A few weeks ago, I indulged in the new wave, Italian-adjacent pizzas at The Tipsy Tomato, which I highly recommend. Sadly, my porcine body began to cry out for more—more diced peppers, more tomato sauce, more overpriced cheeses. I didn’t just want Italian food, I needed it to satiate the animal within.
Seeking divine inspiration and maybe a little saucy intervention, behind-the-scenes Beth tipped me off to Malfi Enoteca, a new downtown spot on the corner of 10th and Robinson that's reportedly packed every night. After one glance at the neo-traditional Italian menu online, I felt a sudden, desperate urge to try it.
Ciao bella…Malfi it is!
Usually when I first hear about area Italian restaurants, I get a mental picture of checkerboard tablecloths, stale breadsticks and a stereotypically snooty waiter who scoffs when I choose an iced tea over the house red.
Instead, at Malfi, 201 NW 10th Street, it felt like I’d stepped into a swinging 1960s world of vespas and vistas, where Italo-disco rhythms pounded out a beat-laden hymn to carbs and cheese—and, yes... they also had some pretty good iced tea.
After walking into the sunlit rooms, my wife and I sat by a full-length picture window with a Sophia Loren-clone gracing us with her wallpapered presence. As we ordered our starter, my wife and our server discussed area thrift stores, giving the place a really comfortable atmosphere that I wasn’t expecting.
As our starter came out—the Malfi Tomato Toast ($10.00)—at first I thought that even though it looked good, the artisan toast smeared with a garlicky fresh tomato mixture felt like it might be too…tomato-y.
But, after trying the dish, I believe it’s one of the best culinary discoveries in Oklahoma City!
Using fresh sourdough bread from the local Harvey Bakery, it was crisply toasted with a light, fresh, and seriously tasty acidic zing. Combined and entwined, the warm bread and crushed tomato mixture made sultry love off the Amalfi Coast, and everyone was watching.
And while I could have that toast for breakfast, lunch and dinner, we settled back to reality and got our main dishes from the “Pasta” side of the newspaper-printed menu, starting with my wife’s Bucatini ($19.00), a steadfast pasta with basil cream, pesto ribbons, and whipped burrata.
Once again, this was a new taste for these plebian tastebuds!
Those long strands of the thick homemade bucatini are well-dressed in the gloriously undressed pairing of cream and pesto, but they are lugubriously smothered in the whipped burrata, a devilishly wicked cream-filled cheesy flavor that rallies the dinner.
While I fell deeply in love with her dish, my plate was given a primal scream with the appraising-raising “pasta” selection, Rigatoni Alla Vodka ($17.00). A beautifully pale red dish, the homemade rigatoni noodles are drowned in a sauce of vodka, tomatoes, and cream.
This is nothing like the pasta I grew up with, combining grown-up flavors of the crisp tomatoes and basil with the absolutely playful taste of the vodka and cream sauce. The larger noodles soaked up all the sauce, giving me a whole new appreciation for Malfi's well-crafted menu. I wanted more.
Without question, I ordered dessert. We chose the Panna Cotta with Fruit Conserva ($10.00), a vanilla-y, creamy, gelatinous treat with a side of sweet and syrupy preserved dried grapes that had me fighting with the wife for the last spoonful.
As I swallowed the last drops of that hard-won iced tea, the waitperson brought the check. Included was a postcard that Malfi will mail for you, so you can remember the taste of this special day.
As I addressed the postcard to myself, I realized, postcard or not, I will always remember my time at Malfi and their meraviglioso menu.
Arrivederci, Pee-Wee!
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Follow Louis Fowler on Instagram at @louisfowler78.
