The Perfect Meatball (A review of The Meatball Shop)

Chicken with Pesto, Spicy Pork with Spicy Sauce, and Chicken Cordon Bleu with Parm Cream Sauce

I never quite understood why anyone would want to dig into a big ball of ground beef/pork combo, we call a Meatball.  Spaghetti and meatballs seemed redundant.  The seasonings in the meatball would get lost in the seasonings in the sauce - right??  And how do you keep all that ground meat tender when they're as large as golf balls OR even larger!?  And you end up having to break up the meatball when eating it, so inevitably it becomes part of the sauce.  So why not order spaghetti bolognese instead.  I just didn't get it.

And then there's the meatball sandwich.  Meatballs in some kind of subway like bread, smothered with red sauce, and topped with provolone cheese.  I shuddered thinking about it.  But, because I love food - I have ordered and tried many spaghetti and meatballs for dinner and meatball sandwiches for lunch - hoping that one of these days a meatball would change my mind.  But none have UNTIL.....

I found The Meatball Shop (TMS) on Greenwich Ave in Manhattan.  Since I've discovered TMS a couple of years ago, it has been a main staple to dine at when my friends/family come to visit me (which is quite often) or when I have a hankering for a great meatball - which was twice these last 2 weeks.  2 weeks - not a big deal you say.  But, if you factor in, that I don't live in Manhattan but in Jersey, and that in those 2 weeks (14 days), I was out of town 4 of those days - eating at TMS twice is a lot.  Also, I don't live in a part of NJ that's just right across the river.  In fact, I have to get my a** on the parkway, onto 22, onto 1&9, over the Pulaski skyway (which was ranked one of the most dangerous bridge in the US), thru the Holland tunnel, down Hudson, traveling between 45 min on a good day to 2 hours to get to TMS.  Mhmmmmmm!!  But, the efforts of fighting traffic, paying $12 to go thru the tunnel, and the cost of parking in Manhattan is so worth it and ultimately puts me only a stones throw away from having the most sublime, tender, and absolutely addicting meatballs I've ever had.

The bread used at TMS comes from Il Forno bakery and is delivered daily.  It's toasted just enough that it offers a slight resistance as you bite into it, then into the pillowy softness of the untoasted part, before reaching the most tender, perfectly flavored, and well balanced meatball and sauce I've had.  A slider, if I'm in control of my hunger takes about 4 bites to consume.  If not in control (which is most of the time) - is consumed in two!

The meatballs at TMS are all delicious and can be ordered in several ways.  Each person orders by using a dry erase marker that's already on the table, ticking off what you want on your own personal menu.  I always order the meatball sliders.  One meatball in each slider.  Since you can't mix and match meatballs if you order a hero sandwich - 3 meatballs in a hero, I find that the meatball sliders are the best way to try several different types of meatballs.  You choose a meatball and a sauce to go with it.  My personal meatball favorites are :  1) spicy pork  2) chicken  3) veal.  My personal sauce favorites are: 1) spicy sauce  2) pesto  3) parm cream  My favorite combinations are: 1) spicy pork/spicy sauce  2) chix with pesto  3) chix with parm cream.  But, you really can't go wrong with any combinations.

Chicken with Pesto 

So, if you are like me (before TMS and I became an item) and you don't understand the meatball, check out The Meatball Shop and order a meatball slider or two or three (I dare you to only order two - almost impossible).  It may answer many of your questions as it did mine.