Eats
Ortomare: An Uptown fi nd for authentic Italian
BY GABE HERMAN
For Downtown residents willing
to broaden their horizons and
foray Uptown once in a while,
Ortomare, a restaurant and pizzeria on
the Upper West Side that serves authentic
Italian dishes, is worth the journey.
Ortomare opened in February at 994
Columbus Ave., at W. 109th St. The
husband and wife team of Alfredo and
Arta Hila, along with Alfredo’s brother
Eddie, are the place’s owners. It’s just a
few blocks from the 110th St. B/C subway
station.
Alfredo and Arta are originally from
Albania and lived in Rome for many
years. They arrived in New York fi ve
years ago. Alfredo, who works in real
estate, found the restaurant space and
loved it, deciding he wanted to open an
eatery there with hearty cuisine.
The restaurant is one big, light-fi lled,
open room, with brick walls and a high
ceiling. It seats about 40, with a corner
bar, plus outdoor seating.
The pizza is cooked in a wood-fi red
oven, which Arta said is the authentic
Roman style. They even brought in
a pizzaiolo from Rome, where he had
cooked pizza pies for 20 years.
A Neapolitan pizza margherita from Ortomare, which uses a woodfired
oven.
The restaurant’s name comes from
orto e mare, which translates to “garden
and sea.” But there are also meat
options on the menu, along with homemade
pastas made on the premises.
Most of the restaurant’s foods and
ingredients are imported from Italy,
including fl our, prosciutto and cheeses.
The desserts are made in-house, including
COURTESY ORTOMARE
chocolate cake, gelato and panna
cotta.
The homemade emphasis can be
tasted in the dishes, from appetizers,
like minestrone soup chockful of vegetables,
to margherita pizza and fettuccine
with mushrooms and spinach.
A lunch prix fi xe menu includes an
appetizer and an entrée for $14.99, or
$18.99 with dessert. The brunch menu
on weekends and holidays includes pizza,
panini, egg and salad options.
Other appetizers include fried calamari,
Caesar salad and slowly cooked
meatballs in tomato sauce from the
brick oven. Appetizers run about $8 to
$14.
Along with many pasta and pizza
dishes, which range from about $14
to $18, other main courses include
grilled salmon, chicken parmigiana,
sliced grilled New York strip steak, and
stuffed chicken with spinach and fontina
cheese, all for around $21 to $25.
Arta and Alfredo share the restaurant’s
management duties based
around work and family obligations.
Arta, a researcher at Columbia University,
recently got her Ph.D. there in
international law.
The restaurant gets busy for dinner
and on weekends, but is quieter for
lunch since it’s in a residential area,
Arta said.
“It’s become a neighborhood place
where people meet,” she said. “Customers
are returning and bringing other
people. That makes us happy.”
Ortomare is open daily except Mondays.
More information can be found at
ortomare.com.
16 June 27, 2019 CNW Schneps Media
/ortomare.com