COVID had kept us apart, so we had lots of catching up to do, including a belated birthday celebration. Before dinner at Amata, we met at the Carlton Fine Arts gallery on Madison to see their Pop Art Festival, having read about it in a friend’s real estate newsletter.

We headed west to Amata being the first seated in the dining room at this midtown Italian restaurant serving Neapolitan fare. We started with cocktails, my friends each having their Le Grand Fizz ($17) with Grey Goose Poire and St. Germain liqueur and I had their Old Fashioned ($17).

We then split their white salad with endive, artichoke hearts, hearts of palm and shaved parmesan ($15), followed by their garlicky linguine with littleneck clams ($25) and then veal woodman’s style with mushrooms in a thyme-scented cognac sauce ($34) served with green beans and mashed potatoes.

Wanting to sing  happy birthday to our friend, we ordered their moist tiramisu ($14) and pre-requested a candle. It arrived with a sparkler. A wonderful celebration. Tasty, too.

Amata
Midtown
209 E 56th St,
New York, NY 10022