This was my first time back at Ci Siamo, Danny Meyer’s Italian restaurant in Manhattan West, since its opening. Chef Hillary Sterling is still at the helm with live-fire cooking and seasonal ingredients.

Last time, it was a noisy dinner, this time on their outdoor—oh, so quiet—terrace overlooking the outdoor space at Manhattan West with over-the-top attentive service by Zack and all others.

I couldn’t miss the decadent caramelized onion torta ($26) at Ci Siamo. Heavenly. Need to be shared to have room for more. It’s a caramelized cipollini onion flaky-crust tart drizzled with balsamic and a gooey goat cheese fondue topped with Pecorino.

We then shared a simple salad with garlic chips ($18).

Zack shared the details of the special pasta — a pappardelle (a thick fettuccine) with braised beef shank ragu with tomatoes and carrots blended into the sauce ($28). My dining partner picked the cavatelli allo scoglio with lump fresh crab in a butter chile sauce with garlic chips and oregano ($35). Zack, knowing how interested we were in the other, brought us a portion on the house! The flavor of that dish had a depth of intensely layered flavors; it was heavenly, actually. I suggested they add that to the menu.  I’d go back for that.

And we weren’t going to do dessert, but we were celebrating a birthday, so we asked for one chocolate budino with espresso zabaglione topped with smoked almonds ($16) and the restaurant sent us an orange citrus gelati that married so well with the chocolate.

On the way out, we ran into their sommelier and got to go inside their wine storage.

I highly recommend Ci Siamo.

Ci Siamo
Hudson West
9th Ave Suite #100
New York, NY 10001
cisiamonyc.com