food comas

L’Artusi

Executive Chef: Gabe Thompson
Beverage Director: Joe Campanale
Cuisine: Italian
Neighborhood: West Village
Price: $40-50 for food per person + drinks

L’Artusi is my and my roommate’s favorite Italian restaurant in Manhattan.  We always have an amazing experience  here, and it is our standard spot to bring work colleagues, dates, friends, family… basically anyone who loves good food and a warm ambiance!  L’Artusi is the second of the three F&B ventures by the team that first brought dell’anima to the West Village in 2007.  After dell’anima’s successful opening, L’Artusi was introduced the neighborhood in 2008.  Then just recently in 2010, a third venture was opened next door to dell’anima — a wine bar called Anfora.

L’Artusi features a more extensive menu than its sister restaurant, and is also physically larger with the capacity to seat 110 customers within its two-story space.  I love to sit either at the chef’s counter to watch the action or on the second level, where I feel it is a bit more spacious, better lit due to the skylight, and less noisy than the downstairs.  The second floor also has a private room for large parties in the back.

One of my favorite parts about L’Artusi is its beautifully organized tome of a wine list.  Each page of the menu lists the wine by region along with a map of Italy and the corresponding highlighted region.  As a fairly directionally and geographically-challenged person, I just thought it was a very cool way to display the wine list.

All the dishes are small to medium in size ($15-20 per dish), and we love to order a few dishes from each category to share family-style.  The food is always incredibly savory and delicious, and the service is warm and efficient.  I love all the seafood dishes and handmade pastas (even though it can be too salty at times).  My must-order dishes include the beef carpaccio, roasted mushrooms, garganelli, grilled octopus, and grilled quail.  In addition to the dishes pictured below, I have also enjoyed the hamachi tartare, bucatini, pappardelle, hanger steak, and pretty much all the side vegetables.

Scallops: sea salt, olive oil, lemon, espelette

Escolar: avocado, basil, chiles

Beef Carpaccio: rye crisps, horseradish crema

Roasted Mushrooms: fried egg, pancetta, ricotta salata

Garganelli: mushroom ragu

Orecchiette: sausage, salumi, bitter greens

Grilled Octopus: potatoes, chilies, olives, pancetta

Grilled Quail: panzanella salad