'Cesca

[Fat Guy]

Delightful meal at 'Cesca tonight.

Having tried and failed to get reservations on about a million occasions, we decided to try an extremely early walk in. They gave the four of us the best table in the restaurant: the big-ass table for eight right across from the pass. They had a party booked at that table a couple of hours later, but 'Cesca isn't the type of place where you spend 2+ hours dining anyway so we didn't mind the time constraint.

Spicy parmigiano fritters were piping hot comfort food of the highest order -- this is exactly what I'd expect from Valenti. The unannounced-on-the-menu presence of ham chunks in the fritters was, however, disappointing to the non-pork-eater at the table. Marinated baby artichokes with fresh ricotta offered a sterling specimen of ricotta, in a completely different league from Polly-O ricotta -- similar to the great stuff at Calandra on Arthur Ave. Best appetizer: roasted mushrooms with polenta and fresh sheep's cheese.

All the entrees were terrific: hearty, warming, pure expressions of Valenti-ism. Pancetta-wrapped calves' liver was cooked beautifully medium-rare with the pancetta very crisp and served with polenta, spinach, pisachios, and tiny onions. Pasta "al forno" had the second best pasta sauce -- a meat ragu -- I've had in a long time. The best pasta sauce I've had in a long time was the daily special "Sunday sauce," which had big chunks of sausage, pork, and various other things. The Sunday sauce comes in a separate dish from the rigatoni and if you finish the rigatoni before the sauce they offer you more. They bring it out from the kitchen in a pot and serve the new hot pasta right into your bowl -- a great hospitality touch at a food cost of about three cents to the restaurant. The one seafood dish on the table was very good, tuna with cannelini puree and porcini broth: a good piece of tuna prepared rare as requested.

Desserts were totally lame, as was the espresso.

I loved being able to watch the open kitchen. Valenti was very involved, moving about the kitchen and dining room and even running plates. The crew was really cranking out the food, but with obvious care.

Am I a bad person, though, for wanting to buy the guy a haircut?

[Lreda]

Now, THIS is a place we intend to visit again. Stopped in for lunch Friday, sat at the bar and had a delicious house salad, best salad I've had in a while and I duplicated it for dinner at home last nighty. Sue had for a main course, a pork panini, cuban style and I had a fritatta. Both were great, I even tasted her panini event though it's Lent. It was a very small taste. 3 glasses of Tocai and we were out of there for $85 with tip. Look forward to coming back here soon.

[VivreManger]

Sorry for the mistakes, which Rozrapp corrected.

Looking over one Cesca thread, it seems the place was great for hearty winter food. Has anybody been recently enough to see what its summer menu is like?

[Lreda]

We were there again and it was very good but I'm ready to wait a few months as the specials were a little weak and the menu a little slim after going through it twice. I like this place though, especially for an inexpensive dinner. It also gives us another choice in that neighborhood besides Kitchen 82.

[FabulousFoodBabe]

Went to 'Cesca on Sunday night, before the Meat Loaf show at the Beacon. (If anyone was there, we were in that section up front with the large, drunken women shrieking and jumping on their chairs every time Mr. Loaf came to that side of the stage ... and no I wasn't one of them )

'Cesca was good, but we were hot and didn't eat as much as we might have otherwise. Mr. FoodBabe had rigatoni with Sunday sauce, a red sauce with meatballs, sausage, and I think the waiter said brains and tripe -- it was wonderful and reminded me of my grandmother's cooking. I had the shrimp raviolini, which were pretty good; it had been recommended to me, but they were kind of big, kind of fishy, and kind of soft. We also had a little salad, some parmesan fritters, and polenta with wild mushrooms. Dessert was a big cheesecake with bitter orange and fennel brittle. I could have eaten that for a week, and maybe one day I will.

I wished we had more time, I wished the temperature was about 30 degrees cooler outside. The room was beautiful and the service was really, really good. We dressed nicer than we might have, considering our big evening beyond. Still, there were people in the dining room in blue jeans and t-shirts.

