West Side Spirit: What made you decide to write the book?
Patricia Cohen: Partly, it was reaching middle age myself—and I have always been interested in history. Since family structures and social traditions have eased so much in our age, I wanted to compare them to previous ones.

It’s amazing how deep you go. How did you find your historical starting point?
There have been historic studies of childhood and teenagers; adolescence was invented in the same period as middle age. Part of what I did was look back at how those writers went about doing their histories and I used evidence they were using as a sort of guide. Middle age is relatively recent invention, only going back a couple hundred years.

What surprised you the most in your research?
I think that even though it seems like a law of nature that has always been there, middle age is such a new idea. Most people think that middle age goes back before the 19th century. I think people find it surprising that it’s a relatively modern complex that started to take form in the industrial era.

Many people hit their prime in their forties and fifties. Do you feel this is true in your case?
I have one son and I had him when I was 40 years old. It’s kind of hard to feel middle-aged when you are changing diapers and looking into preschools. [On a professional level] this is my first book, so I guess that goes along with the idea that you can discover things and do things in middle age, though I feel like I am a late bloomer with that as well.

I like that you said middle age is becoming more of a starting point than a middle point. Do you think this idea will ever be the popular opinion?
I don’t know. It’s hard to imagine to some degree, given our obsession with youth, but as life spans increase and social opinions change, it’s possible people will view middle age differently. America is the most youth-obsessed culture in the world, which is the greatest handicap that we associate with middle age. Social changes don’t happen over night. There has been some progress made, as I talk about in the book.

How would you suggest one fight the Midlife Industrial Complex, as you describe it?
That’s really tough. I think that part of what I was looking at was the difficulty of balancing the positive side of self-help with the burden of trying to improve yourself so much that it becomes oppressive. I wanted to remind people that middle age is a story that we tell about ourselves and to remember it’s not a fixed law of nature but more of a cultural fiction. Because it’s a story we tell about ourselves, it’s a story we have the ability to change.

They called this area Seneca Village, and it existed on the west side of the park between 81st and 89th streets from 1825 through 1857. You can find the spot in Central Park if you are conscious, since no sign marks the historical settlement, nor do the rolling hills of green-brown, winter-bare trees, playgrounds and giant boulders give any indication that people lived there.

Not only did they have houses, they worshiped in three separate churches, went to school and were buried in that location. Now, the remnants of the past have been unearthed and are slowly becoming available for public consumption.

“Now we are doing lab work and analyzing the artifacts,” said Nan Rothschild, the excavation leader from Columbia University. “We will figure out what it all means.”

The team behind the exploration is the Institute for the Exploration of Seneca Village History, which includes Rothschild, Cynthia Copeland from New York University, Diana Wall from the City University of New York and about 10 college interns. They focused on two known residential sites in the park, the yard of Nancy Moore and the home of William G. Wilson, a caretaker for the All Angels’ Episcopal Church who had a wife and eight children.

During an eight-week dig last summer, they unearthed the stone foundation of Wilson’s house and found a lot of ceramic pieces, smoking pipes, animal bones, glass and some distinctive things like buttons, a toothbrush handle and a small leather shoe.
But just because they have finished fishing the pieces of Seneca Village out of the dirt doesn’t mean the project is close to done. Now the artifacts mainly reside at Barnard College, where archeologists have cleaned them. Next, said Rothschild, they will catalog, dissect, analyze and put into context what the findings insinuate about life in this community.

“We are tying to find out what it meant to be a middle-class African American community in New York during this time,” she said.

It only took two years for the city of New York to demolish the village after an order of eminent domain took the land from its owners. True, it gave us the marvelous park we enjoy today, but, in an effort to reconnect and tell the history of Seneca Village and the people who called it home, researchers have worked for decades to discover the roots and lifestyles of those people. The initial investigation of Seneca Village started in 1999, but the excavation of the site didn’t commence until 2010 and it finished July 2011.

Though the Seneca Village project won’t change the park, it does give visitors an invite to a life far beyond the glitz and glamor of the Upper West Side.

“In its maintenance and restoration of Central Park, the conservancy wants visitors to get to know and explore the park in as many ways as possible,” said Doug Blonsky, Central Park Conservancy president and Central Park administrator. “Unearthing an important part of both it and New York’s history lets visitors see Central Park from an entirely new angle from before its creation.”

With their research, the team has paid homage to Seneca Village not only in their consideration of the area but by giving lectures and information to anyone interested, including tours of where the community resided.

