yesterday, today, tomorrow

1986 A Vision Comes to Life

Danny Emerman and Chef Alessandro Prosperi launched their first restaurant, Barocco, on the edge of Industrial Chinatown, in 1997. Novices in the New York City Italian restaurant scene, they gambled a total budget of $150,000.00 on a loft-like space at the corner of Church and Walker, to express a vision of something more authentic yet also younger and cooler than the plethora of red sauce places downtown and fancy white sauce places uptown. With their focus on simple, high quality and authentic Italian cuisine and ingredients, rooted in the Tuscan traditional cuisine of Alessandro’s childhood, they captivated the downtown art and fashion crowds of late 80s Manhattan. Their reputation quickly grew as a hot spot and trend setter for Italian dining in NYC, attracting the downtown art-world clientele that put the remote location on the map, and tens years later followed them to the developing neighborhood of West Chelsea and their second restaurant, Bottino.

In 1990, New York Times critic Bryan Miller wrote of BAROCCO:

There is an amiable democracy to this rough-edged Italian restaurant on the northeast fringe of TriBeCa. The come-as-you-are informality here attracts a colorful crowd, from starched corporate types to rumpled downtown artists and musicians.

1997 Bottino in West Chelsea

In 1997at the urging of the late art-dealer luminary, Barbara Gladstone, a pioneer stakeholder in upcoming western edge of Chelsea, and with support from other art world notables and friends —among them Matthew Marks, Luhring and Augustine, Ingrid Sischy, 303 Gallery, Metro Pictures and others —Emerman and Prosperi rented an old hardware store at 246 Tenth Ave – with a view to the south of the spectacular historic London Terrace, and to the west of the decaying hulk of the abandoned HighLine. They cajoled the notable young architect friend and customer, Thomas Leeser, to make sense of the maze of old wooden shelves and boarded-up skylights. Thomas found evocation of his family’s mid-century modern childhood home in the Black Forest ,painted the brick walls white, and incorporated mid-century modern Eames and Knoll furnishings, opening cutting bold sliding glass doors for access to the surprise backyard garden, creating a truly original and unique Italian dining ambiance.

The piece de resistance: the stunning back yard garden for al fresco dining, covered for spring through fall, enclosed for winter use offering possibly the best Italian garden dining in NYC. When, against all odds, the stunning renovation of the Highline conversion was completed and the Highline Park opened to the public in 2009 — almost ten years after Bottino was born, the neighborhood of Tenth Ave the pathway really opened tor the complete transformation of a oncepderelic area of warehouses, to a night life underworld, to international center of the art world, to a vibrant mixed usage neighborhood complete with star-architect condominiums, traversed by the spectacular and much loved Highline elevated park.

2019 Growing younger

In 2019, Bottino welcomed a young English-born Chef Jamie Kenyon, formerly Chef de Cuisine at Eataly, into the partnership as executive chef. Jamie infused Bottino’s traditional rustic Tuscan menu with fresh ideas, bringing a vibrant contemporary twist to classic Italian dishes while maintaining the restaurant’s dedication to quality Italian dining, casual chic atmosphere and welcoming service. Featuring all homemade fresh pastas, organic and farm to table and line to table meats and fish, and an extensive boutique wine and artisan cocktail program under direction of manager Anthony Briatico, Bottino is ever younger. And the garden is still today as beautiful as it ever was.

With the waterfront developments of Hudson Park blocks to the west, the opening of Hudson Yards only blocks away to the North, Bottino sits firmly in the center of one of the most vibrant neighborhoods in Manhattan – a perfect destination and setting for lunch, cocktails, intimate dining or milestone events. Art gallery denizens and food lovers from all over town flock to West Chelsea and to Bottino for authentic Italian food in NYC’s exciting West Chelsea neighborhood.

With a variety of groups and private dining options, Bottino provides a versatile NYC Italian restaurants providing memorable experiences for gallery, corporate and milestone events with outdoor seating and a sophisticated yet relaxed atmosphere perfect for memorable gatherings.

HOURS

TAKEOUT STORE
Monday-Friday 8-6
Saturday 9-6 Order Online

Bottino is located at 246 10th Ave between 24th and 25th St. Get Directions

+1.212.206.6766