[Photo: Kathy YL Chan]

Otto is a madhouse in the evening, but come lunch, it's a peaceful respite from the city. Pull up at one of the bar seats. A glass of prosecco, perhaps? And pasta, of course. All pastas (excluding weekly specials) are $9, an excellent deal. Certain pasta are always on the menu, including the Carbonara and Pasta alla Norma, while others come and go with the season. A recent addition caught my eye a few weeks back and I've been craving it since. Meet the Penne with Spicy Cauliflower. Penne, always cooked al dente, is tossed with a garlic-rich, cauliflower puree. It's a velvety, chunky pecorino cheese-studded sauce, ideal for lacing the penne ridges. Chili flakes are employed sparingly, and the pasta is less spicy than the name would lead one to believe—I adjusted the heat level to my liking with extra flakes and a splash of pepper-infused olive oil. The dish as a whole is one of the lighter pastas on the menu, while still flavorful: summer appropriate indeed.

Dessert at Otto means gelato, but with temperatures hovering near 100°F outside, I'm sticking with the "lighter" Espresso Granita ($8) for the next few weeks. A golden layer of caramelized white chocolate serves as the base for shavings of espresso granita, and a glorious cover of fresh whipped cream. This is worth ordering for the white chocolate alone—the chocolate is caramelized to the point where it's unrecognizable in its original form, and seeming almost like a creamy and dense caramel, with the texture of molasses.

Otto

1 5th Avenue, New York NY 10003 (map)
212-995-9559
ottopizzeria.com