Quartino
21 Peck Slip (at Water Street)
(212) 888-2288
Someone’s been doctoring the food at Quartino.
Three of the owners of this cozy trattoria near the South Street Seaport are physicians, and they’ve made it their mission to serve the healthy food and wine of their homeland, Italy, in a casual, kick-back environment.
Neurologist Giovanni Manfredi, cardiologist Marco Gentilucci and eye surgeon Giovanni Giordano have a house motto: “Whenever you walk into Quartino, you are not a customer, you are a patient.”
So, while there’s not a hospital gown in sight, the culinary prescription includes nothing fried or sautéed. And forget about having a Coke. The closest thing is Chinotto San Pellegrino, an Italian soft drink with quinine.
Even so, Quartino’s food is anything but variations on a bed-tray theme. Mozzarella, bread and pasta are made in-house, the air-dried beef called bresaola comes direct from Italy, and if you want farinata — a focaccia made with chick-pea flour — there’s a half-hour wait while it’s baked.
Rather than gurneys and stainless steel, the ambiance features an old-world farmhouse feel, with rustic wood tables, twinkling candles and a century-old wide-plank pine floor.
The idea hatched when the doctors — all single — decided they needed a dining hangout where they could have fun. “They wanted a place where they can eat without spending a fortune,” explains manager Ivo Rossi, who met the trio during their year-long hunt for the perfect location.
Their search ended with an 1873 building on Peck Slip, near the Fulton Fish Market. “It looks very much like an Italian piazza here because of the cobblestone,” says Rossi, adding that “the pace is different from any other part of the city . . . more peaceful.”
Unlike the doctors, Rossi had previous experience owning a restaurant, and woodworking skills that he used to erect shutters around the huge windows. He also built a bar to act as added workspace for the tiny kitchen, as well as a comfortable perch for solo patrons to eat or sip a glass of wine. In addition to managing the place, he prepares most of the pasta dishes.
Though there may be a smidgen of cream to smooth a walnut sauce for fresh pappardelle — the owners and staff are, after all, food-loving Italians — the focus is on flavor minus artery-cloggers. In fact, the cardiologist monitors the menu and wine list. And the eye surgeon sees to it that the best olive oil and cheese — such as the “very creamy but very low in fat” stracchino — are expeditiously shipped from Liguria.
It all comes together in the hands of chef Alberto Catala, whose thin-crust pizzas (such as an artichoke and bacon-topped recent special), pillowy gnocchi with bright-flavored pesto, and superb ciabatta and rosemary foccacia inspire Rossi to exclaim, “The guy’s amazing!”
Adding to Quartino’s appeal, it’s also part of a growing trend of places where you can enjoy excellent wine by the glass — make that by the quartino, the Italian two-glass carafe after which the eatery is named.
Not to mention that it’s loads more fun than an office visit, and the bill’s way cheaper.