With the Thai affinity for Italian food, the lack of Italian-American in the country is tad mind-boggling. Filling the gap in the "Italian" restaurant market is Tony's (Italians don't @ me), which focuses on chef-patron Anthony Burd's heritage.
"I opened Tony's Sukhumvit 11 because it's something that was near to my he
art. I wanted to have my own restaurant: a concept where the prices are not too expensive, your neighbourhood spot. The menu is the food I ate growing up: lasagna, meatballs, creamy tomato sauce pasta. My grandparents came to the US when they were young kids but, in general, as the Italians moved to America these dishes were created in America and don't exist in Italy. It is something that is very popular in America. But, it didn't exist in Bangkok and I wanted to bring it here," says chef Burd.
Start with the Baked clams (3 pieces, B340), which are classic Italian-American. Made with leeks, shallots, fennel, garlic and ginger, with herbs and a touch of chilli for the filling, the Japanese clams are cooked, while the scallops are left raw, before being added to the filling. "We add a breadcrumb topping, baked them and then broil them for a few minutes. Once broiled, the clams are topped with a garlic and lemon gremolata," explains chef Burd.
I love meatballs, the bigger, the better. Tony's Spicy meatballs al forno (B260) are a mix of pork and beef. Inside is the typical parade, which is a milk and bread mixture to keep the moisture inside the meatballs, Parmesan, herbs and chilli. The big balls are doused in a spicy tomato sauce aka marinara and topped with more shaved Parmesan and bread crumbs. These are sizeable meatballs, with each weighing a whopping 100g! Warning: No matter how big the mouth, don't try and fit a whole one into your mouth. "We also want to have some American-size portions," emphasises the chef.
Tony's has a grand wood-fired oven that's hard to miss as it is at centre stage in the open kitchen plan. Perfect for making wood-fired pizzas and other dishes. The biga is rested overnight and then undergoes a three-day fermentation, so the pizza dough takes roughly four days to make, according to chef Bird. "It's a recipe I created here and is a different style compared to Napoli style pizza. Mine should hold up when you're eating it," says the chef. Much like the New York style, which is firm enough to fold and put into your mouth, me thinks. And it does come with a crispy bottom. "We cook it at a lower temperature so the bottom is crispy," adds the chef. The Margherita pizza (B390) was my choice, though if you're feeling like the weather get the Bangkok hot (B540), which is spicy salami, spicy 'nduja (who doesn't love that?!), meatball, mozzarella and pickled chillies. Phew!
A quintessential pasta dish is the vodka cream sauce pasta also known as a Sorpresine (B340). Sorpresine means "little surprises" in Italian and at Tony's the square dough is folded to create small pockets that hold the sauce. "We make a Calabrian chilli paste, which is fermented for a few days, add sweet onions and tomato sauce with Stoli vodka," says chef Burd. Tomatoes and cream with a splash of vodka…. enough said.
I love veal (sue me!) and was thrilled to see Veal Parmigiana (B1,860) on the sharing plates menu. The veal, sourced from the Netherlands, is pounded really thin, coated with a panko-Parmesan crumb, fried in half butter and half oil and topped with tomato sugo, buffalo mozzarella and a bit of pesto, Parmesan cheese and chilli flakes to finish it off. There is a choice of side dishes and I chose the Roasted cauliflower (B240) served with raisin agrodolce and pine nuts.
An unconventional dish on the menu is the Cheeseburger (B480), which stood out to me considering there are three burger restaurants on the street. "We are a bar and restaurant, and people come in for a drink and sit at the bar and want a burger. It's a highly requested dish," explains the chef.
What's better than normal apple pie? Deep-fried apple pie (B320). "I wanted to bring back the memory I have of being a kid and eating a McDonald's apple pie," says chef Burd. The deep-fried apple pie is served exactly from memory, taking the shape of a Micky D's apple pie, but served with vanilla ice cream and butterscotch sauce. But that won't be the only sweet treat, you'll be craving. Insider's tip: Tony's will soon be putting a peanut butter and Nutella pudding on the menu. "We don't have a chocolate dish and a budino is chocolate pudding but we will use Nutella. We are going to pimp it up with candied hazelnuts."
There is a specials menu and the brunch menu, served on weekends, has fun things like Bacon French toast (B320) and Oreo pancakes (B320), which are stacked American pancakes made with Oreo and come with crumbled Oreo on top. "I love Oreos and a lot of the things I do are things I love. We've just put a popcorn cocktail on the menu because I like popcorn," the chef says.
"We've been open for four months, so is the time to start making changes. We are going to do bar snacks and we've just changed the cocktail menu. We are on Sukhumvit 11, which is the fun party street. Though things are a bit slow, it will pick up one day and we wanna be a fun party restaurant. Food, drinks, service and vibe are what we want to focus on," adds chef Burd. Visit fb.com/Tonysskv11.
