Grotta di Fuoco review
Savory baccala, or salt cod, is prepared alla puttanesca at Grotta di Fuoco in Long Beach. Credit: Linda Rosier
Descend into Grotta di Fuoco and fire up your appetite.
The newest restaurant to ignite dining out on busy West Beech Street takes over the sub-street space once occupied by Caffe Laguna. Now, the "cave of fire" lures you with soulful fare, and accents New American and Sicilian.
Industrial metal steps take you to an exposed-brick, filament-lit den with a wood-burning oven, all of which would be at home in the more overheated quarters of Brooklyn. You'll identify the place by the pig-shaped grill outside.
Indoors, the oven quickly gets your attention. Be sure to order one of chef-owner Andrew Allotti's smoky, blistered, terrific little pizzas. The tre porcellini, or three-pigs pie, is capped with guanciale, prosciutto and crumbled sausage, plus ricotta, grape tomatoes and olive oil; the melanzane pazzo, or crazy eggplant, with tomato sauce, eggplant, fennel, pecorino cheese, arugula, garlic oil and hot cherry peppers. You'll be tempted by the four-cheese white number and the basic Margherita, too.
Allotti, whose resumé includes Sole in Oceanside and A Voce at Columbus Circle, keeps things lively with a marrow appetizer of roasted and split beef bone, gremolata and toast. Very rich, it comes with a few parsley leaves, but could use a full, flat-leaf salad. Tender veal meatballs with dried cranberries, toasted almonds and pecorino are mandatory.
The aromatic spin on cacciucco, the fish soup of Livorno, turns local with clams, mussels and squid, in a tasty, tomato-shaded seafood broth. Tuna crudo, lustrous and paired with frisée, radish and fennel, is a velvety, mild-mannered starter.
Allotti stands out with fettuccine alla carbonara, heady with guanciale and black pepper; and husky, pork-cheek ravioli with Taleggio cheese and porky ragú. Baked pennette, however, seems routine and pretty bland in this company, despite the addition of eggplant and mushrooms. The eggplant you want: eggplant fries, sparked with Calabrian chilies, ready for a dip in mascarpone aioli.
Pan-roasted swordfish and whole roasted orata, or sea bream, are a bit overdone. So's the slightly chewy wild boar scarpariello, a strip-and-sausage combo highlighted more by sweet and hot peppers and caramelized onions. But baccalá alla puttanesca is a savory salt-cod treat with olives, capers, tomato and fregola, the bead-shaped Sardinian pasta.
Desserts show some flair, from olive-oil cake with raspberry jam and sorbet to steamed chocolate brownie with limoncello granita; deconstructed apple pie to bread pudding with smoked chocolate gelato.
Yes, Grotta di Fuoco is smokin', start to finish.
