For Insatiable Westchester Diners

Feb 15, 2010

10:29 AM

Caffé Azzurri: Lounge, Dine, and Sip

Third time’s the charm? That’s what the owners of Caffé Azzurri in Hartsdale are hoping; their new restaurant and wine bar offering a cuisine of “New American with Mediterranean and Italian flair” replaces what was previously Piave, and Cafe Mezé before that.

At the front of the restaurant is the bar and lounge area, where co-owner Jerry Colella says the intent was to create a relaxed space suited for mingling, sampling wine, having a bite, or watching a game on one of the bar’s two TVs. “It feels like sitting in a living room on the couch,” says Colella of the lounge’s vaulted wood ceiling, low tables, and soft seating.

Bar and lounge customers can order from more than twenty wines by the glass and sample small-plate items from the “Caffé Menu,” including beef carpaccio and sesame-crusted tuna. Drinks and appetizers in the bar and lounge are half-price during happy hours on Thursdays and Fridays from 5 pm to 7 pm, and on Wednesday nights for Ladies Night. Events such as wine-tastings are being planned for the future.

The restaurant’s full menu of homemade pastas, seafood, and meat entrées is available in the dining room; appetizers range from $8 to$14, entrées $18 to $36. Highlights include potato-and-ricotta gnocchi in a chive-Gorgonzola sauce, a veal chop with pancetta chip and wilted spinach; and pan-seared sea bass with broccoli rabe and Tuscan beans. Among desserts: chocolate truffle cake served with vanilla gelato.
Three-course prix-fixe dinners are offered Sunday to Wednesday for $25, and a three-course lunch is available Monday through Friday for $20.90.

Caffé Azzurri is open for lunch Monday to Friday, 12 pm to 3 pm; for dinner Monday to Thursday, 4 pm to 10 pm; Friday, 4 pm to 11 pm; Saturday, 5 pm to 11 pm; and Sundays from 1 pm to 9 pm. Parking is available in the back of the restaurant, with valet parking on Friday and Saturday nights.

For those who’ve been to Caffé Azzurri—first impressions? How does it compare to its predecessors?

Caffé Azzurri
20 N Central Ave.
Hartsdale
914-358-5248

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