With Alto Enoteca, the tiny new Italian restaurant on Old Northern Boulevard in Roslyn, Nico Di Lullo is back where he grew up. Well, not literally. His parents, Franco and Gemma Di Lullo, settled in Bayville after emigrating from Italy. But they bought the Roslyn Village building in the early 1980s and opened Piccolo Gourmet, an Italian-accented specialty market that subsequently morphed into Il Salumaio and Marketplace before they leased the space to La Bottega around 2010.
The Di Lullos also operated a restaurant in Syosset, Nel Blu (2001 to 2004). “I grew up in both businesses, working the counter, waiting tables, tending bar,” Di Lullo said. Eventually, he decided to go to law school, but the hospitality gene is a dominant one. When La Bottega closed last year, he “saw an opportunity. The building was very tired, I needed to put a lot of money into it and I thought, now is the time for that enoteca I’ve been thinking about since the early 2000s.”
Di Lullo recruited chef Massimiliano Francucci, born in Capri, to run the open kitchen and the two have put together a casual menu that can take customers from wine-adjacent snacks to full-blown meals. Cheeses and salumi are imported from Italy — except for the bresaola (air-dried beef) made from Italian cattle raised in Nebraska — and bread is made on the premises.
Stem-on artichokes at Alto Enoteca in Roslyn. Credit: Newsday/Erica Marcus
Snacks ($10) include marinated stem-on artichokes and wild mushrooms sott’olio; bruschette ($16) are topped with sweet-sour eggplant; mortadella, stracciatella and pistachio; semidried cherry tomatoes and stracchino; salami, mushrooms and ricotta.
Plates, let’s call them medium-sized, are divided into cold (among them, burrata di bufala and oven-dried cherry tomatoes; shaved fennel, grapefruit, olives and candied walnuts; greens with Nebbiolo-poached figs and citrus vinaigrette; tuna crudo with lemon and cilantro) and hot (Tuscan-spiced ribs with lemon-parsley emulsion; roasted cauliflower and cannellini beans with lemon-caper tahini; skirt steak with white miso and cherry tomatoes). They range in price from $18 to $28 except for the massive head-on shrimp that are $42.
“Enoteca” is Italian for “wine library” and connotes a wine-centric eatery that focuses on wine and dishes that complement it. Di Lullo stocks about 50 wines, almost half of which are available by the glass. The emphasis is on small producers whose vintages “are the best expressions of the grapes out there,” he said. The list is divided into three price categories: “At the Door” comprises $15 glasses and bottles under $60 (among them, Pieropan Soave and Mercante Primitivo); “The Adults are Talking,” bottles under $85, is where you’ll find Michele Chiarlo Le Madri Roero Arneis, Le Saline Vermentino di Gallura, Tarara Cannonau di Sardegna and Sandrone la Morra Barolo. And you can throw caution to the wind with “Bad Decisions” (up to $150) such as Colterenzio Lafóa Sauvignon Blanc or Masi Costasera Amarone.
Alto Enoteca Italian wine bar in Roslyn. Credit: Newsday/Erica Marcus
Between the bar and the dining room, Alto accommodates about 30 diners. The decor — dark wood, white marble, contemporary lighting — splits the difference between Tuscan farmhouse and swank Milanese bar. “We wanted to keep it minimal,” Di Lullo said, “just like we don’t want to overwork the plates.”
Alto’s menu is a work in progress. Soon, the kitchen will be introducing Neapolitan pizza and pasta specials and perhaps even burgers. “The idea,” Di Lullo declared “is to have fun.”
Alto Enoteca, 1424 Old Northern Blvd., Roslyn, 516-723-9042, altoenoteca.com. Open Tuesday to Saturday 5 to 10 p.m.
Erica Marcus, a passionate but skeptical omnivore, has been reporting and opining on the Long Island food scene since 1998.
Dining and Cooking