Yeah, this is a "back again" place, I think.

[oakapple]

My friend and I had dinner at 'Cesca last Friday night. I was sporting a 101-degree fever and wasn't in the mood for fine dining, but we had an opera to catch, so there we were.

'Cesca was a hit pretty much immediately after it opened in late 2003. Poor William Grimes, in his two-star review for the Times, complained that he could get only 5:30 reservations. That's still true, by the way. Our reservation was at 5:30 for an 8:00 opera. That's earlier than I would normally choose, but nothing later was available.

The decor is warm, comfortable, and welcoming. There seem to be enough soft surfaces to catch the sound, and prevent 'Cesca from becoming another echo chamber. In the middle of the night, I wouldn't mind tearing down some of the velvet curtains and transporting them to BLT Fish.

I had the cauliflower soup (a daily special) and a wonderful duck ravioli. It's not the restaurant's fault that I didn't finish them, but I just wasn't up to it that day. My friend had a tomato and mozarella salad, followed by a huge veal chop (also a daily special), which she pronounced a huge improvement over one we had recently at Cookshop.

We had only one complaint. My friend ordered a side dish of mashed potatoes, only to find that her entree already came with potatoes. She said, "There are enough potatoes here to feed the whole Upper West Side." (That side dish was a huge helping, which even two people might have trouble finishing.) A server really should tell you that the entree you've ordered already comes with a generous helping of vegetables.

I really was out-of-it for this meal, but we'll definitely return—if we can get a reservation, that is.

[sharksoup]

Any feedback on 'Cesca since Chef Valenti recently departed? My wife and I were considering going there for an anniversary dinner in a couple of weeks but now we are second guessing.

[oakapple]

Any feedback on 'Cesca since Chef Valenti recently departed? My wife and I were considering going there for an anniversary dinner in a couple of weeks but now we are second guessing.

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I think Valenti was spending the majority of his time at Ouest anyway, so I wouldn't expect that there is a noticeable difference.

[sharksoup]

Any recommendations for a great place to have a drink in the neighborhood prior to dining at 'Cesca? A wine bar perhaps? A hip hotel to have a nice martini?

[Sneakeater]

There are certainly no hip hotels in that neighborhood.

Actually, the hippest thing in that neighborhood is probably 'Cesca. If they have a bar there, it would probably be your best option.

Edited May 1, 2006 by Sneakeater (log)

[hughw]

Does anyone have anything new to report about Cesca? We're thinking of going tonight and somewhat amazingly since we live on the UWS and frequent Ouest and Nice Matin, I have no idea what to expect. Comments (most of them no later than January) on Menu Pages and City Search are quite mixed with quite a few panning the food and the service. We're just looking for a light dinner late, probably an appetizer and pasta, but we love friendly service (like any of Danny Meyer's restaurant) and good but not necesailly fantastic food.

[Nathan]

according to their website, Cesca isn't open late. reviews from Citysearch or Menupages and a quarter will get you a phone call.

I haven't been to Cesca but I've never heard bad things.

Edited May 22, 2007 by Nathan (log)

[hughw]

Well we went to 'Cesca arriving at 9:00am on Tuesday. We had two terrific salads: one was Escarole with hazelnuts, mint, red onions, fava, pecorino, and sherry vinegrette; the other Arugula, pickled shallots, goat cheese, foccacia croutons, and lemon vinegrette. Then two wonderful pastas: Orecchietti with homemade pork sauage and rapina: and Garganelli alla Butera with chicken sausage, asparagus, and preserved tomatoes.

For what we were looking for which was a relatively quick and tasty meal it ws just right. However, I don't hink I would want to go there for a relaxed fine dinner. The prices (especially for Secondi main courses) are relatively high for the type of place it is; no table cloths, pleasant enough but bruque service. An undistinguished amuse was brought to our table on a butter plate and dropped in front of my wife who's first reaction was "is this for me? or to share."