosi, the home of Anne Burrell’s to-go-to MEAT-FEST dish, the costina.  By this point, we were losing both steam and sanity, so we wandered into the store and jumped on the first person we saw to order our Best Thing I Ever Ate delicacy.

Longest Restaurant Name Ever

Neither of us are necessarily the spare rib types, if for no other reason than they’re messy to eat and get caught in your teeth.  Plus, this particular variety of rib is called “spicy Tuscan,” and we have already established that we are not really ones for high intensity spice.  So we order our costina from the host, already feeling mildly hungover, and fork over a fistful of cash.  We then stand and wait at the counter.

We wait at that counter for what seems like an eternity.

Vodka Trying to Entertain Herself

No sign of our host friend, and with the other workers seemingly occupied with customers who are interested in things other than a solitary spare rib, we try to be patient.  This activity does not come naturally to us.

Now Moved on to Photographing the Meat Slabs

Finally, after a solid 15 minutes, the man working the counter asks what we’re waiting for.

“Costina!” we shout.  To which he walks to the other end of the counter, picks up a Tupperware container, and hands it to us.

The Tupperware had been sitting there for at least 14 minutes.

Clearly, we’re not the sharpest knives in the drawer.

Classy Container

We retreat with our rib-filled plastic and sit on a bench near the closest subway station to dig in (high class eating establishments are our forte).  Peeling off the lid, the container is decidedly odd for its contents: there sits our lone rib.  We stick our plastic forks in, and luckily, the meat falls off of the bone fairly easily.  We taste.

Alone in the Universe

In a running theme of the day, Vodka likes it, but Ginger LOVES it (she is obviously experiencing the munchies).  Ginger rambles on about the wonder that is this Tupperware-clad rib for many minutes.  Vodka believes something has been lost in the packaging and presentation of this solitary piece of meat, but Ginger is having none of it.  She is head over heels.

And so we suppose Salumeria Rosi has proven that even food served in a Tupperware and eaten outside a subway station is capable of pleasing some (not-all-that-discerning) palates.

Salumeria Rosi’s Costina: 4 stars