The second act for Esca is about to begin. The Italian seafood restaurant, on the edge of the theater district, is reopening Monday after several months of renovation and a change in ownership.
Esca’s chef, Dave Pasternack, bought the restaurant in May from the former Batali & Bastianich Group, and has a new partner, Victor Rallo, who has restaurants in New Jersey. Mr. Rallo is Mr. Pasternack’s partner in the Staten Island restaurants Barca and Surf.
“I finally had a chance to make it happen,” Mr. Pasternack said, “after all the stuff that went on,” Mr. Pasternack said, referring to the sexual-harassment accusations against Mario Batali, one of the former owners.
Mr. Pasternack has been in the kitchen since 2000, when the restaurant was first opened by the Batali & Bastianich Group. Before it was turned into Esca — specializing in seafood Italian-style — the group ran it as Frico Bar.
Now Mr. Pasternack and Mr. Rallo have given it a thorough makeover, with the design work done by Mr. Rallo.
“I felt our only option was to completely change the way it looked,” Mr. Pasternack said.
They painted the exterior white and worked to lighten the setting from urban formal to seaside casual. The wall between the two dining rooms was opened so the space flows. The booths and banquettes, and dark wood accents, are no more. There’s now a backlit wall of wine, a serving and slicing counter near the entrance and a shaded 60-seat patio with direct access to the dining room.
When you are seated for dinner or lunch you will no longer be served crostini topped with chickpeas. “They’re gone, along with about 30 percent of the old menu,” Mr. Pasternack said.
The list of signature crudos — the inventively seasoned raw fish appetizers that Mr. Pasternack made fashionable in the restaurant world — is somewhat shorter.
There are a handful of pasta choices, with occasional specials. “I had to keep classics like the spaghetti alla chitarra with crab and sea urchin, the linguine with clams and the spaghetti with lobster, chiles and mint because I knew people would ask for them,” Mr. Pasternack said.
The appetizers now include a plate of cured meats, sliced on a machine dating from 1919 that Mr. Pasternack recently found. He is also serving a plate of cured seafood he calls sfizzi di pesce. “Fish charcuterie is a new thing,” he said, and his will include bottarga, aged tuna “bresaola,” baccala and cured sardines.
There’s more meat on the menu, including pork Milanese and dry-aged sirloin, and when the weather turns colder, Mr. Pasternack will dress pasta with Bolognese sauce and braise some beef. “You could say the menu is more Mediterranean than Italian now,” Mr. Rallo said.
Even the wine list has been revamped, and is no longer strictly Italian. The partners are pleased to finally reopen, especially after a fire ruined the dining room as soon as it was freshly painted this summer.
“My fishmongers are very happy I’m back in business,” Mr. Pasternack said.
Esca, 402 West 43rd Street, 212-564-7272, esca-nyc.com.
