Handmade Pasta, Homespun Charm
Written and Photographed by Emily Nichols
ASTORIA- It has become a truism that restaurant customers turn to comfort food in difficult or uncertain times, one confirmed by Ornella Viterale (pictured above), co-owner and namesake of Ornella’s Trattoria Italiana: “People don’t want something new. They want traditional food.” So when Viterale decided to open her first restaurant last year, she based it on her Italian family’s home cooking, with some help from her husband and host Guiseppe, a New York restaurant veteran of over twenty years.
Viterale emigrated from a small town in Italy to New York City at the age of seven, bringing with her great warmth, energy and a sweet ever-present smile. Watch her recent clips giving cooking lessons on a Connecticut news show and it is easy to imagine her hosting her own show, joking and talking an audience through the intricacies of preparing fresh pasta.
When she was first working on her business model she sat down with her mother and went over every dish that would be on the menu, drawing from the north and south of Italy. They included recipes from the village near Turin where her husband grew up, most notably the Pasta di Castagna: chestnut flour pasta with arugula and cherry tomatoes in a garlic and oil sauce. “In the beginning I would have my neighbor at Emily’s Pork Store [in Williamsburg, Brooklyn] grind the chestnuts into flour for me.” Ornella’s continues to carefully source their meat and ingredients, using organic and local products when available.
On any given night, Guiseppe greets each guest warmly, lending the atmosphere of an al fresco cafe in Italy. Bruschetta quickly appears while you read the comprehensive menu. Diners can pick and choose in the American way, though the daunting traditional five courses are available. Meat eaters should note that the most interesting pasta is on the vegetarian page of the menu: chickpea, buckwheat, rice flours and the delectable al dente chestnut.
Grilled calamari and a prosciutto and pear salad make generous summery appetizers but on a stormier night, when you are seeking an indulgent comfort food, go for the imbustata. This “envelope” of fresh pasta is filled with roasted veal, chicken, mushrooms and homemade mozzarella, topped with a creamy tomato sauce and baked. It is a rich, smooth, simplified personal lasagna. Likely this won’t leave room for dessert, but it’s probably worth grabbing the rich, decadent chocolate mousse cake to go.
In Queens there is Italian food in almost every neighborhood, but Ornella’s offers refreshing authenticity, and an opportunity to sample the flavors of multiple Italian regions in one sitting. Not to mention the owners’ warmth and openness, and a wide selection of unique homemade pastas- how lucky for Astorians that 23rd Street is a lot closer than Italy.
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