Seneca Village Events
Seneca Village Tour
Sat. Feb. 18, 2:30 p.m.; free.
Inside Central Park at the West 85th  Street entrance.

Unearthing Seneca Village:
New York’s Forgotten History
Feb. 28–March 30; free.
The Tunnel Gallery in Barnard College in the basement of Altschul Hall, 3009 Broadway, 212-854-5262.

Our Town: What made you decide to write the book?
Patricia Cohen: Partly, it was reaching middle age myself—and I have always been interested in history. Since family structures and social traditions have eased so much in our age, I wanted to compare them to previous ones.

It’s amazing how deep you go. How did you find your historical starting point?
There have been historic studies of childhood and teenagers; adolescence was invented in the same period as middle age. Part of what I did was look back at how those writers went about doing their histories and I used evidence they were using as a sort of guide. Middle age is relatively recent invention, only going back a couple hundred years.

What surprised you the most in your research?
I think that even though it seems like a law of nature that has always been there, middle age is such a new idea. Most people think that middle age goes back before the 19th century. I think people find it surprising that it’s a relatively modern complex that started to take form in the industrial era.

Many people hit their prime in their forties and fifties. Do you feel this is true in your case?
I have one son and I had him when I was 40 years old. It’s kind of hard to feel middle-aged when you are changing diapers and looking into preschools. [On a professional level] this is my first book, so I guess that goes along with the idea that you can discover things and do things in middle age, though I feel like I am a late bloomer with that as well.

I like that you said middle age is becoming more of a starting point than a middle point. Do you think this idea will ever be the popular opinion?
I don’t know. It’s hard to imagine to some degree, given our obsession with youth, but as life spans increase and social opinions change, it’s possible people will view middle age differently. America is the most youth-obsessed culture in the world, which is the greatest handicap that we associate with middle age. Social changes don’t happen over night. There has been some progress made, as I talk about in the book.

How would you suggest one fight the Midlife Industrial Complex, as you describe it?
That’s really tough. I think that part of what I was looking at was the difficulty of balancing the positive side of self-help with the burden of trying to improve yourself so much that it becomes oppressive. I wanted to remind people that middle age is a story that we tell about ourselves and to remember it’s not a fixed law of nature but more of a cultural fiction. Because it’s a story we tell about ourselves, it’s a story we have the ability to change.

We got in just in time to snag a cozy table in the back and, despite the room’s size and volume of people in it, the exposed brick walls and intimacy of the setup helped give it an amorous aura. Now, if only they could dim the dazzling chandeliers a little and the space would be spot-on for romance—minus the occasional cry of a child.

The menu? Not so romantic, unless you happen to be a craft beer, Southern food and pickle connoisseur, which my companion and I are. First thing, we ordered a round of beers. He got Brooklyn Brewery’s Companion ($8), a special brew made for the release of the Oxford Companion to Beer, which was edited by their head brewer Garrett Oliver. While his was malty and amber in color, I went to the dark side and chose the sweet, rich Allagash Black ($9), a strong stout at 7.5 percent that Jacob’s mislabeled as 10 percent. OK, so maybe we know more about beer than most, but honestly, that was part of what drew us in—the beer and the pickles.

Owned by Jacob Hadjigeorgis, the restaurant’s focus shines through, though they do tend toward the expensive side given that one order of pickles runs $4 for a measly three or four small pieces. You are better off ordering the platter, which lets you sample all six flavors for $15: peppery asparagus spears; your basic, crunchy sour pickle; sweet sticks of carrot that have a chili kick; simple, sugary beet slices; slivers of cucumber touted as hot that were really more like a bread-and-butter pickle; and our favorite, the sour, firm green tomato wedges.

While the beers we had did the trick before the pickles, ones that go best to cut the lip-puckering, vinegar tinge of the preserved vegetables are brews like the refreshing Narrangansett lager ($7) or the hoppy Founder’s Centennial IPA ($8). They also offer Lagunitas Doppel ($8), which, though it’s a dark wheat, melds nicely with the sweetness presented by some of the pickles. Its roundness also cuts the bite of the more abrasive ones.

Jacob’s also offers an array of tasty cocktails, most which have a pickled component, including the spicy, meal-in-a-cup Bloody B.L.T. ($13) with peppercorn vodka, Niman Ranch bacon and a jalapeño pickled egg; the vodka and dill pickle brine-filled Dirty Aphrodite ($12) and a margarita ($12) with house-infused jalapeño tequila mixed with a spicy pickle brine. Of course, you can also get the ubiquitous pickle back, which includes a double shot of Dickle #12 whiskey and house pickle brine ($11), possibly the best deal on the menu.

