PRICE:
Frommer's Very Highly Recommended

It's not easy to describe the Italian food served in 'Cesca; it's like nothing many New Yorkers have experienced. Where else have you had roasted sardines paired with a soft egg? With a roaring wood-burning oven as its centerpiece -- which is used to roast everything from oysters to peppers -- this is as rustic as it gets. It's like you're in an Italian farmhouse where you are served such slow-cooked meats as pork shank, the fat cooked off and the meat falling from the bone, or a potato gnocchi with tender braised duck. The food is so intense here; a little goes a long way. But save room for the equally interesting desserts such as honey goat-milk gelato or fresh figs with fig gelato. Service is friendly and informal and the restaurant is spacious and comfortable, with a large bar area with long tables where you snack on marinated olives, fritto misto, or spicy parmigiana fritters, while sipping Italian wines from such regions as Sicily, Puglia, or Trentino. This is one of the most popular restaurants on the Upper West Side, so call well ahead for reservations.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's New York City 2009, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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