SARAH KRATHEN: We fell in love pretty quick.
Friend love.
Family love.
I want to clarify once and for all, there's been no other
kind of love.
EMMA HEARST: Heterosexual life mates.
SARAH KRATHEN: That's going to be our corporate name.
EMMA HEARST: People used to think we were homosexual life
mates, but we're not.
SARAH KRATHEN: Yeah, which Emma thought was hilarious
when we were building Sorella, because she had a boyfriend.
And I was just like this single lesbian
in love with her.
EMMA HEARST: My name is Emma Hearst.
And I'm the co-owner of Sorella in
the Lower East Side.
My business partner and co-owner of
Sorella is Sarah Krathen.
And she does the entire beverage program and all the
front of the house.
Sarah and I met in culinary school.
We signed a lease here when I was 21.
And it's been almost four years.
Age has been a factor since we've opened here.
Everybody told us, don't open up in New York.
You're not ready to go play with the big boys.
We were like, fuck it.
We focus here on a region of Italy known as Piedmont.
Lots of good stuff comes from there.
Most people relate it with truffles and Barolo wine.
These are little pastas called Agnolotti del Plin.
And they're only found in Piedmont.
It means little pinched pillows.
They're filled with a red wine braised short rib that's mixed
with a little bit of cabbage and shallots and lemon zest
and a hint of nutmeg.
We definitely like to deviate from Piedmont as well.
Our dish that is definitely not Piedmontese in any sense
of the form would be our broccoli fritto.
So we're taking this broccoli and putting it
in rice flour batter.
It goes into our fryer.
And then when we pull it out, it gets tossed in a little bit
of salt and then topped with a pickled hot pepper aioli,
basil, and Grana Padano cheese.
It came on as a special, originally, and then it just
never came off.
It's always fun to watch people eat this dish for the
first time, because their faces are, like, blown away.
My pastry chef is Yarisis Jacobo.
The reason why Yarisis and my food work so well together is
because she's such a fan of contrasting textures and sweet
and salty, as am I. And it should be like an explosion
every time something hits your mouth.
Yarisis's desserts are absolutely exquisite.
And people come here just for dessert, too.
Our mentality in here is to make things like little
Italian grandmothers.
The most awesome thing about Sorella, in my opinion, is
that I get to work with my best friends every day.
And I couldn't ask for anything more than that.
YARISIS JACOBO: Yeah, everyone knows each other, hangs out
together all the time.
It's a very friendly environment.
EMMA HEARST: When we're not working,
we're drinking together.
Family that plays together stays together.
And we not only drink when we leave work.
We also drink during work, especially Sarah and I,
especially on stressful days.
But everything in moderation.
SARAH KRATHEN: Shall we?
EMMA HEARST: Let's blow this popsicle stand.
Margarita time.
So we're headed to Mesa Coyoacan in
Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
And we are going to go get sauced on some margaritas.
SARAH KRATHEN: I am so specific about a margarita.
Want the fresh ice, always.
Shaken and then strained into fresh ice
is the biggest thing.
Fresh juice.
EMMA HEARST: Good tequila.
SARAH KRATHEN: Never taste sweet.
Good tequila is key.
I don't want all salt.
I want half salt.
I want the option.
I love margaritas.
EMMA HEARST: I wonder what Ivan and Gerardo are going to
be cooking up tonight.
All right.
Here we are.
Let's go get our drink on.
How are you, chef?
IVAN GARCIA: How are you?
EMMA HEARST: Good.
Hi!
GERARDO ZABALETAVE: How are you?
EMMA HEARST: My friends, Gerardo and Ivan, they
actually found Sorella, the space that we're in.
We met them about six years ago.
And we've remained close friends.
We're going to get some margaritas.
Half salt.
SARAH KRATHEN: Not too sweet.
EMMA HEARST: Cheers.
Bottoms up.
SARAH KRATHEN: Cheers.
Cheers.
EMMA HEARST: I wish yellow Gatorade tasted like this.
I would drink it all the time.
I would just drink it while I was working out.
But it had all the same benefits as Gatorade, like
margaritas with electrolytes.
-Cazadores Blanco.
EMMA HEARST: Oh, hey now!