Despite the pickled selection, Jacob’s has an extensive food list beyond its namesake dish. It has decent biscuits that, while a little dry, are brightened by the homemade strawberry and orange preserves ($8) or a salty-sweet chicken liver jam ($10). The leek country sausage adds a nice, fresh meatiness to the starch-heavy starters ($14)—the obligatory mac ‘n’ cheese ($14) turned out light on the palate yet pleasingly heavy on the mushroom flavor and their fried honey-chicken sandwich proved not too greasy, though not totally worth the $13 price tag.

By Linnea Covington

When you first walk into the Bye Bye CBGB exhibit at Soho’s Clic Gallery, the faces of disheveled punk rockers greet you. Pierced lips, funky hair and leather dominate the style, and though it appears they were shot in 1973, the images are from 2006, when the notorious venue finally shuttered its doors. Showing up at iconic CBGB OMFUG (Country, Bluegrass, Blues and Other Music For Uplifting Gormandizers) for its final 48 hours, Parisian visual artist Bruno Hadjadj shot the faces of those new and old punk rockers who had gathered to say adieu.

On Saturday, Oct. 14, 2006, Blondie’s Debbie Harry belted out “Heart of Glass.” The next night, Patti Smith played some tunes with Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and ended her set with a rendition of “Gloria” that interlaced lines and melodies from various Ramones songs. I was there and, despite the cliché, it was a night to remember.

What most people don’t talk about is what happened outside the doors. While only a fraction managed to get tickets, on that warm October night hundreds of fans remained outside. People from all over the world had come to see the club for the last time, touch its graffiti-covered walls, smoke cigarettes and sneak sips of cheap whiskey from a flask under its dirty 315 Bowery awning in hopes of catching a glimpse of one of the famous faces from CBGB’s rich past.

Though many left disappointed, Hadjadj captured them there as they paid homage to an era that, despite the decades, hadn’t changed much since the early 1970s.

“The energy was so intense with all these people trying to get in, some in line for 24 hours,” said Hadjadj from his home in Paris. “My purpose was to shoot the people, not the stars.”

Though he made a book from the images, the exhibit at Clic Gallery displays only 14 pictures of a few people that struck a chord in him; like Flow, a girl in a short skirt, boots and cowboy hat that he showed as a gel print then blew up and decorated with blinking lights. Another portrait presents a rockabilly-styled man with a prominent belt buckle and piercings, which Hadjadj also shows two ways (including the blinking lights).

On one wall, he deviates from the portraits and instead displays sketches of winged cans of beer, gin bottles and a calendar, a seemingly poignant remark on the death of the club.

Hadjadj’s admiration for CBGB was almost happenstance. For years, he lived off and on in New York, and in the 1980s he resided near the venue on Bowery and Houston.

“During all those years, it was the place I was always passing by. I saw so many concerts there,” he said. “Even if you didn’t know who was performing, it was a place to go and spend some time.”

Hadjadj likened the club to such historical places as the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building, and said that many tourists would make seeing a show at CBGB part of their journey. Even if you didn’t subscribe to the punk rock fashion, the place remained a catalyst for culture long after this style of music gave way to hardcore, rock and the experimental bands that took over the stage in the early 1990s. Either way, a few things could always be counted on: a night of many bands, cheap, disgusting bathrooms and the feeling that you were mingling with history.

While Hadjadj’s exhibit at the gallery doesn’t capture the feeling of actually being in CBGB, it does seize on the emotions of the people who really knew about the club, would miss the venue and longed to keep a piece of it near. For this reason, he chose to add those LCD lights to some images to give them an iconic sparkle—to him, the real stars were the people that came out that night, not for fame or glory, but for love.
Bye Bye CBGB, through Feb. 28, Clic Gallery, 255 Centre St. (at Broome St.), 212-966-2766.

We got them on the phone to talk about the book, the shop, their ball technique and what’s in store for the future.

Did you ever think meatballs would be this popular?
Michael Chernow: At first I thought the concept was brilliant, but as we got closer to the opening, I was a little nervous about meatballs being the focus of the menu. But I think everyone loves meatballs. Rarely do I run into someone who doesn’t like them. That’s what I was banking on and, sure enough, it worked out.

