Schmecks In The City I

Dinner last night at Cellini at 54th E between Park and Madison Ave last night at the recommendation of a Chicago chum who'd eaten there before. Excellent call. They graciously accomodated a group at short notice. Crowd in the upstairs dining room all tables of local banker/moneyish types out for a bite after a tough day of whatever.

Reasonably priced Italian reds (we stuck to a Sangiovese at $42/bottle throughout the night). Wonderful rustic breads and cheesy foccacia with olive oils, along with a complimentary antipasto plate with excellent olives and big hunks of parmigiano.

For appetizer had carpaccio (thin pounded to a parchment transparency pulp beef, umm.. like rawish) with arugula and artichoke hearts, with yet more lovely shaved parmigiano.

Main was on the recommendation of Chicago guy as well. The "Imbustata". Described as "Baked pasta, roasted capon, veal shiitake, spinach, mozzarella, tomato Bechamel sauce", it was lovely if not just an eensy bit bland. Kind of like a giant lasagne strip wrapped around yummy nicely textured filling, wrapped like a Christmas present with nice sauce to top it off. Perhaps because it was described as the house speciality, so nearly half the table jumped on the bandwagon.