Now eight years old, Lincoln Ristorante shares honors with nearby Marea and The Leopard at Des Artistes as being the finest Italian restaurants on the Upper West Side, and, by extension, in all of New York. Indeed, few restaurants anywhere in Manhattan have the posh, the gleam and the commitment to fine dining as do those three.
It would be ridiculous for Lincoln to be otherwise. Set on the plaza of Lincoln Center, next to the Henry Moore sculpture pool and across from Juilliard, its architecture had to fit in and to exemplify an esthetic radiance, which in this case is a glass-walled wedge designed by Diller, Scofidio + Renfro, with a grassy New York City-owned park on top of it all.
Inside, there is the same devotion to fineness, evident in the leather swivel chairs, the angled wooden ceiling, a Negroni and Prosecco Bar and a brightly lighted kitchen where Chef Shea Gallante has been in residence for a little over a year. He follows the original chef, Jonathan Benno, and has not deviated from Lincoln’s alta cucina style, based on regional traditions and given the chef’s personal treatment.
Gallante has long experience in such a high style, having worked with restaurateur Pino Luongo, then at Felidia, as chef de cuisine at Bouley and CRU, then at his own place, Ciano, and most recently at Chevalier.
So, there will be crisp seasoned grissini and moist, olive oil-glossed focaccia to nibble on while you page through a first-rate all-Italian, 400-label wine list overseen by Irene Miller. If you’re interested in older vintages, you’ll find plenty therein dating back to the last century.
You may receive an amuse of lobster salad with summery heirloom tomatoes, white nectarine and a good dash of horseradish. Among the appetizers is a big eye tuna tartare with very sweet cherry tomatoes and horseradish aïoli ($27), and some of the finest, most tender scallops I’ve had this summer ($26), set in a salad with wheatberry and quinoa, grilled nectarine and smoky mostarda aioli ($22).
These are the kind of Italian antipasti rare even in Italy, and the pastas compare just as favorably, all housemade, all cooked perfectly to the right textures. (Prices reflect whole portions as main courses.) Conchiglie shell macaroni comes with tender octopus and crisp guanciale bacon, a boost of Calabrian chili and toasted breadcrumbs ($37), and fat spaghettoni are glossed with a verdant pesto sauce and two cheeses, Parmigiano and fiore di sardo ($33). A very decadently rich pasta was a bowl of plump agnolotti stuffed with a blend of corn stock and sheep’s milk ricotta, and some garlic-aged balsamic swirled into a brown truffle butter—a dish that didn’t need the addition of bland Australian black truffles (especially at $42). Marvelously rendered saffron-scented acquarello risotto incorporated a generous catch of ruby shrimp, delicate peekytoe crab and a light, very tasty tomato-shellfish reduction ($35).
I was very happy to see culurzones, a Sardinian ravioli, on the menu; they were stuffed with whipped burrata cheese, baby spinach, onions and Parmgiano, with a simple sauce of Sungold tomatoes, garlic and basil ($34).
Bravo for the wild roasted king salmon ($38) served with a warm tomato salad, asparagus and watercress-pine nut pesto, and kudos for the generous veal tenderloin with fregola sarda, vegetables and a rich Marsala veal jus ($52). It has become obvious at this point that New York butchers obtain even better veal than do the macellerias of Rome or Florence.
Special that evening were double Colorado lamb chops with an absolutely delicious lamb sausage blended with sharp pecorino in a ragù of shelled beans, broccoli di rabe, shallot confit and lamb jus. ($44). These are fairly involved preparations for Italian secondi, but they shows how just a little more can make a good deal of difference when using complementary flavors.
Richard Capizzi’s beautiful confections rank with the best Italian desserts in the city, never overwrought, so that the fruit and frangipane crostata is always buttery and crisp, with a blueberry marmellata and lemon-fior di latte gelato ($16); the pistachio semifreddo is a marvel of airy lightness and satiny texture, splashed with Genovese grappa and served with orange blossom mascarpone and Morello cherries ($16). An exceptional warm chocolate tart uses California-bred Eureka Guittard chocolate made into a creamy ganache and sided with espresso gelato ($16).
An added virtue of Lincoln is that, despite its elegance and cosmopolitan ambiance, you can drop by for lunch al fresco, just enjoy a pasta and watch the passersby on the vast plaza. Or sit by the bar at twilight, sip a Negroni, watch the food go out of the kitchen and decide to stay on for dinner. Or come after a performance at the Met or the ballet and feel that the evening is still young and know that his is one of the places where enjoying a bottle of icy Prosecco and a lavish dessert brings New York into glittering focus all over again.
There are a $78 fixed price, three-course menu and an $84 four-course menu, as well as à la carte. Until August 17 during Restaurant Week in New York, there is a two-course $26 menu, with three courses for $34.
Lincoln Ristorante is open daily for lunch and dinner.
LINCOLN RISTORANTE
142 West 65th Street (off Broadway)
212-359-6500
