Osteria La Baia

The Mayor’s Usual, at Osteria La Baia | The New Yorker

"At this “coastal Italian” restaurant that opened last year in midtown, I was first lured by a baby‑blue vintage coupe parked on Fifty‑second Street, silk flowers bursting from its windows and an open hood. A genial manager asked how we'd heard of the place; Politico and the Times have since identified it as a favored haunt of Mayor Eric Adams—who reportedly visited at least fourteen times in June, often closing the frosted‑glass private dining room—and the owners, twin brothers Robert and Zhan Petrosyants, are described as close friends of the Mayor and as convicted felons barred from holding a liquor license. The meal was uneven: a palatable but overdressed Caesar; vitello tonnato finished with caper berries (the high point); a lukewarm vegan pizza topped with delicata squash and hemp ricotta; chewy lobster and limp garganelli; overcooked, undersalted rigatoni alla Norma with a too‑sweet sauce; and mushrooms in the vegan entrée that tasted disappointingly fermented. Before our drinks arrived a server mistakenly brought me an enormous bowl of chocolate gelato—an error I later wished I'd eaten—and the branzino, presented gutted and splayed skin‑side up with bubbled, charred edges and a taut, stretchy center over olives, tomatoes and sweet peppers, was so visually and texturally off‑putting it could turn a pescatarian away. Management declines photographers for reviews and once told a reviewer the kitchen was closed for an electrical problem even as Instagram showed a birthday party with the Mayor; dishes range from $16 to $155." - Hannah Goldfield