Il Totano
Italian restaurant · West Village
154 W 13th St, New York, NY 10011
Highlights
Coastal Italian seafood featuring dry-aged fish and crudo.
Coastal Italian seafood featuring dry-aged fish and crudo.
"Il Totano was a seafood-focused restaurant known for its unique approach to aging fish outside of sushi establishments. It was opened by Top Chef season one winner Harold Dieterle and Alexandra Shapiro. Despite receiving praise for its crudo and dry-aged fish, the restaurant closed after a short run due to unclear concept direction and the challenging economics of operating a neighborhood restaurant in New York City." - Emma Orlow
"A seafood restaurant that closed after less than a year of operation." - Nadia Chaudhury
"It's a bit of a time warp to enter what's ostensibly a new restaurant beneath one of those formal burgundy awnings that are largely bygone everywhere except hotels and Upper East Side co-ops. But Il Totano, the new coastal Italian restaurant from Top Chef winner Harold Dieterle that occupies the garden level of a brownstone in the West Village, melds elements of utter class with bright color. This is the first restaurant I've ever been in where the idea of a beach-inspired interior really landed—gray-blue plaster, happy orange booths, wicker chairs—although the low-ceilinged, window-free space is still a bit tough. Once you order, though, the food will whisk you away. The slate of crudos are excellent, with the dry-aged kona kampachi in a bright passionfruit colatura ($22) the raw fish highlight. A $49 halibut saltimbocca wrapped in crispy prosciutto and sage also really delivers. —C.H." - CNT Editors
"Top Chef season one winner Harold Dieterle opened his latest restaurant — after a long hiatus — in the Village early this past summer. The space is nautically themed with blue and white wall treatments, and a glass refrigerated case sits mid-restaurant for aging fish, a current fad. Big-eye tuna here is aged, sliced thin, and served over eggplant caponata, and other menu highlights include grilled Long Island shrimp in pepperoncini butter and crispy pork cotolette draped with anchovies." - Robert Sietsema
"The first Top Chef winner, Harold Dieterle, of the late Perilla and Kin Shop, has teamed up with Alexandra Shapiro, of Flex Mussels and Hoexters, to open Il Totano, an 80-seat restaurant, hoping to capture the spirt of a 1970 Italian holiday vacation. Aged fish inspires the centerpiece of the menu and the space, which includes a dry-aging fridge in the dining room. In addition to crudos, the menu revives Perilla’s spicy duck meatballs. Don’t miss the pork cotolette, pounded thin and lightly fried, topped with bitter greens and whole anchovies." - Eater Staff
