2011 Fall Dining Guide
By Tom Sietsema
Sunday, October 16, 2011

I've cautioned my friend to pace himself, but he isn't listening. Out comes burrata splashed with fruity olive oil, the first in a frenzy of antipasti at Obelisk, and he promptly dispatches the buttery cheese. He can't resist the squid-and-rice croquettes, the green tomato bread salad, the lobster (with shaved artichokes) so sweet it's like eating lobster for the first time, or every bit of chanterelle, minced carrot and funky pancetta released from their steamy wax-paper packet at the table. "I'm done! That's it, let's go!" he jokes as the empty snack plates are cleared to make way for the pasta, then the meat, then the cheese and finally the dessert course. I tell him that the pastas are amazing, the entrees less so and the desserts hew to the Italian inclination to go light on the sweeteners. Seasonality and flavor are what this kitchen cares most about. "You know what our motto is, right?" mistress of ceremonies Tina Seashore asks at one point in the banquet. We shake our heads no. "Lardo: Yes." That's why I want another sesame breadstick with my pedigreed pecorino. I love the gentle rhythm of dinner in the narrow, low-lit townhouse owned by Peter Pastan, whose famous shyness is summed up by the restaurant's facade, which has no sign. "To 20 more," a man says to the woman across from him, clinking his flute of sparkling wine against hers. To 20 more, I want to toast Obelisk.