Salute! epitomizes sophisticated East Side dining. A bouquet of soaring cherry blossoms that’s changed weekly stands in the center of a strikingly handsome room of candles, white cloth-covered tables, carpeting and comfortable white leather chairs. A gleaming open kitchen buzzes with activity at one end of the room that is illuminated by huge hat-box-shaped fixtures overhead. A polished, professional waitstaff provides silken service, all the pastas and desserts are housemade, and order the coffee and the milk that accompanies it is warm.
Carlo Apolloni, the Sicilian-born and -raised Executive Chef who is CIA-trained, displays a deft, knowing touch with the menu’s traditional regional Italian cuisine. Both he and his pastry chef, Jose Hernandez, are equally adept at conventional Italian dishes and occasional interesting spins on them. (Mr. Apolloni has previously cooked in the kitchens of culinary headliners like the Four Seasons, Lespinasse and Le Cirque).
While Salute!’s dignified, discrete dining room is a place of upscale food and service, the restaurant also offers more casual options, including outdoor dining, an extensive take-out menu, and an active bar room where informally dressed locals chomp on thin-crust pizzas and down their favorite brews.
A complimentary amuse at a recent dinner offered a preview of what was to come. Instead of the usual speck of predictable fare, it was a substantial, layered, marinated ahi tuna tartare on a bread round accompanied by a slim, stylish glass of tangy, assertive gazpacho. A perfect warm-weather opening salvo.
Among the antipasti openers that followed were two hearty, full-flavored picks: baked hot cherry peppers studded with shredded beef and mozzarella in a snappy vinegar sauce ($17) and a husky portion of baked eggplant layered with housemade mozzarella and tomatoes ($19). Another respectable choice was the filler-free Maryland lump crab cakes escorted by a small mixed green salad in a spicy bell pepper sauce ($21). Best of all was a half-portion of tagliatelle in a noteworthy olive oil garlic sauce liberally sprinkled with tender baby shrimp and shards of fresh artichokes ($14).
Recommended main events include two plump double rib lamb chops ($35), medium rare (as ordered), black-and-white sesame-crusted tuna with a tangle of soba noodles and some lively wasabi sauce ($38) and two slightly fatty, very tasty pinwheels of oven-roasted pork belly sporting a crisp crust ($34).
270 Madison Ave. (39th St.), 212-213-3440; www.salutenyc.com
Richard Jay Scholem was a restaurant critic for the New York Times Long Island Section for 14 years. His A La Carte Column appeared from 1990 to 2004. For more “Taste of the Town” reviews, click here.
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