Although a number of the Italian restaurateurs in the Belmont section of the Bronx—whence originated the doo-wop trio Dion & the Belmonts — centered by Arthur Avenue won’t admit it, Robert Paciullo’s namesake trattoria brought an attention to the neighborhood at the beginning of this century that it had long lacked. It also made them up the ante.
At the time, most of the restaurants in the neighborhood (about a mile from the Bronx Zoo and Botanical Gardens) served more or less the same sacrosanct southern Italian dishes beloved by their customers over decades dating back to when the neighborhood was settled by Neapolitan and Sicilian immigrants early in the last century—linguine con vongole, lasagna, veal parmigiana and plenty of good pizzas. (The best is at Mario’s.) Some of those dishes are on Roberto’s menu, but you’ll find many more that never appear elsewhere, written on a daily changing blackboard menu. They’d be tough to find in Manhattan or Brooklyn.
On any given day at Roberto’s rustic trattoria of just 50 seats you might encounter crostini toasted bread with smoked scamorza mozzarella ($16) or a starter of scottaditi—“finger burners”—small juicy lamb chops you pick up by the bone and eat in one bite ($14).
Recently on a Thursday afternoon I was faced with the delectable dilemma of deciding among those dishes as well as artichoke hearts with prosciutto, fava beans, spiced oil and melted smoked mozzarella; bucatini “modo mio” ($24) in a creamy zucchini sauce; spaghetti cooked in cartoccio ($28), an aluminum foil pouch that is sliced open so that aromatic steam fills the air, and the spaghetti is suffused with a red pepper sauce alla diavolo.
Rigatoni lashed with a veal ragù and the wholly unexpected of cantaloupe, as well as prosciutto and ricotta. For a main course there was chicken cooked on the bone for flavor, with eggplant caponata and provolone ($24). Veal scallopine is treated to Speck bacon, grilled tomato, melted Taleggio and a wine reduction ($32), and you can also get one of those massive tomahawk steaks he has hanging in his humidified cold locker up front.
For dessert go with the pastiera cheesecake ($11) made with wheat berries.
All the food is lusty, served without fanfare. You get a good bread basket and olive oil for dipping, and the wine list is exceptionally wide-ranging, largely Italian and Californian, stored beneath the dining room where there are party facilities.
You’re likely to find a passel of New York Yankees or Mets down there, and upstairs a clientele that includes Marisa Tomei, Joe Torre and Chazz Palmenteri.
Roberto, who was born in Salerno, south of Naples, has turned his hard work and belief in his culinary heritage into a small empire. He also has a somewhat more traditional pizzeria and trattoria called Zero Notto Nove (089 is the calling code for Salerno), with branches in Manhattan and two in Westchester County’s Tuckahoe and Armonk. He bounds from one to the other, but he’s usually at Roberto’s during the week at lunchtime. Weekends are packed. Pay him a visit. No, pay him some homage for adding so measurably to Arthur Avenue, whose other restaurants are all the better now after he challenged them to be so.
Roberto’s
603 Crescent Avenue
718-733-9503