Portale

Best Restaurants in Chelsea, Manhattan, New York | Eater NY

"This restaurant, named for its chef Alfred Portale, offers a menu of Italian classic dishes in a fine dining vein, with the conventional three courses plus pizzas and desserts. The antipasti are particularly fine, including a perfect seafood salad of lobster, scallops, octopus, shrimp, and avocado. The menu also lists a handful of pasta and secondi, and the one labeled “maiale” (Italian for “pig”) combines hunks of pork with polenta and a zingy mostarda." - Robert Sietsema

"One walk down a charming, interior walkway to access Chef Alfred Portale's chic Chelsea dining room, set in a former 19th-century carriage house. The brick facade remains, while inside, the space has white-painted exposed brick walls and wood plank flooring.The well-curated Italian menu is done up in a contemporary manner and evokes the Mediterranean. Primi are a highlight, as in the agnolotti, featuring fresh pasta pockets filled with creamy ricotta and sauced with a zesty lamb ragu. A fillet of seared Ora King salmon is attractively plated with pesto-sauced cracked wheat and an array of garnishes that remind of ratatouille—diced, roasted eggplant and zucchini, a roasted red pepper vinaigrette, and a creamy-textured black olive vinaigrette." - Michelin Inspector

SevenRooms Is the Stealth Competitor to Resy That Tracks Your Restaurant Spending in Real Time | Eater NY

"Trying to book a Friday 7 p.m. reservation at Portale, I found that while OpenTable showed no available slots between 5:30 and 9 p.m., booking directly on the restaurant’s website (controlled by SevenRooms) offered same-day options between about 6:45 and 9 p.m. and allowed me to choose my seating area, illustrating how the platform can surface different inventory and seating choices that third-party platforms might not show." - Melissa McCart

Where to Eat on Christmas in New York City

"A four course prix fixe for $140 per person is on offer for Christmas Eve at Alfred Portale’s namesake restaurant. Choices include a roasted pear and bacon salad with gorgonzola; seared scallops; a seafood bucatini; chicken with polenta, mushrooms, and black truffle; and rack of lamb." - Eater Staff

"I’m going to Portale for dinner tonight with my friend Jonathan, who is something of a regular there from pre-COVID times. I order the cappellacci with peas and pancetta, which is just terrific. We split an order of the herb-crusted cod, then I have the chicken with hen-of-the-woods mushrooms and cauliflower, and olive-oil cake with cherry compote for dessert. It’s all so good and professional and pleasing; without a doubt the daintiest, fanciest thing I have eaten in over a year of cooking almost every meal for myself."

Grub Street Diet: Laurie Woolever