Italian Tradition And Modernity Are Deftly Linked At Duomo 51 Across From Rockefeller Center

I recently wrote of the genteel pleasures of Old School Italian dining, and you will find all those fine touches that make such restaurants so engaging at the new Duomo 51 directly across the street from New York’s Rockefeller Center. In addition you will find a modernity that is rare anywhere, equaled in New York only by Fasano a few blocks away on the East Side. Duomo 51 is one of the most beautiful restaurants in the city and has a unique view that takes in the glowing beauty of St. Patrick’s Cathedral (“duomo” is Italian for cathedral) and the flag-encircled plaza at Rock Center, amidst those stunning art deco towers that surround it.

The restaurant is on the seventh floor of the Doubletree Hotel, whose drab reception hall gives no indication of the restaurant’s finery above, reached by an agonizingly slow elevator. Once arrived and cordially greeted, you will find that the entrance widens onto a glass-enclosed dining room that is dazzling without being snazzy, done in rich colors of dark wood and burgundy, with superb Shaker-like chandeliers, a gorgeous figured carpet and lamps at the beautifully set tables, with their signature china, pinging wine glasses and good silver. Beyond the glass wall is a more casual terrace with a retractable roof for warmer weather.

You will also be greeted with sincere warmth by Sammy V. Gashi, who also owns the estimable Ramerino Italian Prime team across town. The Italian menu, flecked with Tuscan elements, is by Executive Chef Vilfrid Hodoj, who has worked in La Giostra in Florence. He’s the one in the wildly colorful death’s head patterned shirt and densely tattooed arms.

I highly recommend you begin with the superior burrata here, peppered and nestled with red and yellow tomatoes laced with olive oil and scented with basil ($20). Carpaccio is of paper-thin, air-dried bresaola ham with marinated arugula and cherry tomatoes shaved Parmigiano and a splash of lemon dressing ($22). Excellent octopus is carefully grilled and enhanced by an unusual chickpea cream and squirt of lemon ($25), while sliced artichokes and avocado are layered with Parmigiano ($20). All these are generously portioned.

There are two soups and ten pastas, all made in house, beginning with “barone rosso” (red baron) of large rigatoni in a reduction of red pesto composed of tomato sauce with pine nuts and burrata cheese ($27). Having experienced of late a number of disappointing cacio e pepe dishes, I became exuberant over the quality and care with which Duomo 51’s ($27) is made, with tonnarelli spaghetti and deftly incorporated 24-month-old Parmigiano. “Tartufo” is a plate of tender pappardelle lavished with wild mushrooms, goat’s cheese, truffle oil and a well-wrought demi-glace of exceptional depth ($29). High kudos for the risotto, too, tinted golden yellow with saffron and combined with sweet spring asparagus and zucchini ($26).

After the complex flavors and richness of the pastas, it’s best to go with simpler main courses like the impeccably cooked, nice, fat Dover sole swiftly deboned tableside (MP) or the baked orata (sea bream) with cherry tomatoes , potatoes, capers and olives in a light white wine sauce ($39). Both scaloppine of veal in lemon butter ($39) and a chicken del pastore with goat’s cheese and brown sauce ($32) needed seasoning one night.

Desserts ($12) are sumptuous and beautifully plated, from a chocolate torta with a hill of whipped cream and a moist brownie with vanilla ice cream to a classic Italian cheesecake and marvelous Sicilian-style cannoli you should share.

Duomo 51’s wine list is solidly crafted in every category, with 15 wines by the glass, none priced above $18, and—Grazie, dio!—among the bottles there are plenty of whites and rosés under $50, the price where the red wine prices begin, with many under $100 and an impressive slew of affordable Tuscan bottlings.

Duomo 51 is both a credit to the enduring virtues of traditional Italian food and hospitality, but it also exhibits the esthetics of the most modern ristoranti in cities like Rome and Milan. They, too, have their cathedrals and their piazzas, and Duomo 51’s New York variations compare to the best of them.

Duomo 51

25 West 51st Street

646-398-8098

Duomo 51 is open for breakfast daily, lunch and dinner Mon.-Sat.