Almost before we sat down, we could smell cigar smoke. When we inquired as to whether smoking was allowed in the terrace (in some places it is), the manager said “Oh no, of course not. What you’re smelling is our chocolate ashtray & cigar that has a bell jar filled with smoke.”.
SOLD!
JMO tip: We’d been to enough restaurants at this stage, that we knew to order in advance, because by the time we got to the dessert, there may not be any left.
Let’s start at the beginning.
Antica Pesa, the restaurant
We had heard good things about the Antica Pesa restaurant located in New York City.
Like we do with most of our travel, we considering going to the restaurant in NYC and researched the restaurant. In the process, we discovered that they have another restaurant in Rome, Italy. The original restaurant that opened in 1922.
Since we were already planning our trip to Italy at the time, we had a sneaking suspicion that we were thinking why not eat at the original and have an Italian meal in Italy? We also thought we could maybe save some money going to the restaurant in Rome vs NYC.
Antica Pesa is one of those restaurants (like Vetri Cucina) that when they say “reservations are recommended”, it’s not just a recommendation, it’s a fact. With that in mind, we set a reservation a couple weeks before we even left the US.
When we arrived, we weren’t only greeted by a cheerful staff, we were greeted by a wall with decades of pictures of US and international celebrities who had been there before us. Proof positive we were in the right place!
After confirming our reservations, we were promptly seated outside in an environmentally controlled patio area.
That’s when I recognized the gentle wafting of cigar smoke.
“But I digress”, as they say.
The Meal
The Antica Pesa menu offers great traditional and great not so traditional meals Italian style. For those of us who do not communicate in Italian, they generously offer a translation in English directly below each item.
And then the dessert…we knew what was coming, and it was still more than we expected.
The chocolate cigar rested delicately in a small ashtray, revealed beneath a bell jar filled with swirling “smoke.” It was an invitation to enjoy without being gimmicky, a final note that captures the spirit of the meal: rooted in tradition, but never afraid to surprise.
It came in a smoked filled glass dome. When the server lifted the dome our table filled with the aroma of a nicely lit cigar. Everything was edible except the dish it was on, sweet, slightly toasted. Ash tray, cigar, ashes, all edible. It was an amazing presentation. The dessert tasted as good as it looked.
Honestly, considering my 2016 smart phone struggled to handle the low lighting out on the patio, I’m shocked the picture came out as clear as it did (with minor editing of course. Well…I’m shocked I had a picture at all given that very phone stopped working and I couldn’t get the pictures off of it).
Just as I was starting to enjoy the Bittersweet Chocolate Havana Cigar dessert, the manager stopped by our table and asked if I liked it. I responded that it was excellent and the only thing that would make it even better would be some scotch. He asked “Would Oban work for you?”, to which I emphatically stated “Absolutely!”
Less than 5 minutes later, he himself reappeared with glass of Oban and said “This is on the house, and, we’ll be making it a suggestion for pairing with the dessert in the future.”
The Wrap up
The meal and the service were as you would expect, top notch. We thoroughly enjoyed our experience.
When we got the bill, we saw that indeed, it was much less expensive to eat at the original restaurant in Rome, Italy than in Lower Manhattan in NYC. The total cost with tip for what would easily have been $500 in NYC was only $130.
Another JMO tip (two actually):
Journey Moore Often, because the best desserts are so good you need to order them in advance, and “sister” restaurants in another country can have the same great atmospheer, food and service for 1/4 the price.