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“Convivio”

Occasion:	Cuisine:	Area:	Cost:	Rating:
Night Out	Italian	Midtown	Moderate	Great

by designer Vicente Wolf, with warm orange banquettes, and soft cream fringes on the walls, but the white tablecloths remain, which lend the room a distinct formality that feels mismatched with cuisine. White has a robust and rich hand in the kitchen and this food is rustic and hearty, which is at odds with the pristine dining room. The bar is more sexy and chic, and I think swapping the dining room tablecloths for some bare and beautiful tabletops with placemats might have given the dining room a little more style. Then again, it’s a comfortable room, and the sound levels are easy on the eardrums, which suits the zip code quite well.

White pretty much wowed us the whole way through our meal, with just a few minor disappointments. The selection of antipasti may only have one dull note, a salad of escarole, salami, provolone cheese and olives ($11) that seemed rather pedestrian compared to the rest of the menu, like something cobbled together from leftovers in the fridge. In contrast to the lackluster salad, a salsiccia (a braised tripe sausage) is exquisite—juicy and plump like a bratwurst and served over a bed of garlicky broccoli rabe, with shaved Parmesan and pulpy sweet tomato sauce. It’s a bit wintry, but it was devoured nonetheless. A little heat and humidity is not enough to keep me from that salsiccia. On the opposite spectrum was a distinctly summery hamachi carpaccio ($14), cut into thick succulent sashimi slices and dressed sparely but perfectly with olive oil, sea salt, basil, a few thinly sliced pickled chile peppers, and a shower of sun-sweetened cherry tomatoes.  

As I mentioned earlier, the pastas here are the stars of the show. The menu offers six choices, and the three we had all offered different textures, flavors and thrills. Pansoti—fat tortellini shaped dumplings—a special that night, are stuffed with hot and creamy burrata and set in a shallow puddle of concentrated and smooth tomato sauce that seemed to have been reduced and reduced to amplify the sweetness a hundred fold. Like Conant’s old L’Impero signature spaghetti with tomato and basil (which is on his menu at Scarpetta), this dish embodies simplicity and steps aside, letting it be.

The fusilli ($22) was also unbelievable—tiny twisted ropes of fresh pasta are washed in a Neapolitan braised pork shoulder ragu topped with a “fonduta” made from cacciocavallo cheese, giving the ra ... [more, click below]

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Posted: August 14, 2008

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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