Lunetta

Crowded, Loud but Pastalicious

I joined Gwen at Lunetta for a Friday night meal which was convenient since it was right near work. Lunetta first achieved its reputation as a yummy Italian eatery in Brooklyn but since Manhattanites refuse to cross the East River unless heading to the Hamptons, Lunetta opened another branch in the shadow of the FlatIron Building. They pushed Mayrose out of its space which was fine with me since Mayrose served 'home-cooked' food which didn't seem very homey for rather inflated costs, and they had the nerve to charge for tea refills.

I arrived at 6:45 pm (early seating for me and most New Yorkers) and refused a table in the corridor near the entry door (who the hell would want to be seated in such chaos - for both sides! Bad seating design). We instead had the perfect spot back by the window corner section next to the kitchen and a sidebar where they prep and shave ham. It was both out of the way of waiter and diner traffic and it turned out to be a bit quieter. The waiter was overly enthusiastic about the menu and the descriptions of preparation but his waxing on regarding the duck agnolotti turned out to be a the salvation of the meal - best dish that night given it's sauce/soup base being infused with the butter fat from duck dripping - savory and brothy yet not heavy at all. Hi advice on the brussels sprout and onion salad turned out to be very undeserved as the combination was boring and drenched in too much vinaigrette dressing. Gwen's salad with apples, escarole, pomegranate and pistachios was much better. We both had the St. Michael-Eppan, Pinot Nero, Alto-Adige which was a lovely glass of flavorful heaven, given lots of nice room to breathe in a perfect stemmed glass. For dessert we shared the apple crostata with cinnamon gelato; the apple center was yummy but the crust was lackluster and left on the plate. I paired it with a nice Dow port since it was Friday, after all. A nice meal overall but no need to rush back. When leaving, we were cramped into a very uncomfortable space near the bar and stood around frustrated as the coat-check/reception hostess went to retrieve coats that seemingly disappeared into some back room someplace - the worst logistics for a restaurant entryway I've even encountered.