Felidia Ristorante Inc   

243 E 58th St
New York, NY 10022
212-758-1479
www.felidia.lidiasitaly.com/

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Given his size and reputation, overshadowing Mario Batali is no easy feat. But Lidia Bastianich, the mother of Molto Mario's partner Joe and partner herself in Del Posto, remains the mother of Italian cooking in New York. And though she is a legend in the culinary industry, with numerous TV shows, cookbooks, and restaurants in New York, Kansas City and Pittsburgh, it is this one, founded in 1981 in an Upper East Side townhouse, that is her original kitchen. At once formal and flowery, it exudes warmth and elegance with oak paneling and exposed wine racks in two floors of dining rooms. The tasteful Northern Italian menu remains one of the finest in the city, offering up appetizers like grilled octopus with fagliolini and dry-aged beef carpaccio with Scorzone truffle. Good luck choosing from the transcendent pasta options -- which include ingredients like pear, rabbit loin, razor clams and frog legs -- or entrees like quail saltimbocca and Long Island fluke. Certainly one of the finer meals you'll have in the city, even if you opt for the cheaper year-round prix-fixe option.