Zhuzhed-Up Italian, at Ci Siamo | The New Yorker

"Finding Ci Siamo is so hard that the restaurant sends a chipper text with directions; once inside, the entryway’s warm hues and scent of woodsmoke immediately put me at ease. The welcoming staff—not just polite but seemingly responsible for much of the ambience with their eagerness to please—sets the tone for glamorous, well-groomed décor (handsome leather, velvet, Craftsman-modern tilework, and eclectic light fixtures) that clearly courts a professional crowd. Danny Meyer enlisted Hillary Sterling to run the kitchen, and I could detect her résumé: Bobby Flay’s interplay of citrus and fruity spice showing up in a seafood salad and Missy Robbins’ influence in Sterling’s exemplary fresh pastas, after a recent stint as chef of Vic’s in NoHo. I started with an eight-inch focaccia—correctly crunchy outside and fluffy inside—served with an unnecessary but bright chili-flecked tomato spread, then the now-famous Caramelized Onion Torta, which a server aptly described as “French onion soup in a tart,” with a gorgeously flaky crust, melty balsamic onions, and Pecorino-infused cream. The chilled Insalata di Mare was bracing: nearly raw scallops, tender swordfish, nuggets of poached lobster, Castelvetrano olives, parsley, and an Aleppo-pepper–spiked lemon-and-orange dressing (the few mussels barely registered). Among pastas, a hefty rigatoni studded with crunchy guanciale was pure hedonism, while rapini agnolotti—paper-thin ricotta-and-greens parcels with lemony butter and breadcrumbs—felt like “fettuccine Alfredo with broccoli,” in the best way. From the wood-burning oven came a deboned whole trout stuffed with mustard greens, fried bread, and golden raisins, plus a smoky roast of hen-of-the-woods, oyster, and trumpet mushrooms with thyme and a flavorful half chicken marinated in mustard, garlic oil, and oregano and charred to juicy perfection. Desserts by Claudia Fleming made abstention impossible—rich chocolate budino, flower-shaped pull-apart bomboloni with dipping chocolate, a super-tart lemon torta, and a dense cheesecake with preserved cherries (and once I was gifted a bowl of rich hazelnut gelato); pastas and entrées run about $21–$43." - Shauna Lyon