Charcuterie at Salumeria Rosi, by Wally Gobetz.
Cesare Casella, the chef at Salumeria Rosi at 283 Amsterdam Avenue, has left the restaurant, though it remains open. He sent us the following note.
After 8 years at Salumeria Rosi my partners in Italy decided that they wanted to sell the restaurant. I hoped to buy them out and keep the restaurant but they decided they wanted to sell to someone else. Salumeria Rosi is still open but with a new owner. I looked at a few spaces on the Upper West Side to open immediately but I decided to wait. I am going to take a little while to reflect and think about what is next for me. For now I am gong to focus on Giorgio’s Salami, my line of salami products that I sell to several restaurants in the city and also at Eataly. I am also going to spend some time upstate at The Center for Discovery. It is a non profit organization in Sullivan County. We work with people with developmental disabilities and I oversee The Department of Nourishment Arts. The department includes the culinary team, nutrition and the farm. https://
thecenterfordiscovery.org/dna But I am an Upper West Sider. That is where I live with my family on Riverside and where I hope to have my next restaurant. It is so beautiful there and I love the neighborhood. For me the Upper West Side is like a small town in the city. I love my customers and neighbors.
Tom Valenti, the former chef at Ouest, which closed in June, has begun cooking at ‘Cesca at 164 West 75th street. From everything we can tell, this has made a lot of people happy.
Photo by Tsadik Kaplan.
Absolute Bagels has apparently raised the price of its bagels. We got a pretty great email from Tsadik Kaplan about this, with a healthy schmear of pathos:
“I have some very important news. Absolute Bagels on west 107th, arguably the best bagels on the UWS, just raised their price of a bagel from $1 to $1.25. I usually bring exact change for my dozen bagel order and was very embarrassed today.”
Matthew Tivy, the chef and owner at Cafe du Soleil on 104th, was arrested on child pornography charges. “A celebrity chef was arrested early Thursday after he picked up a Bronx high school student online and then met the teen for sex and sick filming sessions, court papers state.”
Gastronomie 491 is holding its fall fling on Sunday: “Join us on Sunday, October 11th, 12pm-4pm, at Gastronomie 491, a Mediterranean-inspired market and cafe in the Upper West Side, to try tastes from some of our favorite purveyors and producers alongside housemade antipasti and gelato. Live music will provided by Michelle Green and complimentary apple cider from upstate New York will be served. All festivities are free, family-friendly and open to the public.”
And some more reviews and roundups…Zagat wrote about some of the neighborhood’s new (or new-ish) restaurants. We’ve written about all of them before, but it’s an interesting roundup nonetheless. And the Daily News has a piece on some spots that don’t tend to get as much fanfare.
I only go to Absolute (which in my opinion are the best bagels on the UWS, which makes them the best bagels in NYC, which makes them the best bagels in the world). Is this price increase in line with others (e.g. Lenny’s, Broadway, Ess-a-bagel etc) charge? A 25% increase seems a lot, as I don’t believe the price of flour has increased recently. Bagels were always an inexpensive purchase to me — if you had a few coins in your pocket, you could always buy yourself a plain bagel to fill your tummy. When the price hit a dollar, it felt as if the nature of the food item changed. Its a symbolic comment on NYC in general…
$1.25 for an Absolute bagel is still a good deal in my opinion and I do agree they’re the best bagels in NYC. If buy a bagel from an average deli, bodega, street cart, I’m guessing the price will be around $1. I’ll happily pay the extra quarter.
The price of flour (wheat) has dropped consistently over the past years after being quite high. There are a number of other factors that could dictate the price increase, most of which we would not really know about.
I never understood the allure of Absolute Bagels. I used to live on 109th, and happily walked a few extra blocks down to Broadway Bagels. To each his own, I suppose.
I agree with you. I’ve stopped in a number of times while walking up Broadway for other shopping and I’ve found little sense of friendliness there.
If I want an impersonal place, I’ll go to Fairway where the bagels are large and can be cut into slices and frozen.
But hey… prices of everything have gone up, all bread included.
I’ve watched Fairway’s bagel prices almost double in the last few years!
I bought a bagel at Fairway because of all the accolades that I read here. But, home, I noticed that it was contaminated by the smell/taste of the garlic and onion ones nearby. It was supposed to be poppy seed.
This transfer must be even more disturbing if you want, let’s say, something sweet like cinnamon raisin.
My husband ate it anyway.
Just remembered I’m going down tomorrow to pick up some bread and a few other things.
I’ll sniff the bagel bins and report back.
