Il Salumaio was not supposed to be a restaurant. It opened last June in Yorkville, on the Upper East Side, as an old-world salumeria with hocks of prosciutto and mesh sacks of soppressata clustered like chimes over monumental cheeses.
Equally monumental sandwiches were available, along with pasta made to order, but there was nowhere on the premises to sit and eat.
“People were getting mad,” said Fabio Casella, one of the owners. So he and his brother, Ciro, who also run the Neapolitan pizzeria San Matteo up the block, capitulated. In December, they shrank the deli counter to a single glass case and filled the rest of the narrow space with tables.
Cured meats still dangle at the back of the dining room; sandwiches still outnumber pastas. But the description on the awning has changed from “delicatessen” to “wine bar.” And this slot on Second Avenue between a dry cleaner and a nail spa is now turning out satisfyingly nostalgic Italian fare.
Thank the querulous customers who bullied the restaurant into existence, for otherwise we would not have these perfect arancini, orbs of arborio rice bound by egg and Parmesan and flecked with spicy soppressata. They are implausibly airy considering their girth, fried quickly so that the thinnest possible shell forms and the rice stays loose inside.
via:http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/19/dining/hungry-city-il-salumaio-on-the-upper-east-side.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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