Sicily Osteria In New York’s Theater District Would Be Just As At Home In Palermo Or Taormina

The phrase “distinctive” may be very particular: certainly one of a sort (you may’t be “form of distinctive” or “ very distinctive”), and I exploit it intentionally to explain the marvelous new Sicily Osteria in New York’s Theater District. Open simply three weeks (changing Brazil, Brazil), it has a pleasant outside part of greenery (not a type of decrepit sheds on the road) and inside, two rooms as near a real hostaria as you’ll discover, however extra warmly lighted, with brass desk lambs, good linens and wineglasses, classic china, tile flooring and washed brick partitions that make it look as rustic as any restaurant in Taormina. Out again there are tables underneath a skylight. There may be additionally a big photographs of the house owners’ beloved mama. Loud music doesn’t intrude.

Décor alone doesn’t make Sicily Osteria distinctive however its dedication by house owners Enrico and Robert Malta of the New York Metropolis Restaurant Groupo to serve rigorously genuine Sicilian meals in New York does. Lately the meals media have famous a return to favor of “purple sauce” Italian-American eating places together with some locations that purport to be Sicilian. (The downtown Eataly flirted with southern Italian meals however has now switched to Tuscan). However Sicily Osteria has an all-Sicilian menu that takes under consideration the numerous kinds of cooking on the massive island, from Palermo to Catania, from Agrigento to Siracusa.

The Maltas have, since arriving within the States in 1962, run quite a few Italian eating places, together with Bocca di Bacco and Puttanesca. Right here they’ve gone full tilt with their native delicacies, and whereas co-Chef Asi Maman was born in Israel, he’s labored most of his profession in Italian kitchens together with a few of New York’s most interesting like Marea and Osteria Morini, whereas co-Chef Heather Pelletier provides one other dimension acquired from her tenures at Osteria Morini, Vaucluse and Chumley’s.

The restaurant’s motto is the household’s: “Si Mangia Bene, Si Paga Poco”—“eat properly, however spend a little bit”—based mostly on the very best merchandise out there. Sicily Osteria just isn’t low cost, with pastas $18-$26 (about the identical as Orso subsequent door) however nowhere near the costs at Marea and Ai Fiori. A 14-ounce bistecca right here is simply $38. And there are dozens of wines underneath $60 a bottle.

The primary class on the menu is named “La Strada,” that means meals of the road, which incorporates these fantastic little puffs of pannelle ($7) chickpea fritters with lemon and contemporary herbs that you’ll gobble up. There may be additionally an antipasto duo of crudi ($16) composed of uncooked purple tuna dashed with limoncello, nuts and seeds, and bass with a candy pepper relish scented with mint. Gently grilled octopus ($16) comes with wild rice, pignoli and a stability of bitter lemon and candy cherries. The pizzas can be found in Sicilian or the ever-present skinny crust model, and the previous is an ideal instance of the island’s puffy, yeasty gentle crusted variant, finest with eggplant and tomato.

Each pasta I tasted ranked among the many better of its type in New York and really near what I’ve had in Sicily, together with Palermo’s traditional, paccheri alla Norma ($18), named after the Bellini opera that debuted in that capital metropolis, with tender eggplant, vibrant tomato and ricotta salata. Busiate alla Trapanese ($18) has a sauce of roasted tomato and an almond pesto, basil and pecorino, whereas squid-ink black linguine nere ($24) is plentiful with clams and artichoke and a sprinkling of mint. Their lasagna Sicily model ($22) is a beneficiant layering of pasta sheets with candy and sizzling sausage, broccoli di rabe and a luscious tomato béchamel.

Predominant dishes (secondi) in Sicily are usually easy, though the oozing parmigiana di melanzane ($20) is wealthy certainly. Like each different Italian restaurant in New York, there may be the requisite grilled branzino ($32) however a extra western Sicilian alternative is the pesce spada(swordfish) with a diced eggplant-pepper caponata ($32) with tangy-sweet taste.

Sicilians have at all times made a number of the nation’s finest desserts, and right here you see why: Crunchy house-made cannoli ($10) comprise candy ricotta, Amarena cherry and bits of darkish chocolate, whereas “Mount Etna” is a pistachio lava cake with a fig gelato ($13), and torta settevelli is a seven-layer Nutella-like chocolate hazelnut mousse cake ($13) properly price sharing. Espresso, by the best way, is properly rendered (if you ask it to be).

Theater District eating places have a historical past of rushed in-and-out clients earlier than the seven o’clock curtain, and I belief Sicily Osteria will make give them a superb meal earlier than they sprint off to a present. However that simply means the remainder of us can bask within the second after all of them go away and we are able to get pleasure from a meal in a extra relaxed mode. Sicily Osteria is a spot to linger over your meals, sip your wine and be assured that you’re eating on meals troublesome to search out this well-made anyplace else in New York. And in the event you snag a desk outdoors, you would possibly dine beneath a New York moon and, beginning round 9 PM, watch the fantastic and colourful bustle of individuals exiting the theaters after seeing Phantom of the Opera or The Lion King. It’s a really completely happy, very New York place to be. As Alicia Keys sings, “One hand within the air for the massive metropolis/Road lights, large goals, all trying fairly/No place on the earth that may evaluate.”

SICILY OSTERIA

330 West forty sixth Road

646-609-3416

Open nightly for dinner.