A Little Taste of Italy on LaSalle

Paga Poco Mangia Bene—Spend Little, Eat Well. This is not only the adage of college students throughout the city but also the philosophy of Pisticci, a cozy Italian eatery located on LaSalle Street and Broadway. The executive chef, Edmundo Garzon serves up simple, fresh Italian fare that will keep you and your wallet full.

The family business started in December 2002, and Garzon has been there since the beginning. His short yet satisfying menu has remained essentially constant throughout. Though his English is quite broken, he is clear to indicate that a dish called La Spaghettata (spaghetti and meatballs with a twist) is one of his proudest additions to the menu, owing to the time it took for him to perfect the sauce recipe.

The most popular item on the menu is the maltagliati pasta with ricotta, spinach, and lamb. Garzon enjoys preparing this as well as all the other items on the regular menu. When asked about his favorite dish, he has difficulty deciding. “I love everything ... the fettuccine, the vegetable ceci, maybe,” he says, referring to the fettuccine with wild mushrooms and herbs, and the Vegetable Ceci appetizer, which consists of grilled zucchini, yellow squash medallions, chickpea puree, and fresh mozzarella di bufala. However, he takes particular pride in the weekly specials. These seasonal dishes, while still priced at market value, allow diners to spend a little extra cash and treat themselves to something more elaborate and interesting.

This rotating menu gives Garzon, who is originally from Ecuador, the opportunity to occasionally infuse the traditional Italian cuisine with flavors and ingredients inspired by his South American heritage. The result is truly unique: for example, fish with a tropical salsa containing diced tomatoes, mangos, and onions.

Garzon’s favorite creations, however, involve a Southern Italian staple—gnocchi. He prepares a different variation of this classic every Tuesday evening. Past variations include porcini mushroom as well as spinach. All the effort he puts into this particular special seems to have paid off—as one frequent patron said, “I’ve never had gnocchi like this before.”

He cites his mentor of many years, renowned chef Paolo Calamari, as the reason he is so passionate about preparing Italian cuisine. Garzon explains that this background gave him the opportunity to “learn a lot of chef secrets,” and as a result, his “cuisine very much reflects Italian style.”

This love for Italian food took Garzon halfway around the world from his native Ecuador when he decided to work at an eatery in Rome for a year. Seventeen years ago he moved to America, and after working at two Italian establishments in the tri-state area he joined the owners of Pisticci, Michael and Viviane Forte, in their restaurant venture. He doesn’t plan on moving again anytime soon.

Garzon says that the atmosphere of the establishment has changed dramatically since he first began cooking there. Pisticci started as a takeout place with a few tables for casual dining. While initially attracting a primarily local clientele, it has since expanded its customer base. Although 50 percent of patrons are still regulars, publicity from the Internet and tour books has brought in more tourists as well as college students. Despite the fact that it hosts a greater number of diners and has grown significantly in size, it continues to maintain its dedication to quality.

Garzon makes the pastas and desserts in Pisticci’s kitchen on a daily basis. He is proud to declare that he “prepares everything ... by hand” and doesn’t “buy anything from the store.” The ingredients he uses are primarily from local vendors, who make deliveries on a daily basis in order to ensure freshness. The mozzarella di bufala and olives he uses are flown in from Naples every Wednesday because, as he says, “there are some things which just cannot be recreated anywhere.”

Pisticci not only supports the local community by purchasing the majority of its ingredients from stores in the neighborhood, but also helps individual artists in the area to jump-start their career by having art showcases. Every three months a new artist is featured with a “gallery” opening featuring wine tasting and hors d’oeuvres.

The wine list is about as expansive as the menu itself—not very—but the wines offered there are picked to match what is served on a regular basis. Since the focus of the food is essentially limited to the area around the village of Pisticci—a small Italian city in the Basilicata region of Southern Italy—the range of tastes is small enough that a small number of versatile wines is more than sufficient for paring.

So next time you’re craving some simple, satisfying Italian food, walk up toward 125th street and sample one of Chef Garzon’s creations—and be sure to save room for the homemade tiramisu.