Trattoria dell'Arte

[jaybee]

I enjoyed a long leisurely lunch at Trattoria dell"Arte recently. I ate there soon after it opened in 1984, having been told about it by Milton Glazer, who designed the place, using huge white sculptures of noses, ears, breasts and such. My first office was in 777 W 57th, just around the corner, so it became a regular lunch place. Since I gave up my Madison Avenue office and work from home on the UWS it doesn't pop up on my radar screen as often. I eat there at least twice a year since, sometimes more, never having a less that satisfactory meal.

The place still looks great, there are three choices of dining areas, all with merit. The room has a happy buzz, a gemutlich feeling. Service is friendly and observant. Happily, they don't play music over loudspeakers, so it is possible to have a conversation without strain. Locals and tourists eat there. Lots of media and music moguls can be seen as a fair sampling of the BPs.

The menu is quite large, with a huge antipasti selection, as well as many other appetizers. The pastas, mostly housemade, are uniformly good, and the entrees are quite good too, although my veal cutlet Milanese, which was pounded to the size of a bathmat was too overcooked, though tasty. My dining companion and I shared a mixed seafood antipasto and linguini alla mare, that was rich, tasted of the sea and full of shrimp, mussles, clams and other yummy bits. The bread is unusually good, and always has been. Wine selection is excellent and well priced. Canolis with blueberry sauce are an outstanding dessert. The meal cost $77 each with tip. This included two "giant goblets" of an excellent Barbaresca @ $13. (One nice feature is what they call their "giant glass", large goblets and an open double magnum of whatever is the pouring wine are placed on your table. You are charged by the glass, one of which is usually sufficient). The waitress aimiably poured me two more swallows without charge before removing the bottle at the end of the meal.

Every time I eat there, I remind myself to go there more often.

[Suzanne F]

Thanks for your report. We often eat there pre-Carnegie Hall, but usually at the antipasto bar. Once at a table (no room at the bar), and found the regular menu a bit dissapointing (for similar reasons as you mentioned). But we really enjoy the antipasto offerings. Seafood salads are always excellent, and the vegetable preparations are quite interesting. My only complaint is that they rarely check to see if the flames under the hot foods are lit. But it's still tasty.

[ngatti]

Good to hear Jaybee. I've eaten there twice. Though not for a while. Thoroughly enjoyed both visits.

Nick

[Suvir Saran]

Jaybee I too have had some very good meals there.

And the canolis are excellent....

My last meal was a year or so ago...

I ate there when I would lunch with Shelly Fireman. He would ask for me to come there. I could tell by looking into his eyes that of all his restaurants, he had a very close affiliation with this one.

Looking into his eyes would share with me the love a mother has for her child when they are just developing into something really special. Something she sees for sure, but maybe in an entirely unique way. I would never know what to say, I would for once, play the role of the silent observer. I had fun doing that....

Also he would tell me tales from the past when it was first opened.

The Canolis are really good. And so beautifully served. Now I shall have to call him and meet him for lunch one of these days....

What pleasures eGullet can bring members. Thanks Jaybee!

[lxt]

Have you ever wondered whether being on a diet intensifies your senses to the extent of distorting the real taste of something generally excluded from your regular dining regimen? That the possibility of sampling a forbidden food overwhelms you so much that you are no longer qualified to judge its quality? I am not quite sure whether my low-carb, sugar-free diet affected my judgment or the bread was really fabulous, but at the end of our “long leisurely lunch” my mind was still replaying little delights provoked by the bread, crusty on the outside and so light and airy on the inside. The bread made this satisfying crunchy noise upon being broken and didn’t even seem to turn soggy when in the mouth. It had no salt, but the butter served was salty and complemented the bread quite well. As we subconsciously evaluate one another upon rare meetings (sort of: he looks good, she got older, I see an extra wrinkle etc.), sometimes when expressing our concern we may reveal our mental notes to our dining companion. “It seems that you’ve lost weight. Have you been starving yourself?” asked Jaybee as soon as we were seated. He had no idea that he just gave me a ticket to indulge myself in as much of that wonderful bread as I could fit in my stomach. Four rolls in the basket were split three for me and one for Jaybee. However, by the time he finished half of his one roll, I was already done with my share and was piercing Jaybee’s other half with a look that clearly stated “I think you should be a gentleman now and share the rest with me.” Well, the test showed that Jaybee is a perfect gentleman.

The mixed Seafood antipasto was very good indeed: delicious and tender shrimp, mussels, and calamari in a light lemon and olive oil juice with just a touch of a sardine flavor.

Linguini Alla Mare in a delicate white wine (maybe lemon as well) garlic sauce thickened with butter was scrumptious. Perhaps I would prefer the pasta to be done just a tiny little more al dente, but the quality of the pasta was so good that it compensated for whatever preferences I’d normally have.

I second Jaybee‘s evaluation of the veal cutlet Milanese. I didn’t care much for that entrée. It did seem to be overcooked and if not for the lemon juice that added a certain tenderness and flavor to it, it could be ranked, using my kitchen vocabulary, as being just a little better then a “shoe sole.”

Diet aside, two things add a certain level of fulfillment to my dining experience: 1) perfect bread in the beginning of my journey and 2) a perfect dessert at the end. At the recommendation of our perky waitress, we selected cannolis to share. I do have to admit that this was the best version I’ve ever tried, and I would go back there only for cannolis. Two perfect pastries were surrounded by a very thin blueberry sauce with a couple of berries topping them. The pastry shell was crisp and delicate at the same time and literally snapped in your mouth, the filling smooth and the blueberry sauce light and delicious.

What was nice is that we weren’t rushed by the service staff and eventually spent about four hours in the restaurant. What can you talk about for 4 hours? Let’s see. We talked about this and that, and when we were tired talking about that we went back to this.

[ahr]

I haven’t been in a couple of years, but the best thing besides the antipasto bar used to be the grilled double-thick veal chop served with a winy gravy and shoestring fries. Normal eaters beware: It was big enough for two to share.

[stefanyb]

I also remember way back when, that they had excellent ribollita. Going there and having a nice pice of bread, ribollita and a glass of wine was an inexpensive treat.

[mogsob]

The last time I ate at Trattoria dell'Arte was some 8 or 9 years ago, the experience being so wretched (both food and service) that I vowed never to go back (and indeed I haven't).

Has there been a change of ownership or other material change since that time?