Pisticci

Pisticci Restaurant Review:

About the restaurant & décor: Pisticci is one of those secret neighborhood restaurants that you love to brag about. It’s adorable, in a sweet location near Grant’s Tomb and Columbia University, and has rooms that seem to have been created as a movie set. The library room is where both dining and music happen; if you’re there on a weekend, live jazz music sets the tone for a special evening. Otherwise, the middle room (where there’s also a small bar) and the far room, which appears to be from a country home somewhere in Italy with its stone walls and wooden ceiling, are all good choices.

Food & Drinks: The food is from all parts of Italy, with fresh pastas like homemade fettuccine ai funghi or orecchiette broccoli rabe with pepperoncino and spicy sausage, a luscious free-range chicken breast grilled in sage or grilled salmon with roasted tomatoes. Dining and service go hand in hand here, with Italian specialties explained in detail by attentive staff who carry over brimming-full martinis that are worthy creations themselves. An extensive wine list is Italian focused and includes sparkling wines in addition to reds and whites. The trattoria, named after a town in the Basilicata, is as much about art as it is about the owners’ love of food and drink. It has a social conscience, too: Pisticci is carbon neutral, using renewable energy and recycling water to use as fertilizer for its organic farm located 30 miles north of New York City.