al di la Trattoria
Anna Klinger and Emiliano Coppa have cooked northern Italian at 248 Fifth Avenue in Park Slope since 1998, and the plate that says which part of Italy is the casunziei: beet and ricotta ravioli under butter and poppy seeds, $19. The black spaghetti comes with octopus confit and hot red chili. Tripe is on the antipasti list at $18.
Why go
Klinger's menu is the work of a cook who has settled what she likes: fave e cicoria, a dried fava puree under sauteed bitter greens; seppia and oxtail stewed together with garlic and chili over creamy polenta; braised rabbit with tomatoes and black olives at $38. The pasta list carries four filled and hand-formed shapes at once, down to a corn tortelli stuffed with roasted corn and mascarpone.1 The wine glass pours run Italian and specific, down to a ramato-style pinot grigio vinified on its pink skins.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the casunziei, then the seppia and oxtail at $18.50, which is the dish that shows what the kitchen does with a cheap cut. The malfatti, Swiss chard and ricotta gnocchi in brown butter and sage, is $23.
- Avoid: ordering only pasta. There are five contorni and they run $10 to $12.
Good to know
- Booking: the site takes reservations and the room is a neighborhood size.
- Drinks: cocktails run a flat $17 and the negroni list has four builds on it, including a bianco on Berto gin and Salers.
Verdict
should-visit — Judge this kitchen on its side dishes. Ten dollars buys grilled chard stems under an anchovy vinaigrette, and they are put together with the same care as anything on the pasta list, which is what I want from a neighborhood Italian. Book a weeknight and bring four, because the half of this menu that is offal and bitter greens eats far better shared than ordered alone.