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“Alto”

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

those jumpers), and a brilliant house-smoked Tasmanian sea trout with horseradish froth and chickpea blinis that may cause Jewish grandmothers to turn to Jewish grandfathers and say something like, “Herb, this is some good appetizing, but what’s with this pancake? Where’s the bagel and a schmear?”

Then came the pastas. Insert aria here. These pastas are so deliriously good that I am quite certain I will not be able to find words to do them justice. But I will try. Plin—tiny pinched pillows the size of diamonds in the rough are filled up with a melting fonduta of veal, pork, and chicken with fontina cheese and set in a broth of spring onions finished with fresh black summer truffles from Umbria. Wow. House made Tajarin, a Piemontese flat pasta, is drawn with Japanese spot prawns, mussels, and a briny whiff of cold ocean waters from a ricci de mare froth made from sea urchin and zucchini stock. Then came the creamy buffalo milk ricotta filled raviolini, and a bowl of potato and spinach strangolapreti—“priest stranglers”—light as air buttons (careful though, eat them too fast and you might get strangled) tossed with the most smashing red-wine braised rabbit loin.

As luck would have it, we are not yet through. Main courses take you from a state called bliss to land named euphoria. Bring it baby! Seared pike, a rarely menued fish, makes an appearance here with crispy twists of lemon spaetzle (a nod to neighboring Austria) and gaeta olive oil. A lovely Japanese sea bass—firm and sexy, with tight white flesh—grazes caramelized Brussels sprouts, Honshimeji mushrooms and a sweet cream of pureed sunchokes. The squab—slow roasted, with a crisped skin—is served on lentil stew flecked with fava beans, with polenta, leek and speck canerderli—polenta dumplings from Alto Adige. FORGET ASIA! I LOVE DUMPLINGS FROM ALTO ADIGE! But it was the last dish of the evening—the lamb shoulder and rack—that really got to us. The shoulder is braised until ridiculously tender in tucioleto vinegar (a barrel-aged red wine vinegar), and the rack is roasted to meltingly tender and just past pink. Susie was quite taken with it. “I want to sit in a bathtub of this braised lamb and slurp it up while drinking red wine through a straw,” she said, adding: “I’d like to be naked while doing it.” Guess she liked it. But she’s right. Like a sweet, sweaty romp, this is the sort of food that makes you crave a cigarette.

Since we do not smoke, instead we ate cheese—served ... [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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