How does running The Meatball Shop compare to other restaurants you have worked in?
MC: I have been working in restaurants since I was 13 years old—that makes it about 18 years. I have taken bits of what I learned in each restaurant and incorporated my own theories. I feel we have been able to create a really special place that I would like to work in and that I would want my friends to hang out in. I think the key is to create a special environment for the staff and make them my first priority. I have taken Danny Meyer’s lead in that.

Why did you pick the location for the businesses?
MC: For our first shop we knew we wanted to be in the Lower East Side. I worked in that area for 10 years; I knew the demographic would eat us up, literally and figuratively. The density of bars in the LES was the deciding factor for us. We wanted to attract younger bargoers to stop in before going out, and on their way home after drinking. The positioning of the first shop was strategically planned to categorize The Meatball Shop as a young, hip place to eat. It worked. We had the same motivation when looking for the Brooklyn store, so we secured a location on Bedford Avenue, right in the heart of Williamsburg.
Once we felt comfortable in our targeted demographic, we took a swing in a more family-oriented market, the West Village. We were a bit nervous, but the concept proved to be viable there as well.

Any reason two are downtown rather than uptown?
MC: The food scene downtown is thriving. As I mentioned before, we wanted to be considered as a restaurant that would not only be known for its food, but for its atmosphere.

The Meatball Shop as a unique system of ordering. Why did you format the menu in that way?
Daniel Holzman: There is a burger joint in Los Angeles called The Counter, and they have a check-box system where you choose your bun, patty, sauce and topping. Mike and I loved it, and we liked the idea of doing something that was kind of kitschy.
At first, The Meatball Shop was going to be counter service only, but it was too busy so we started full service. The immediate feedback was that people loved filling out the menu—eventually, we started using dry erase markers because we got sick of wasting the original paper menus. Now, I when I go to a restaurant, I want to write on their menu, too.

How long did the book take?
MC: The book took around a year from start to finish, from writing to taking photos. We wanted to make sure it was consistent with the restaurant, from the music to the food to the energy. I think we were able to portray that when you open up the book.

How did you pick the recipes for the book?
MC: For the original recipes, Dan and I spent a lot of time honing in on the flavors we love. We would look at the flavors and say, "Hey, let’s make that into a meatball." Usually, I come up with the name and Dan comes up with the recipe.
DH: We wanted to document the restaurant using all the recipes we liked. We had to pare down quite a bit and now, the book is almost completely made up of recipes we make at The Meatball Shop.

How far do you want to take the Meatball Shop concept?
MC: Dan and I are very excited with where we are right now, though we always have our ear to the ground and are constantly looking for ways to make the concept more efficient.
DH: We have been talking about it a lot. Mike and I said we would wait until we opened these two restaurants to get some hindsight. We weren’t sure what it would be like to open them, but people are responding well and I would like to open more.

Any new concepts in the works?
MC: I think meatballs have really taken over our lives, and stepping into a different concept isn’t something we are looking into right now. Also, the demographics of meatballs are so wide and vast, I don’t see us opening another concept outside the meatball shop.
DH: I would be really surprised if at some point in our lives we don’t do something else. But right now, meatballs are fun and I love it.

| By Linnea Covington

When you first walk into the Bye Bye CBGB exhibit at Soho’s Clic Gallery, the faces of disheveled punk rockers greet you. Pierced lips, funky hair and leather dominate the style, and though it appears they were shot in 1973, the images are from 2006, when the notorious venue finally shuttered its doors. Showing up at iconic CBGB OMFUG (Country, Bluegrass, Blues and Other Music For Uplifting Gormandizers) for its final 48 hours, Parisian visual artist Bruno Hadjadj shot the faces of those new and old punk rockers who had gathered to say adieu.

On Saturday, Oct. 14, 2006, Blondie’s Debbie Harry belted out “Heart of Glass.” The next night, Patti Smith played some tunes with Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and ended her set with a rendition of “Gloria” that interlaced lines and melodies from various Ramones songs. I was there and, despite the cliché, it was a night to remember.

What most people don’t talk about is what happened outside the doors. While only a fraction managed to get tickets, on that warm October night hundreds of fans remained outside. People from all over the world had come to see the club for the last time, touch its graffiti-covered walls, smoke cigarettes and sneak sips of cheap whiskey from a flask under its dirty 315 Bowery awning in hopes of catching a glimpse of one of the famous faces from CBGB’s rich past.

Though many left disappointed, Hadjadj captured them there as they paid homage to an era that, despite the decades, hadn’t changed much since the early 1970s.

“The energy was so intense with all these people trying to get in, some in line for 24 hours,” said Hadjadj from his home in Paris. “My purpose was to shoot the people, not the stars.”

