Incognito Shouldn't Be Unknown

[Free stuff by Wilfrid:  September 4, 2013]

Incognito is a defiant name for a restaurant. Unknown, anonymous, concealed? Those are just a few things this Italian bistro from long-time Da Umberto manager, Paolo Montana, and his wife, Adriana Moretti, shouldn't be.

Although, to be fair, they have been keeping a little bit of a secret, from the restaurant's opening in 2011 until quite recently.  Of course, they give it away every time they open their mouths. And now the menu gives it away too, especially where it says "Stornoway black pudding"...

Paolo and Adriana are Scots.  Or Italian-Scots, at least--members of a substantial Scottish immigrant community. Glasgow, Paolo's home town, boasts the third largest Italian community in the U.K.  (Chatting with Adriana, I was trying to remember famous Italian-Scots.  Armando Ianucci, writer and producer of Veep came to mind immediately; I had forgotten that fine actor Tom Conti).

Now all this would just be a colorful backstory if it wasn't the case that their Scottish roots are now casting a spell over Incognito's otherwise Roman-influenced menu, making it something other than just another comfortable, stylish, well-run trattoria.

As a guest of the restaurant recently, I was very pleased that the choice of dishes presented leant heavily on the menu's so-called "Scottish Corner."  But we started with a Roman touch.

Slices of piping hot pizza, flipped hastily out of the oven and onto plates by Paolo (who, having recovered from his rage and resentment at finding an Englishman at the table, had agreed to serve us*)--thin crust, which I prefer, and heaped with melting mozzarella, mushrooms, and fresh basil. (Glasgow-leaning pizzas on the regular dinner menu include smoked salmon, and roast beef with Manchego and horseradish).

Then some red sauce with a difference. This reminded me happily of Nate Appleman's ground octopus bolognese at Pulino's--here the octopus comes in tender chunks with tomato, anchovies and capers, and the blind-siding addition of black beans (no, not olives), which has some bites swerving in a chili direction. There's warming pepperiness to sauce.  Also like Appleman's dish, this cries out to be tossed with pasta, and the restaurant will oblige.

Paolo plays a straight bat with the beef carpaccio, served not quite raw, with a classic rucola-Parmesan garnish, lifting the plate with a distracting drizzle of truffle essence.

Still showing Roman roots, the simplest of soups--tomato, chunks of Tuscan bread, and plenty of good EVOO (the chef likes a Greek brand, and I could find nothing wrong with it)--again, served very hot. 

But of course we were all waiting for the haggis. I was, at least. I've never made one, but I've been eating since I was young (or youngish), and I actually chose haggis as the centrepiece of my farewell dinner before leaving London to live in New York, quite some years ago. So I'm fussy.

I've had haggis in New York (and haggis made in New Jersey), and the fault has been dryness from an over-indulgence in oats. Not a problem here. Untraditionally, the ground lamb meats are topped with a layer of neeps and another of tatties (Swede and potato)--usually I've found them served side by side. But as a Scottish shepherd's pie it definitely works. My complaint? I need to be served this by the pound.

But then I don't usually follow haggis with a pasta course. As an Italian bistro, Incognito had to show off its pasta and risotto chops. When you have three contenders on the plate, you have to pick a winner--it was the risotto afumicato, scented with smoked cheese. The other two portions represented two familiar schools of pasta sophistication: pale and comforting (butternut squash raviolo, mascarpone sauce, and peas), and red and saucy (penne marinara, sausage, a little grainy ricotta, and a chili punch.

You have to do the pasta, and do it well. Me, I wanted to get back to the highlands. And wow, what a scallop dish, and one of my dishes of the year.** Imported Isle of Skye scallops, notably fat and sweet, served with--and how rare is this?--the sautéed orange roe. This was on a par with shad roe, deeply savory.

Oh yes, it's often called the coral, and often discarded. There was an Italian hint in the scallop's unobtrusive Parmesan crust, and a Scottish finish in the mashed potato accompaniment.

Quite a feast, but really, clear the decks for the Stornoway black pudding. I've ate it in England, in Scotland, and most memorably in a hotel in the hills outside Dundee, after getting completely lost on a dark rainy night. It's one of my favorite tastes in the world. The texture in particular sets it apart from morcilla or even boudin noir. It's firm, dense with oats--but there's no shortage of dark meatiness in the taste.

Yes, there was some other stuff on the plate too, notably Ayrshire pork, a crisp potato cake, grain mustard sauce, shards of apple. But really, I mean...paint me black pudding.

Then I did get up to stretch my legs...

In the three minutes I was absent, the women at the table--and a Frenchman, welcomed, no doubt, as a representativeof the "auld alliance," had wrecked the dessert plate. I did manage to scrape some of the cranachan, a sort of meringue with oats--and in this case with a mascarpone cream. I believe there was chocolate cake, panna cotta, tiramisu...

But I know my readers. You want to know if the scallops and the black pudding dishes are on the regular menu. They are, at $24 apiece (the portions served here may have been scaled back in acknowledgment of the number of courses served). Haggis is only available as an appetizer, $12.

Like I said, that's my only complaint.

Chef-owner Paolo, courtesy the restaurant.

Incognito is on West 18th, just in the shadow of 620 Avenue of the America, that magnificent cast-iron landmark which now houses Bed Bath & Beyond, TJ Max, et al. Here's the website.

*No, the English and the Scots are BFFs, really.

**I always make it clear when I dine as a guest of the restaurant, but if I really like a dish I might as well say so.