After sending a few places from my “must try list” to The Wandering Foodie we decided on the recently open Meatball Shop in the Lower East Side for a late lunch. I read about it when it first opened, and the idea of being able to order meatballs at 4am was intriguing (the kitchen is open until 4am Thursday – Saturday, until 2am Sunday – Wednesday). If you didn’t guess from the name, meatballs are the specialty of the house. The space itself is small—a large communal table fills most of the dining room with a few tables running along the side wall and about a dozen seats at the bar. During warm weather there’s a few tables available outside as well. Fresh flowers are neatly arranged at each table, a chalkboard announces the specials of the day (featuring a daily meatball, sauce, side, salad and ice-cream) and black and white vintage family portraits line the red wall.

When you sit down you’re handed a laminated menu and a dry erase marker to make your selections. The menu is divided into 3 sections: Ala Carte Balls, Sandwiches – hero (served on a baugette) or sliders, and a meatball smash (served on a brioche bun).

How it works:

Step 1. Select ala carte, slider, hero or smash

Step 2. Select your meatball – chicken, beef, pork, vegetarian (made with lentils and walnuts) or special

Step 3. Choose a sauce – classic tomato, spicy beef, parmasean cream, mushroom or special

Step 4. Mozzarella or provolone

I love the idea of taking one food – the meatball – and creating an endless choice of options, but I guess this is why you get the dry erase marker in case you start to second guess. If you’re at a loss the wait staff will gladly offer up their recommendations and favorite combinations. These aren’t Mom’s meatballs (my Sicilian Mother and Grandmother used a mix of pork, veal and beef and simmered them in a tomato sauce with neck bones for flavor), but they were tender and delicious. I recommend trying the basil pesto (if available as the special) with a chicken meatball or the spicy beef with a beef meatball (beef on beef seems so gluttonous but tasted so good).

Tip: Don’t forget to save room for dessert! The ice-cream is made in-house and you can create a “custom” ice-cream sandwich from a choice of four types of cookies or a brownie.

Lunch

(I had a taste of each)

• Sliders – beef with spicy beef, special jambalaya with shrimp, andouille and rice with basil pesto (the only miss, was too salty and fishy), pork with mushroom, chicken with classic tomato
• Smash – chicken with basil pesto and mozzarella (my favorite)
• Side of white beans
• Special salad – arugula with asparagus and a creamy lemon vinagarette
• Market salad – arugula with apples
• House made tangerine, caramel and mint ice-cream with a ginger snap cookie on the side (We couldn’t come to a decision on a sandwich combination so ordered ala carte)

Good for: Meatballs, Endless Choices of Meatballs, Late Night Meatballs, Customizable Ice-Cream Sandwiches