Pastai

Pastai Restaurant Review:

Brought to you by talented chef (and Italian food historian) Melissa Muller-Daka (who still owns and runs nearby Eolo), this Chelsea spot doesn’t deviate from the chef’s wheelhouse: southern Italy. Start with saffron-spiked Sicilian arancini or the addictive pecorino-stuffed fried olives. There are usually about ten pastas available and some of them come and go. One mainstay, which is rare to find outside of Naples, is the Genovese: it’s not pesto, as you would think, but rather a slow-cooked onion-loaded beef ragù, which Neapolitans often eat as part of a Sunday meal. Also worth considering is the gemelli in a broccoli rabe pesto, complete with a dollop of creamy burrata. The wine list, naturally, skews toward southern Italy and the cocktail menu is highlighted by a nicely crafted negroni. This is simple but well-made Italian fare accessible to most palates.