La Tagliatella - Midtown

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Photo by Hope S. Philbrick

La Tagliatella is an Italianrestaurant owned by a Spanish company. If you’re aware of Spain’s experimentalapproach to food, the presentations here make sense. Dishes areoften deconstructed—think piles of individual ingredients fanned around pizza, notmingled together all across the entire pie. If that sounds fun to you, then you mightalso like the scaloppine which arrives with your pick of one of five sauces onthe side. (I asked and, no, you cannot get two sauces. So make up your mind. Ican vouch for the balsamic reduction, which is creamy and delicious.)

If you’re in no mood to experiment, betterto stick with the pasta where the sauce arrives as expected atop the noodles.There are more than 400 pasta and sauce combinations available, which is idealif you plan to eat at this place every day of the year but hate repeatingmeals. But it may be intimidating for the indecisive. So here’s a tip to helpnarrow it down: Avoid the gnocchi. Fresh pastas are made fresh daily in-houseand there are also three dried pasta options. Grated Parmesan cheese ispresented in a small glass and chrome dish, so you can sprinkle a little orpile on a lot as suits your preference.
I’m still craving the pizza that Iimagined that I had ordered, with toppings of ham, shrimp, goat cheese, pepperand artichokes. Sounds delicious, right? But with each slice comprised of justone ingredient, I'm left to imagine what the combination may have tastedlike. Responding to my surprise as it was set upon the table, one of our three serverssaid, “It’s so you can appreciate the flavors of each ingredient on its own.” Sogo ahead, order the foie gras and rest assured you can move along to another pieceif it turns out that you don’t like it. But what to do if you want the hamslice and so does your dining companion? Arm wrestle? Fret not, the pizza arriveswith a large wheel cutter that is very sharp and makes sharing a breeze. Armedwith the knowledge of how the pizza is prepared, you might order accordingly: Thereis a layer of cheese under all of the toppings, and the crust is thin, crispyand cooked to perfection.
Lemon sorbet is light as air. Our servers were all attentive and friendly, most especially the female lead server. You may fall in love, but back off--she's engaged.
The wine list features great optionsfrom the U.S. as well as Italy and, of course, Spain. So bottoms up! Thiswould be a great place to pass out, but you’ll want to retain consciousness:The ceiling is quite beautiful.
BottomLine: Curiosity will lure first timers and reasonable prices plusa plethora of possible combinations may bring folks back for wine and pasta.