Though he made a book from the images, the exhibit at Clic Gallery displays only 14 pictures of a few people that struck a chord in him; like Flow, a girl in a short skirt, boots and cowboy hat that he showed as a gel print then blew up and decorated with blinking lights. Another portrait presents a rockabilly-styled man with a prominent belt buckle and piercings, which Hadjadj also shows two ways (including the blinking lights).

On one wall, he deviates from the portraits and instead displays sketches of winged cans of beer, gin bottles and a calendar, a seemingly poignant remark on the death of the club.

Hadjadj’s admiration for CBGB was almost happenstance. For years, he lived off and on in New York, and in the 1980s he resided near the venue on Bowery and Houston.

“During all those years, it was the place I was always passing by. I saw so many concerts there,” he said. “Even if you didn’t know who was performing, it was a place to go and spend some time.”

Hadjadj likened the club to such historical places as the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building, and said that many tourists would make seeing a show at CBGB part of their journey. Even if you didn’t subscribe to the punk rock fashion, the place remained a catalyst for culture long after this style of music gave way to hardcore, rock and the experimental bands that took over the stage in the early 1990s. Either way, a few things could always be counted on: a night of many bands, cheap, disgusting bathrooms and the feeling that you were mingling with history.

While Hadjadj’s exhibit at the gallery doesn’t capture the feeling of actually being in CBGB, it does seize on the emotions of the people who really knew about the club, would miss the venue and longed to keep a piece of it near. For this reason, he chose to add those LCD lights to some images to give them an iconic sparkle—to him, the real stars were the people that came out that night, not for fame or glory, but for love.

Bye Bye CBGB, through Feb. 28, Clic Gallery, 255 Centre St. (at Broome St.), 212-966-2766.

It’s the same story every year: After weeks of indulging in cookies, cake, giant meals and more drinks than you can remember, the holidays have ended and you feel like a beached whale. Hence, one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions: Get in shape.

But just because you start the year strong doesn’t mean it stays that way. Work, family, money and life in general tend to get in the way as the cycle repeats itself. Just as it is the most common resolution, the “get in shape” mantra is usually broken.

This year, instead of falling prey to the usual routine, we asked some expert fitness trainers to share their tips and thoughts on how to first, get back to the gym, and second, stay there once you do.

The experts all said three basic things: If you haven’t been working out, start slow and build up; bring a like-minded buddy to help motivate you; and, if you can, get a trainer. They also said that part of getting fit is taking care of yourself. “It’s not just what you do in the gym, you have to sleep, eat well and cut out stress,” said Matthew Cole, director of Sculpt New York. “You need to maintain the health of all your faculties.”

What to do when you get there
There are a few approaches to getting in shape. The first is to take classes. Antonio Sini, owner of Nimble Fitness, recommends starting with Pilates, a dance class like salsa or tango and low impact yoga. “Learning some basic yoga moves is a great way to also take some exercise home,” he said.

For David Barton, owner of David Barton Gym, the key for newbies is to start weight lifting slowly. “Strength training gives you the most results whether you have a little or a lot of time,” he said. “If time is limited, concentrate on the major muscle groups and do as many big compound movements as you can.” He added that 20 to 30 minutes of proper movement can be highly effective. Just make sure to not overtax yourself; just because you can manage to lift the heavy weights doesn’t mean you should.

Trainers
The first step in choosing a trainer is making sure they are right for you, your workout speed and your goals. “Most people don’t see the results they want and that’s why they quit,” said Barton. “A trainer will vary your workout at just the right time to outsmart your body’s natural flab-harboring tendencies so you can achieve your dream body.”  Cole said that if you can’t afford a personal trainer, make sure to bring a friend to help motivate you to go to the gym and to work harder.

Eating
“Food is a huge part of exercise and how it can benefit you,” said Sini. “It’s super important that people understand nutrition.” The first thing to understand is your body—are you trying to lose fat, gain muscle, tone or just feel more in shape? “You don’t want to work out on a completely empty stomach, so have an apple or breakfast bar an hour before,” said Sini. “But you don’t want to eat within 45 minutes of exercise, since the blood leaves your stomach and goes to your muscles.” The best approach: munch on a piece of fruit or plain yogurt an hour before working out, drink water during and have a light meal 45 minutes afterward.

“After you work out, your body wants to absorb nutrients and it’s one of the best times to eat,” said Sini. But, he added, “It has to be the best food, like something high in protein light in carbs and low in fat.”

