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“Alto”

Occasion:	Cuisine:	Area:	Cost:	Rating:
Night Out	Italian	Midtown	Break the Bank	Off the Charts

MY DINNER AT ALTO

Italian food has never really been one for frilly garnishes or the fussy preciousness of haute cuisine. Rather, it is food that speaks to your gut, to your innermost hunger, to deep hollow pangs that can only be sated by steaming bowls of Bolognese, and dishes ending in ragu. Its hallmark has always been simplicity, and its masters (take Lidia Bastianich for instance) often set themselves apart by offering dishes born of the old country, perfectly prepared with an eye to the best ingredients and the most technically correct technique. Even the Italian restaurants around town that elevate the cuisine—Babbo, Felidia, and San Domenico come immediately to mind—leave the rusticity and the hominess of the cuisine in tact. Indeed, L’Impero followed this track in some ways as well—serving a spaghetti and tomato sauce that was as simple and as perfect as the orange glow of a sun setting beyond a white sandy beach, and a moist-roasted capretto (goat)—the braised lamb shank of Italy.

But Alto, the second restaurant from L’Impero’s team—chef Scott Conant and partners Chris Cannon, Jane Epstein and Vicente Wolf—strays from this formula. It leaves the safety of rustic Italian food behind and instead, reaches higher—both in terms of cuisine and geography—to Alto Adige, the mountainous North of Italy bordering France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia—than any Italian restaurant the city has known.

The experience is vaulted in every sense.

Take the wine list for instance, which boasts over 750 bottles. (Eric from Veritas is here. There is an impressive Petrus collection, including a 1990 ($3000) and a 1947 ($7500). Then have a look at the room—a tall, clean and lean space with the same modern design elements as L’Impero—soft blue and brown tones, pillared candles, plush banquettes, amazingly comfortable high-backed armchairs. But Alto is more intimate than L’Impero. It is smaller, and windowless, encased in a wall of wine that shuts out the universe beyond Alto and leaves you in a sort of time warp, unaware of the world outside. Not such a bad thing, but the dining room is eerily quiet—management does not believe this food needs a soundtrack—and without music of any sort, the place can feel a bit too sedate and a little too grown up, and overly serious. Then again, management has a point. Why have music competing with Conant’s orchestral cuisine? Indeed, at Alto, it is the food that truly reaches the greatest he ... [more, click below]

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Posted: May 29, 2005

Other restaurants in Midtown :
+ Lever House   + Aquavit   + RM   + Joseph's (formerly Citarella The Restaurant)   + Town   + Artisanal   + The Oyster Bar   + Geisha   + David Burke and Donatella Restaurant   + Riingo   + Amma   + Cafe Sabarsky   + The Stone Rose Lounge   + BLT Steak   + V, The Steakhouse-- Closed   + Bar Masa   + Cafe Gray   + The Bar Room at The Modern   + The Cafe at Aquavit   + The Cafe at Aquavit   + Bistro du Vent-- Closed   + Shaburi   + Xing   + The Modern   + Bar Americain   + Alto   + Park Blue   + Mainland-- Closed   + Nobu 57   + Quality Meats   + Dona-- CLOSED   + Daisy May's   + 7Square-- CLOSED   + Amalia   + Fireside   + Anthos   + Patroon   + BLT Market   + Toloache   + Mia Dona   + Park Avenue Summer   + Convivio   + The Oak Room by guest reviewer Julie Besonen   + At Vermilion by guest reviewer Elaine Weiner   + Lunching at Inakaya, by guest reviewer Kathleen Squires   + Marea, by Guest Reviewer Susan Kane Walkush   + Le Bernardin   + New York Central -- A Reason To Eat at the Grand Hyatt Again   + Pampano Botaneria by Dara Pollak   

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