I may be in the minority, but I’m not a huge fan of the Mario Carbone, Rich Torrisi, and Jeff Zalaznick team restaurants, especially the overpriced and over-hyped Carbone. So my expectations weren’t very high as I made a reservation at their newest place Santina. It’s the glass-boxed Renzo Piano-designed restaurant reminiscent of a seaside Italian restaurant with the bright striped orange and blue umbrellas right 
outside the new Whitney Museum in the Meatpacking district.
Inside are Murano glass chandeliers, tables very close together, fabulous Italian hand-painted plates and a minimalist menu with no descriptions of the offerings, necessitating a long conversation with the server.
After getting some details from the waitress, we opted for the house specialty — the cecina ($15) — the savory thin chickpea pancake offered in cast-iron atop a pottery cake stand along with one of 
three toppings. We chose the avocado trapanese, a chunky guacamole-like mixture with cherry tomatoes and almonds. We kept drizzling this with one of the two sauces that had been brought to the table trying to decide which we liked best. One a green chili sauce (avocado jalapeno and parsley), the other the spicy tomato sofrito made from fried shallots, tomato paste, red wine vinegar and a Calabrian chili oil. We liked them both.
The kitchen was already out of grilled octopus and Japanese eggplant skewers and so we began with the salad of arugula ($15) with a fig dressing showered in shaved goat cheese followed by a broccoli and short grained Tamaki gold rice dish that could pass for risotto until you take your first bite. This lighter dish contained broccoli rabe, broccoli ragu and the rice all snow-covered in pecorino cheese.
We washed it all down with a refreshing glass of the Provençal My Essential, Grenache, Mourvedre, Cinsault 2014 ($14).You might stop by and just have the cecina, as it could be a meal in itself or a light shared snack with a glass of rosè.
– bonnie
Santina
820 Washington Street
New York, NY 10014
212 254-3000
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