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Ci Siamo, the highly anticipated new Italian restaurant by chef Hillary Sterling and Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group, opens today!
Meaning "we’ve arrived” in Italian, Ci Siamo bridges the traditional with the contemporary, with a menu centered around live-fire cooking and inspired by Sterling's travels.
“These are the dishes I’d serve and the stories I’d tell if you were coming over to my own home,” says Sterling. “The phrase ‘Ci Siamo’ represents a sense of long-awaited arrival and anticipation - the ease that washes over you when you get to your destination after a long drive, that first drink on a Friday night following a long week - something we’ve all been searching for over the past year and a half. We aim to be an ever-evolving and soulful restaurant that you’ll want to visit time and time again.”
Dinner at Ci Siamo begins with freshly baked breads like a cast iron focaccia served with tomato conserva and a grilled sourdough with artichoke salmoriglio and mint.
If you don't fill up on bread (nice work!), continue with starters like a seafood salad with castelvetrano olives and aleppo pepper or a pizza bianca with anchovy, salsa verde and aioli. Like much of the menu, this pizza has a specific origin: A dish Sterling enjoyed in a small trattoria on a past trip to Piedmont.
Following current plant-based trends, vegetables are also front and center on the menu, with seasonal dishes like delicata squash with walnuts, chili and honey, marinated charred peppers with feta and shallots and smashed potatoes al forno with rosemary and pecorino making it easy to eat your veggies.
If you're here for the pasta, you know what's up, because Sterling cut her chops at Vic's and A Voce, and the carb-centric section of the menu is no joke. Expect elevated classics like Rigatoni alla Gricia, made with guanciale sourced from La Salumina in upstate New York and tagliatelle tomato and buffalo butter. Seasonal pastas will also include agnolotti, which currently are made with rapini, ricotta and lemon and an autumnal potato topini with mint, almonds, anchovy and a touch of cinnamon.
Wood-fired proteins include trout, dry-aged ribeye and braised lamb with celery pesto. Sweet tooths can enjoy a range of desserts from USHG’s award-winning Executive Pastry Director Claudia Fleming. Beverage Director Robin Wright and Bar Manager Matt Chavez (both formerly of The NoMad Hotel) have created wine, beer and cocktail offerings that marry Italian drinking culture with a New York mindset.
If you only have time for a bite and a drink, Chef Sterling has also created a menu of aperitivo-inspired bites to whisk you off to Italy for happy hour as you sip a Negroni, martini or spritz.
Ci Siamo is located at 100 Manhattan West Plaza (385 9th Ave, Suite #100). It's open Tuesday through Saturday from 5pm-10pm. Reservations can be made via Resy or by calling the restaurant directly at (212) 219-6559.