Rejoice, Coeliacs! Rejoice! (and everyone else, too)

Risotteria
270 Bleecker St (at Morton St.)
212-924-6664

Subway: 1 to Chistopher St./Sheridan Square
A, B, C, D, E, F, V, Q to W. 4th

www.risotteria.com

In my family of amateur gourmands, risotto easily ranks among our favorite gustatory indulgences. My mother in particular practically swoons whenever she sees it on a menu. We all of us adore that most decadent and satisfying of Italian starches and its ability to be both luxurious and simple, elegant and rustic.

Of these adjectives, the only one that really applies to Risotteria, a West Village eatery specializing in (shock of shocks) risotto, is ‘simple.’ Risotteria occupies a modest glass storefront on the corner of Bleecker and Morton streets more redolent of a midtown diner than an Italian trattoria, an impression that continues in the cozy (read: tiny) ten-table dining room, where you find an open kitchen with bar stools and a wine list overhead hand-written in multi-colored chalk.

The picture starts to change, though, when the menus arrive accompanied by crispy, warming, olive-oil-and-herb doused bread sticks, which are reason enough to dine at Risotteria. The menu offers a broad array of salads, sandwiches, and the restaurant’s eponymous specialty, risotto. Many dishes are gluten-free or vegetarian for the more persnickety diner. Regrettably, that chalkboard drinks list fails to match the diversity of Risotteria’s food. Still, the few bottles of wine are reasonably priced, and some gluten-free beers are light and refreshing if not particularly exciting (the Anheuser-Bush Redbridge was surprisingly good).

I and three of my graight associates all ordered from the classic Arborio section of the menu, and not a single dish disappointed. My corn, porcini, and truffle-oil risotto was rich and creamy, loaded with the intensely earthy flavors and aromas of its constituent parts (perhaps a bit heavy on the truffle-oil, but there are worse excesses.) The other three dishes were lighter than mine, primarily featuring cheese, seafood, and vegetables, and all managed to strike the appropriate balance between luxurious richness of texture and refreshing lightness of flavor.

The meal itself transcends the quaint, dinette atmosphere, but mercifully Risotteria returns to its more rustic side when the check arrives—virtually nothing on the menu exceeds $15. And somewhere my mother weeps for joy.