Great American Bites: The Meatball Shop elevates an American comfort food
While there have always been narrowly-focused eateries such as doughnut shops and hot dog stands, more eclectic single dish specialty restaurants have thrived in recent years, focusing on everything from grilled cheese to chicken wings to mac and cheese to breakfast cereal. But there’s a good argument to be made that the current resurgence was started by the success of The Meatball Shop, a small New York-bred chain that elevates one of America’s most beloved comfort foods in a dizzying array of styles.
The food: While the eponymous meatball is clearly the star here, this chain has avoided being a one-trick pony by offering it in several flavors and styles, and then allowing customers to create a staggering variety of meals by switching up their protein, sauce and base.
The leaping-off point for any meal here is choosing your meatball, from a protein list that includes classic (beef), spicy heritage pork, gluten-free chicken, and surprising options such as salmon and Maine lobster. There's even a veggie/vegan option, plus a daily special.
The meatballs are not the classic fried style. Instead, they are baked on sheet pans for consistency. As a result, they have a slightly spongy texture, since the exterior doesn't get as crisp as from frying. Baking also gives them flat spots, instead of the more expected perfect sphere. But aesthetics aside, all varieties are tender and flavorful, and the sauces are all thick and tasty.
Speaking of sauce, your choices include spicy meat, parmesan cream, classic tomato (the one sold in jars), pesto, lemon butter (a perfect complement to the seafood balls) and yogurt dill, for a Greek/Middle Eastern spin.
They are all good, but my favorite was the pesto. While the others are pretty predictable renditions of standards, the Meatball Shop's variety is crude, chunky and clearly homemade – not the smooth, dressing-style pesto you typically get. This one is more of a chimichurri consistency, basil-forward and delicious.
Once you pick your protein and sauce, you have to decide how to enjoy them. "Naked Balls" aren't quite as barebones as the name sounds: your quartet of meatballs comes with sauce, parmesan cheese and focaccia bread.
There are three sizes of sandwich options: For the slight of appetite, go for the sliders (individual meatballs on a mini brioche bun). The Smash (two balls with cheese on a round brioche bun) is good for the normal-sized appetite and the hero (a classic sub-style meatball sub with three balls) will satisfy the heartiest eaters. It’s all about choices here, so the sandwiches come on different types of bread, with multiple choices of cheese.
Another category is the bowl, which lets you put your balls and sauce over a starchy base, including gluten-free pasta. Options range from seasonal risotto to polenta, mashed potatoes, rigatoni, and of course, the most classic of them all: spaghetti. And for the truly ravenous, there's the more generous "baller plate" size.
While the choices seem bewildering, it's largely a puzzle that solves itself based on your tastes: choose classic balls or spicy pork and you’ll likely head to one of the red sauces, parmesan cream or pesto, and then and an appropriate base like pasta. Go with salmon or lobster and you’ll probably skip the red sauces and might be more likely to go with polenta or risotto.
Appetizers include four great bar snacks, especially the spicy buffalo chicken meatballs, complete with celery sticks and bleu cheese. Sadly, they are not on the regular meatball menu and available only as a starter, along with the crab cake balls and rice balls.
The scene: In an interview, the founders, childhood friends from New York who met as food delivery guys, claim that when they opened their original Lower East Side New York location in 2009, there was no other meatball-focused spot in existence, and today there are more than 100.
In any case, they are the best-known meatball purveyor, now with eight restaurants, a cookbook, and even a tomato sauce sold in jars in Whole Foods. The locations are all on the modestly-sized side, most with some outdoor sidewalk seating, and a homey feel driven by exposed brick, handwritten blackboards and antique meat grinders.
In addition to offering an endless array of ways to eat meatballs, the chain has simultaneously capitalized on the farm-to-table and localvore trends of the past decade with regional sourcing from proudly named purveyors of cheese, pork, produce, craft beer and other ingredients, all clearly displayed on blackboards and its website. The fact that the original was a neighborhood spot has not been lost in the growth process – today every Meatball Shop feels like a small local institution.
Bottom line: The Meatball Shop serves good food in a fun atmosphere with consistently friendly service, and I love that they source their ingredients so carefully. If not for the expensive prices, It could be an everyday dining spot.
Locations: There are six New York City locations: one in Brooklyn’s trendy Williamsburg and five in Manhattan, mostly downtown, but also Hell’s Kitchen and the Upper East Side. There are two outposts outside of New York City: one in suburban Westport, Connecticut, and another serving the nation’s capital in downtown Washington. https://www.themeatballshop.com/
Rating: Yum! (Scale: Blah, OK, Mmmm, Yum!, OMG!)
Price: $$ ($ cheap, $$ moderate, $$$ expensive)