As you may know, Milkflower has been open now for a few weeks and so far, they’re doing a bang up job. Mackenzi went there a few weeks ago for their first look preview and since then, I’ve been in as well to sample a few other things, which I’ll talk about here.
Overall, they’ve definitely got a good thing going, as the place was hoppin’, especially on a Friday night when I visited with Dan, and friends, Jennifer and Nuno. We sat at a nice communal table, not far from the pizza ovens and felt that we were in the middle of all the action. Here’s what we tried:
The meat plate with Jamon Serrano, Salame Rosa, and Spicy Sopressata was a nice way to begin. It wasn’t very big, as you see, but was just enough to whet our appetite. Thoughtfully put together, it also came with some crunchy walnuts and macerated strawberries as fixins.
The burrata app was also fantastic, boasting a creamy, luxurious interior. The richness of the cheese was balanced by the pickled peppers nestled on the bottom of the dish, and the black olive oil tied everything together.
I never thought that the Hawaiian pizza was going to be my favorite, but it just stood out – prosciutto taking the place of traditional ham and the little thin slices of jalapenos giving you a jolt of spice.
As most of us at the table love mushrooms, we couldn’t help ourselves with this pizza, that incorporated oysters and shiitakes. If you like earthy food, you’ll love this pie, which also boasts fresh herbs such as rosemary and oregano. It very much reminded me of a white pizza, as there wasn’t a trace of red sauce in sight.
The Green pizza you see above was also tasty, and a nice way to end the pizza course since it was light. Topped with peppery arugula, it was like a pizza and salad rolled into one. It was quite funny because our waiter confused it with the Queen pizza, which sounded similar but was actually nothing like the Green.
A gorgeous gelato trio capped off our dining experience, with a some non-traditional flavors such as black sesame, blueberry and fennel, as well as the clean and simple, fior di latte. The blueberry was my fave, as I loved the hint of licoricey fennel at the end of each bite.
As a whole, our experience was a wonderful one, but I think the service still has a ways to go. There were a few instances where we waited a little too long for a dish or then something entirely different came out. While these were slight set-backs, they didn’t deter from our experience, and we’ll gladly return soon.
Milkflower – 34-12 31st Avenue, Astoria. 718.204.1300
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