The wait is over……the much anticipated Pastitalia Harlem opened to the public on Tuesday, July 5th. Located at 264 Lenox Avenue between 123rd/124th Streets, Pastitalia will serve a variety of coffees, pastry, salad and homemade pastas to go, with limited seating under an umbrella on the front patio.
It may not surprise you to know that this is the second shop on the restaurant row section of Lenox Avenue by Elena and Matteo, owners of the popular Sottocasa Harlem, just a block south.
Stepping into the new space, located in one of the Harlem brownstones that line Lenox Avenue’s restaurant row, we were delighted to see that, in creating their shop, they were able to keep the integrity of much of the historic interior ~ even keeping the staircase ~ filling each step with wonderful cooking & baking decor like an old flower sifter, a whole-tomato food milling machine, framed pictures, a coffee press, books…..
In the back is where the pasta is made daily ~ on a large chopping block, open to public view, which means that you can pick up an extra pound or two (including sauce/gravy) and freeze what you won’t be eating soon. Cooking time ~ a mere 2 minutes. We decided to try the Tagliatelle and Bucatini, pictured above.
We happen to spot a salad that looked so good, we couldn’t resist, and it turned out to be so large, we could easily share.
Pastry ~ the above image is some of what we left with, since someone got to the boxes before I got to my camera. Apple strudel, cream puffs, chocolate puffs, almond cookies, sfogliatelle and too many more to list.
Pastitalia Harlem is located at 264 Lenox Avenue, between 123rd and 124th Streets, in Harlem.