-Are you ladies set to order?
Do you know what you want?
EMMA HEARST: Yeah.
Some guacamole, the shrimp ceviche, the cochinita tacos,
and the pescado tacos.
-The shrimp tacos?
EMMA HEARST: The fish tacos.
-The fish tacos?
EMMA HEARST: Yeah, and then the special, and the
cochinita.
-And the cochinita.
EMMA HEARST: Yeah.
And ceviche-- shrimp ceviche.
SARAH KRATHEN: After we do this, we won't even remember
what we ordered anyway.
You're winning.
Here's to the last thing we remember tonight.
EMMA HEARST: Yum!
We can always rely on them for really tasty, homemade,
delicious Mexican food.
IVAN GARCIA: This is mole poblano.
It's one of my favorite dishes here.
This is a secret recipe from my grandmom.
It's a little hard to make mole, because we need only
five ingredients to make a real and delicious mole.
One of the important ingredients is the chiles.
We use four different kinds of chiles.
Mexican chocolate--
this is very important for the recipe, Chocolate Abuelita.
EMMA HEARST: Wow, this stuff looks great.
It smells fantastic.
SARAH KRATHEN: It's so flavorful.
EMMA HEARST: Yeah.
That's my favorite mole in the city, for sure.
It's so good.
-Cheers.
EMMA HEARST: Cheers.
Thank you so much for having us.
SARAH KRATHEN: Thank you for having us.
-Thanks for coming.
SARAH KRATHEN: It's so nice to be here.
-Anytime.
EMMA HEARST: It's always good to be here.
-Anytime.
EMMA HEARST: Well, that was an excellent meal.
Well, after Mesa Coyoacan, we were open here at Sorella
until 2:00 AM.
So of course, we all came back here for dessert.
What else?
YARISIS JACOBO: We should have--
SARAH KRATHEN: Bomboloni.
YARISIS JACOBO: Little bomboloni, a little bit of
coconut stracciatella, some biscotti gelati.
EMMA HEARST: Sure. chunky.
YARISIS JACOBO: Chunky.
EMMA HEARST: We should just have all the gelato.
YARISIS JACOBO: Maybe we should just have a little bit
of everything.
EMMA HEARST: Probably.
Did anyone bring a joint?
I think the desserts here are definitely a great late-night
snack, because they do encompass all the savory and
sweet components into one that you would get eating chocolate
and potato chips.
Our bomboloni are definitely a crowd pleaser.
They are little Italian fried donuts with a filling that
changes seasonally.
What's the filling right now?
YARISIS JACOBO: Peanut butter caramel.
EMMA HEARST: And then we also serve just traditional glazed
ones that are like Krispy Kreme donuts on crack.
Hi, Isaac.
YARISIS JACOBO: Hi, Isaac.
EMMA HEARST: Isaac's going to go steal our bomboloni.
-He's a little monster.
YARISIS JACOBO: This is challah bread with a pistachio
black pepper toffee that's swirled into it and then
seared in brown butter.
And then it's filled with vanilla pastry cream and
served with lemon curd.
And then I think we just need some gelato to finish this up.
EMMA HEARST: Our gelatos are very popular here.
Our gelatos are traditional Italian flavors that have
collided with American stoner influence.
It's like Ben & Jerry's but better.
YARISIS JACOBO: This is our Chunky Sorella.
But we are kind of known for salted caramel gelato with a
chocolate ganache swirl and chocolate covered.
EMMA HEARST: Some good stuff.
See this right here?
This is quality.
This is the reason that my thighs hate me.
YARISIS JACOBO: Beautiful gelato--
EMMA HEARST: Oh yeah.
YARISIS JACOBO: And sorbets.
EMMA HEARST: Oh my god, I forgot how
fucking good that is.
-Emma, this mango is dope.
EMMA HEARST: Isn't it?
-Good job.
EMMA HEARST: I think working in restaurants, it's
definitely a high stress environment.
And you are constantly serving other people and at other
people's beck and call.
So yes, everybody needs their time to blow off
steam and have fun.
We are very good friends, all of us here.
They are some of my best friends.
It's been a lot of fun.
And it's like our home.
It's our house.