Rapanelle
59-24 Myrtle Avenue, Ridgewood

Phone: 1-718-381-7330

Cuisine: Italian

Credit: All major credit cards accepted.

Hours: Open seven days a week; Sundays to Thursdays from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Fridays & Saturdays open until 11:30 p.m.

Parking: Street

Snuggled between retail stores on a strip of Myrtle Avenue in Ridgewood is Rapanelle, an Italian restaurant with a Mediterranean feel and modern appeal. 

Walls with exposed brick, quaint paintings, and a sun roof make this well-lit establishment a real gem. Brothers, owners, and chefs Jack and Aldo Borruso from Palermo, Sicily bring the island’s rich and zesty southern flavors straight to Ridgewood — and do it with a sense of style that makes the restaurant similar to eateries in Soho or the West Village.  The Borruso brothers, in fact, had that in mind — “to bring ‘the City’ into Queens” — when they opened 2,000-square foot Rapanelle last April.

Jack also said they wanted to “streamline” the menu in order to accommodate the  lunch crowd, some of them bankers and locals, as well as those who travel a bit to taste the delectable pasta, seafood, and meat dishes for dinner.   In many ways, Jack said that “there aren’t many restaurants around here… mostly fast food” and he is right. 

Along the commercial business improvement district strip, Rapanelle stands out as one of the few places to sit down and have a meal and wine leisurely and absorb the atmosphere.  Not to mention, all of their dishes taste extremely fresh, especially their seafood, which they get locally.

  To start, my companion and I had complimentary Foccachia bread that was fresh out of the oven.  Next we had a zesty dish of baked clams along with an order of steamed mussels, both cooked to perfection with a good amount of garlic.  The baked clams have a citrus taste and spiced and crisp with breadcrumbs, and the mussels are marinated with a light red and white wine sauce.  

We then sampled the Rigatoni Rapanelle, which was comprised of a slightly sweetened and very tender Italian sausages, mushrooms, plum tomato sauce, and diced mozzarella.  Then we tried the Shrimp Scampi dosed with a very light butter sauce. 

Finishing off the meal, we had a dynamite homemade tiramisu—perhaps the best tiramisu I’ve ever tasted.  It is not to be missed! 

On the weekends, specials include gongolaza salad and mescaline salad with goat cheese as well as other fish specialties like Snapper, Brook Trout, and filet mignon.  

Private parties, catering and take-out are available too.  For more information on Rapanelle, log online at www.rapanelle.com.