Leah, Seyoum, Bilena and Nine Settepani enliven the Harlem community with a family spirit.
Settepani
For a quarter century now Settepani has been on the corner of Malcolm X (formerly Lenox) Boulevard and 120th Street, yet to pass it you would think it just opened weeks ago as part of the ongoing gentrification of this part of Harlem.
Settepani was founded by Ethiopian-Eritrean immigrant Leah Abraham and her Sicilian husband chef Nino Settepani, who also run the Settepani Italian bakery in Williamsburg. With their effervescent daughter Bilena and son Seyoum, they have become beloved neighbors with a faithful clientele that come for the pastries displayed up front in the brightly lighted storefront as well as the wonderfully personalized Italian and Mediterranean food served in the adjacent dining area. These days you can also dine on the sidewalk and watch and hear all of the vibrant color and music of the locals.
Starting out as a bakery, Settepani as a restaurant serves daily pastries and desserts.
Settepani
Nino, born in Sicily, came to America as a teenager and worked in a bakery, then attended NYU and the French Culinary Institute, opening his own bakery in Greenwich Village. Leah’s family came from Eritrea and she grew up amidst Harlem’s broad streets and Lenox Avenue’s varied architecture of stately brownstones and denominational churches.
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Settepani’s dining room and bar is bright and convivial throughout, along with al fresco options.
Settepani
Bilena is herself a pastry chef, though she sought a career in fashion. When the pandemic hit, she dropped everything to help her parents, and would attend the Institute of Culinary Education. Seyoum, with an M.A. from the University of Richmond, is the restaurant’s general manager.
Settepani’s menu is ambitious for a small space, much of it devoted to the well-lighted pastry counter. Panini are offered only at lunch, but at dinner there are ten antipasti, ten pastas, six pizzas and seven main courses. Opting for pizza is a good idea, and I thoroughly enjoyed the one with prosciutto, arugula, mozzarella and basil ($25). It is thin crusted and light, so you can also share dishes like crisp calamari fritti ($22), a plum, cream-rich burrata with fresh tomatoes ($22) or a mix of prosciutto, crostini, cheese, olives and fruits ($28), enough for at least two people.
Settepani’s pizza is a good size for a starter or easy lunch.
Settepani
As you’d expect, the housemade pastas are outstanding, especially the bucatini alla Trapanese ($24), a Sicilian pasta with a tomato and almond pesto. Lasagna ($26) was a special one night and had all the right textures and leveling of flavors, while the risotto ($28), a little overcooked one evening, was creamy with fresh peas and sweet shrimp. Most interesting was a pasta made from teff, a plant whose seeds are used to make a flour in Eritrea and Ethiopia, here made into gnocchi alla sorrentina ($25) in a tomato, mozzarella and basil sauce.
All the pastas at Settepani are sumptuous without being heavy,
Settepani
The ubiquitous branzino (35) was nice and fleshy, pan-seared with a sprightly lemon sauce, vegetables and roasted potatoes. The pollo alla milanese ($26) of breaded chicken breast had the right crispness to it without losing the flavor of the meat.
You should certainly be tempted by those beautiful pastries in the counter, but to stay within the traditional, there is tiramisu ($12) and cassata, sponge cake lavished with ricotta and candied fruit ($12).
Service at Settepani is enlivened by the presence of the stylish Latoya Clark.
Settepani
On the summer’s night when we dined at Settepani most guests were outside enjoying the al fresco coolness, and, since the avenue is so broad, the outdoor tables make Settepani seem much closer to European cafes than most in New York. While the interior dining room was near empty, it was hard to judge the service, except to say that the family all pitches in along with the enchanting and ebullient waiter LaToya Clark, whose smile and street smart bling lights up every inch of the restaurant as the epitome of Harlem cool right now.
There are restaurants for serious dining and restaurants for trendy noshing, but restaurants like Settepani manifest, yet again, the importance of being a tight family in the service of people who can feel their sincerity and their desire to please and make their guests very happy and satisfied.
SETTEPANI
196 Malcom X Boulevard
917-492-4806
Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner daily.
Dining and Cooking