One of my favorite places in Chelsea Market is Giovanni Rana, an Italian restaurant located near the main entrance of the market. 

When you enter the place from the market, you end up in their store, where they sell a bunch of fresh pasta.

The most noticeable one is the chocolate ravioli that we tried when we went for brunch one time.

When the dish came to the table, the smell of fried dough was fantastic and very appetizing. It came with some strawberry sauce that we ate with the ravioli, the combination strawberry / chocolate being definitely a nice pairing. The ravioli were deliciously crispy, but, unfortunately, the dough was a bit bland and missing a bit of sweetness. The filling was also ok for me and you know that I love chocolate!

We went there for brunch and dinner: for brunch, if you go early enough, you can find a spot. Dinner is another story: we though we were early, but the place was packed and we had to wait few minutes, waiting patiently for a text on my phone to let us know our table was ready. Both times, they brought us some delicious focaccia that was definitely greasy, but so addictive, with its crunchy cheesy top that was covered with pepper flakes, making it a bit spicy.

Jodi tried their frittata, made with mushrooms and taleggio cheese. 

Very fluffy, it was a bit dry and the cheese was unevenly spread out. 

On my side, I ordered the squid ink linguine with lobster and breadcrumbs:

It was so good that I literally inhaled it and just thinking about that dish makes me drool! All the ingredients were fantastic: from the black ink linguine to the lobster that was perfectly cooked, without forgetting the breadcrumbs that gave some added texture to the dish. And that sauce was so divine that I did not miss any of it, thanks to the focaccia bread...I would go back to that place just for this and highly recommend it.

I also tried their linguine alle vongole or with clams that was delicious: the pasta were perfectly cooked al dente; the clams were well cooked and not grainy and the white wine sauce very good.

But one of the most surprising dishes there was definitely the eggplant parmigiana ravioli:

First was of course the presentation that was so rustic. But then, imagine eggplant parmesan in a ravioli! Well, they made it and made it perfectly! Everything is good in this dish: the ravioli that was not doughy, the eggplant parmesan that was delicious and the tomato sauce that was sublime with its robust taste. I still wonder how they made these ravioli...

Besides that, we got of course some espresso (as usual, the double looks more like a single shot) and some tea.

Giovanni Rana is one of my favorite places in Chelsea Market: the food there is outstanding and I can't wait to go back there to try some other dishes. I definitely recommend this place.

Enjoy (I sure did)!

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