Little Morocco’s Omar Resurfaces on the Ponti Rossi Truck

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When I discovered a brand new truck last week on 48th Street, I recognized a friendly face working the grill. In truth, he recognized me. It was Omar from Little Morocco, one of ML’s old favorites. Unfortunately, this truck does not sell Moroccan food and it seems that Omar is an employee/cook more than an actual influence into the food or a partner.

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The other guys working on the truck were certainly Italian and the food from Ponti Rossi reflects that. The menu is a bit extensive and slightly overwhelming. You can choose from recommended pasta and panini preparations or customize your own with sauces, meats, cheese, and toppings. Lots of options.

The Ragú Bolognese was recommended (to other people as well) and so that’s what I chose. It took about 10 minutes to cook the pasta and I could only imagine how long it would have been if there was a line. It seems this three week old truck has not yet been discovered by the lunch crowds.

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Well, if the bolognese is any indication, when they do discover it, they’ll get a pretty decent Italian meal. Nothing mindblowing, but it will certainly satisfy an Italian craving. The penne was cooked nicely and there was a decent amount of sauce. The sauce itself was excellent – full of salty meaty flavors with a hint of cheese (although I didn’t see any cheese on the pasta). It was also a nice consistency that managed to coat the pasta – not too thick, not too watery.

It did cost me $9 and I did feel like I wanted something more. Maybe a slice of bread or a salad. Something aside from a moderate portion of rich pasta. Perhaps a prosciutto panini would have been more satisfying.

I’ll stop by the truck again to see how their other food is. It was certainly great to see Omar, who I’m sure has at least a little something to do with the flavors in the food. Maybe the owners here will let him bring his garbage plate back as a special.

It sounds like their schedule is not permanent yet, but they plan to hit 48th and 6th on Mondays and Wednesdays and Park Avenue and 47th on Tuesdays and Thursdays. You can follow them on Twitter, but they have not been posting consistently yet.

4 Comments

  • User has not uploaded an avatar

    I was happy with my Ponti Rossi experience, the portions were just right and service was speedy

  • User has not uploaded an avatar

    Oh!! I’m so glad you tried that truck! I saw it the other day because I work in Midtown and I stopped by to take a look at the menu. It was a little bit too early to have lunch but I promised myself to try it asap. I am italian and I have to say that $9 for fresh pasta al ragu’ (from the pic I can see that in your plate you have more than 4oz of pasta), in a city where you need $10/15 for a salad, it’s more than fair. If they are cooking everything at the moment, as you wrote, I also can understand the 10 minutes wait but I agree that it will be too much if there will be a huge line. Btw, the pasta looks delicious and I love ragu’. It reminds me my childhood! I’m gonna definitely try them but I hope that there won’t be any Moroccan flavor in my italian lunch! :D Thanks for your reviews, they are always interesting! Sara

  • User has not uploaded an avatar

    Wow, what a coincidence. Two brand new id’s created in the same hour, both complimenting this truck within 8 minutes of each other. Just amazing.

  • User has not uploaded an avatar

    Here’s the official public site – http://www.pontirossifood.com/
    “Authentic Italian Food”

    Dear fake reviewers – let’s hope for karma to strike back. This was probably the worst knock off Italian I’ve had in a while. My pasta was cheap store bought with a tiny amount of sauce and some kind of dried ground meat at $9! Skip this truck until they either drop the price or use actual Italian ingredients.

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