Staying motivated
One piece of advice the experts agreed on appears odd, but makes sense when you think about it. Don’t tell your out-of-shape couch potato friends your goal. “Surround yourself with like-minded people,” said Sini. Often, he said, someone who is unmotivated will bash your goal, making it hard to push yourself.

Another way to motivate yourself, he said, is to figure out what will make you happy. “First, look at yourself in the mirror and decide if your goal is to look and feel better physically—if that is going to make you happy, then do it.” He also said it’s easier to keep a more general goal, like fitting into a pair of pants, rather than losing 20 pounds.

Cole also added, “Don’t think about supermodels or what you consider normal; think about you and your own body.” He suggests writing down your life for a day to see what you actually do and how you can incorporate more exercise into a daily routine.

And for those who think of exercise as real work, try Barton’s theory on going to the gym: “For that one hour of my day, that time is all mine. The gym, it’s like my sanctuary.”

Food-wise, the actual pizzas remain true to the Neapolitan style and were some of the best I have tried in the city. The trick, says Cilio, is in the oven and in the ingredients, most of which he imports straight from the source. You can really taste the difference in the caprese salad ($8.50), a beautifully plated dish of bright red and yellow tomatoes drizzled with olive oil and perfect, light wedges of fresh Buffalo mozzarella. The insalata ($14) comes with their special house-made burrata, a creamy orb, oozing with milk and silky smooth, which pairs winningly with artistic triangles of watermelon, buttery sprigs of mache, or lamb’s lettuce, and tomato to create a salty-sweet palette that combines crunchy with supple textures.

We started the night with a bottle of white lambrusco ($9 a glass, $33 a bottle), a rounder, fuller bubbly than your basic prosecco. This went well with the prosciutto crudo con fichi ($9), a plate of 18-month cured meat with black mission figs and salty shaved Parmigianino Reggiano. It also complemented the tartara di tonno ($11.50), a dish that really surprised me as the espresso-sized mound of yellowfin tuna tartar melded wonderfully with diced, wood-fired, roasted tomato, giving the raw, fresh fish a smoky tinge. Off the bar menu, we sampled the bruschetta con burrata e tartufo ($9), an airy crostini made with pizza dough bread and topped with cheese and black truffle pesto that pleasantly overrode my umami senses with each nibble.

These bites proved great, but the pizzas are the real stars. On one balmy evening, I headed down to PizzArte to meet Cilio and sample his favorite pies. First on the list: the verace ($19), a classic combo of San Marzano tomatoes, Buffalo mozzarella and fresh basil. With the first chew, I knew Cilio and his team of Italian chefs were on the right track. The dough had the proper tinge of sweetness to it, a nice char on the top of the pliable crust, and the dough holding the ingredients proved thin, with just enough thickness to secure the toppings. Fantastico.

Another aspect that shouldn’t be missed: the extensive list of affordable Italian wines. A bottle of the dark, berrytinged ’06 Produttori del Barbaresco ($55) paired nicely with the pizzas, like the diavola ($16). This pie created a completely different flavor sensation than the verace. Where the latter came out light and sweet, the diavola had a kick from thin strips of spicy salame. It maintained a brightness from the tomatoes but contained a heartier mouthfeel. Their namesake, the PizzaArte ($21), also leans on the savory side with meaty bits of speck thrown in with zucchini blossoms. The main difference with this pie is the use of burrata cheese and no tomato, leaving the dish a bit denser. I had my doubts about the tartufata ($23) because of the Gorgonzola. I would love to love that cheese, but I have found few that agree with my taste buds. However, on this pizza, mixed with pulverized walnuts, mozzarella and black truffle, the Gorgonzola sang, and for a moment I understood what the fuss was about. More of a dessert pizza, the dish came out sweet, savory and bursting with earthy goodness, a combo I can’t recommend enough.

For dessert, I adored the martini glass filled with fluffy, coffee-tinged tiramisu ($9), a not-too-sweet treat that balanced nicely with the fruity Brachetto D’Acqui ($10 a glass). In the end, what makes PizzArte work can be found in the pure joy and enthusiasm Cilio puts into his restaurant. A lawyer by day, he spends every night here, eating the food, talking to customers and really being a part of the business. When you talk to him, his excitement over his goods shines through, and with each bite and sip of wine, you can tell he feels at home and wants to share that comfort with his guests.

>> PizzArte

69 W. 55th St. (betw. 5th & 6th Aves.),

www.pizzarteny.com.