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THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Scarpetta

THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Scarpetta Restaurant Review:

SCARPETTA HAS CLOSED --- Chef Scott Conant is familiar to many of us through his television appearances and his Scarpetta restaurants (Miami, Las Vegas, Toronto). Conant, born to an Italian mother, started taking cooking classes at eleven, and attended the Culinary Institute of America. Except for one year in Germany, he has always cooked Italian, and trained/worked at Italian restaurants in the Big Apple. He opened his first restaurant, Scarpetta in New York in 2008, modernizing an earthy Italian cuisine and adding his own touches from his heritage and time spent in Italy. We have tried many items on his menus, and it is hard to make recommendations, as they are all good. Start with the raw yellowtail with zenzero oil and sea salt, the raw tuna rolled and stuffed with marinated vegetables and preserved truffles, or the roasted sea scallops. WARNING: the bread basket includes warm bread stuffed with salami, smoked mozzarella, basil and garlic that is absolutely addictive. But save room for the tomato/basil spaghetti or the short ribs agnolotti. Black cod is dusted with fennel and served with concentrated tomatoes, mantecato and black olive oil, while aged sirloin steak is accompanied by a red wine reduction, wild mushrooms and pickled ramps. Reading these descriptions, you can deduce Conant's is a warm cuisine, from the heart, one you would want to indulge in often --- though it does not come cheap. There are Italian choices for the cheese course; sweet endings might include coconut panna cotta or a brown butter and pine nut tart. Like the 90210 zip code the restaurant inhabits, the wine list is chic and expensive, with a focus on Italian wines. Note that we are not very keen on the décor, which is sort of bare for this large space (the outdoor patio has a warmer feel), and the service can be a little stiff.