BTW, something I really miss are the little rye rolls that Fairway used to sell. I’ve never seen them anywhere else.
Thanks, Joe.
I’ve been buying only pumpernickel lately and have not noticed any other tastes or odors.
But I’m sure some mingling is possible; the bagel bins are made of plexiglass and maybe they fill them without regard to what was in before, not cleaning them thoroughly.
Thing to do is complain (even after the fact) — first to the bakery person at the counter a few feet away (who probably can’t/won’t do anything about it), then to the store manager, if you can find one these days.
Actually, that’s probably Fairway’s major problem now — their poor management. Seen it before when other retail stores expand way beyond their capabilities.
Used to be just two locations, 74th/B’way and the uptown store way over by the river near 125th.
Now, they’ve got stores all over, planning to open many more in the ‘burbs. Ever see Fairway’s football field size location on 2nd Ave. at 30th?
“lis says:
October 12, 2015 at 10:22 am
A private equity firm purchased Fairway around 2007 I think. It seems like there has been a lot of change since then.”
Lis:
“In 2011, the chain had revenues of $550 million. It was spun off in an IPO on April 17, 2013, trading under its parent Fairway Group Holdings on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol…” (Wikipedia)
A private equity firm purchased Fairway around 2007 I think. It seems like there has been a lot of change since then.
A lot of items at Fairway have gone up.
Very true.
About a year ago (I think), they tried discounting a number of items in all departments, but that didn’t last too long.
That said, sometimes you CAN find real bargains at Fairway. Example: Goya low-salt canned beans everyday for $0.99, at 20 cents less than any other store I know of on the UWS.
Notwithstanding Fairways higher prices, the store is still jammed much of the time.
But not nearly as big as the mobs who descend on Trader Joe’s a few blocks south, where everyday, anyone can find the best prices on many things, scads of unique items available nowhere else and a great friendly and extremely helpful staff led by Captain Melanie! (And no, they didn’t pay for the plug.)
Love TJ’s very much but I have to say the staff at the 72nd street store has become a little less spectacular. I’ve think they have beaten down by the UWS crazies and thus sort of stare blankly at customers and steamroll you when they have those hand trucks full of food for placement . It almost seems like they get bothered by questions and they try to avoid making eye contact with customers to avoid the hassle of answering .. That ebing said – Still the best value in town
If memory serves me correctly, Valenti was at ‘Cesca before he left to open Ouest.
I’ve followed him all these years, from Gotham to Allison to Cascabel to Butterfield 81 to ouest and his failed venture on 77th and bway, I could have missed it, possibly, but I don’t think he ever worked at ‘cesca before.
Valenti was chef of Cesca when it opened. See review here: https://nymag.com/nymetro/food/reviews/restaurant/n_9481/
Well, look at that. I stand corrected. Now, this begs the question, his reasoning behind closing Ouest, which I found offensive as a long time fan (even if was too busy to visit him at ‘cesca) and upper west sider was that the west side no longer had good people, artists, visionary minds, writers it journalists anymore so he was done. Me thinks he might have bitten the hand here and I kinda think I might skip ‘cesca, unless he revives the smoked trout appetizer from Ouest the maybe I’ll go but I’ll be snippy about it. 😉
Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face. Good cooking is always worth eating (if you can afford to do so), and Tom Valenti is good cooking. Better he cook somewhere else in the neighborhood than abandon us for, like, Queens or something.
I went back to Cesca for the first time in 4ish years about 6 months ago, and was sorely disappointed. Valenti is welcome to make that place sing again. Especially if he brings back the branzino he used to cook there!
Salumeria Rosi was our family’s favorite restaurant. What sad news to hear that Mr. Casella is leaving. And since our kid is away at college, we don’t even get one last meal there. I am however looking forward to hearing about any future restaurant he starts on the upper west side. We will be there!
C’est incroyable at Cafe du Soleil. TG they arrested the chef/owner and I can not believe the circumstances where the FBI was involved. Who knew while I was eating my quiche lorraine that the chef/owner was a rat. Did WSR inquire about what the restaurant is doing to move forward? I wouldn’t mind if they closed given they are now a disgraced place in the hood. Good riddance.
Interesting to read about the bagel commentary. My dearest friend and her entire family are Tal bagel people. Indeed, I’m taking some to her daughter in college in a few weeks. Never had Absolute, though.
It’s an interesting and flavorful stew the Upper West Side, to say the least!
Hi!! Tom Valenti here. Thank you for the nod to ‘Cesca, but I am no longer there. Please take note and print the correction. Thank you!