After a competitive game of Sorry, we headed across the street to my friend’s neighborhood Northern Italian restaurant, Villa Berulia, where the owners warmly greeted her as she’s a regular, ordering the same menu items each visit.

Learning that I was going to write about the restaurant, one of the owners offered me their namesake tortellini alla Berulia in a creamy Bolognese sauce with mushrooms ($29). She started with stracciatella, the classic egg-drop soup, hers with lots of extra spinach and eggs ($12). The tasty dish was too rich to finish, so I took it home to enjoy the other half for lunch the next day.

My friend requested their namesake chicken, with a chicken breast sautéed with white wine, wild mushrooms and artichoke hearts, topped with Parma ham and mozzarella ($32) with lots of extra mushroom sauce. I tried their braised short ribs, cooked in a Montepulciano reduction ($39) with gnocchi.

Neither of us could finish, asking for it to go, my friend’s with additional mushroom sauce, which they happily provided as she’s a regular and they treat her like “‘visiting famiglia.’“

Villa Berulia
Murray Hill
107 East 34th Street
New York, NY 10016
212-689-1970
villaberulia.com