Catherine Lombardi

Based on Italian-American comfort food, the cuisine here is prepared with a commitment to excellence.

By: Kate and Tom O’Neill
   Up a long flight of stairs and behind a solid, outsized door lies the enchantment of Catherine Lombardi. As a boy, restaurateur Mark Pascal found magic in the home-cooked dinners of his grandmother, after whom the restaurant is named. Her cucina served as the inspiration for this, the new restaurant undertaken by Mr. Pascal and his business partner, Francis Schott. At street level, their original establishment, the illustrious Stage Left, shares not only an executive chef with Catherine Lombardi, but also a devotion to quality and a world-class wine cellar.
   Guests at the partners’ newest venture will find their own magic in contrasts such as cuisine based on simple Italian-American comfort food but prepared with the finest ingredients and a painstaking commitment to culinary excellence. Vibrant red walls are faced with deep paneled, ivory wainscoting. Massive pillars, topped with gentle uplighting, punctuate the dining area. And silk, swirl-patterned Venetian chandeliers add an exotic note to a setting ruled by simple dishes, elegantly prepared and served — sometimes, but not always — at a head-turning price.

Catherine Lombardi

3 Livingston Ave.

New Brunswick

(732) 296-9463

www.catherinelombardi.com

Food: Excellent

Service: Well-trained, friendly

Prices: Appetizers $8.95-$14.95, soups and salads
$6.95-$9.95, "macaroni" $18.95-$27.95, entrées $19.95-$36.95 (specials may cost more), side dishes $5.95, desserts $5.95-$12.95

Cuisine: Italian-American, with flair and top-grade

Vegetarian Options: Appetizers, pastas, salads and entrées

Ambience: Elegant

Hours: Dinner: Mon. 5-9 p.m., Tues.-Thurs. 5-10 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 5-11 p.m., Sun. 2-9 p.m.; antipasto bar Tues.-Wed. until midnight, Thurs.-Sat. until 1 a.m.; bar service Tues.-Wed. until midnight, Thurs. until 1 a.m., Fri.-Sat. until 2 a.m.

Essentials: Accepts major credit cards; full bar; on-street metered parking or public lots; not wheelchair accessible (an elevator is planned), call ahead for assistance; excellent Web site.

Directions

   Mr. Pascal says he is striving to reach and maintain his grandmother’s culinary standards, but we wonder whether nostalgia has burnished his memories. For instance, the simplicity of one of our appetizers, eggplant rollatini ($9.95), is deceptive. This traditional dish has been deconstructed — baked in alternating layers of fine ricotta and firm, thin-sliced eggplant, topped with melted mozzarella cheese and served in a pool of simple, fresh marinara sauce. This kind of simplicity is not achieved easily. Inspired by his grandmother’s method, Mr. Pascal has his kitchen staff put weight on the eggplant overnight (though probably not a heavy pot). Thus dried and exposed to air, the eggplant lends surprising firmness to this usually gooey dish. Fresh tomatoes, bottled in season, are the coup de grace, lending the sauce summer brilliance and freshness year-round.
   No one should go hungry or thirsty here. Arriving at 9:59 p.m., after the theater, we received both a gracious welcome and superb service. The full menu was still available though the kitchen closes at 10 p.m. (Note: before the theater and on weekends, reservations are a must.) The antipasto menu is available until 1 a.m., and the bar stays open another hour after that. This was not the time to split a bottle of wine, so we confined ourselves to those sold by the glass, which Catherine Lombardi serves in quartinos (250 milliliter carafes), providing a glass and a half of wine. The silky, golden Ribolla ($16) held the crisp taste and aroma of fresh fruit; the delightful dolcetto ($16), often described as the Italian Beaujolais, while fruity, was more structured and complex than the Beaujolais analogy would suggest.
   On each table stands a big bottle of Frantoia extra virgin Sicilian olive oil, green and heady with flavor, for dipping the crusty bread that fuels the diner’s consideration of the menu. We chose simple dishes for our after-theater dinner. In addition to the rollatini, we selected mozzarella in carozza with marinara sauce ($9.95) with prosciutto. It may be ordered, instead, with anchovies. Simply delicious, these little egg-dipped, sautéed turnovers are served with the same bright marinara sauce that graced the rollatini. They benefited from the salty savor of the paper-thin slices of prosciutto, layered with creamy, fresh mozzarella.
   Three entrée specials were available: veal parmigiana ($28.95); whole branzino, a Mediterranean bass ($29.95); and a veal chop ($49.95 — this is not a misprint). We chose entrées from the regular menu. Four crepe-wrapped manicotti with marinara sauce ($19.95) arrived in a deep, rectangular dish that enhanced their form. The filling, a light ricotta blend, was spiked with deliciously assertive bits of garlic. Even if you’ve already enjoyed the sunny marinara sauce with your appetizers, you’ll be delighted to see that it accompanies this dish, as well.
   Pork chop with sausage stuffing ($24.95) expresses the essential style and ambitions of the restaurant. The huge pork chop was from a Berkshire pig (the quality equivalent of Kobe beef), naturally pink, and with a full flavor not comparable to supermarket pork. The sausage is homemade and savory and intriguingly spiced. The steak knife, which could have been left behind by Jim Bowie, was not needed for this fork-tender cut of meat. Served on creamy mashed potatoes and sautéed spinach, the dish might not have been the best choice for the late hour, but proved irresistible.
   So irresistible, in fact, that we wisely decided to share a single dessert. The zabaglione ($9.95), nothing more than egg yolks, sugar and Marsala, was thick with a trio of fresh berries, and crowned by a juicy, red raspberry. The dessert’s mellow flavor and fresh fruit made it the right conclusion to this late-evening meal.
   The menu here does not aim for the sophistication that has earned Stage Left its four-star acclaim. Catherine Lombardi achieves its excellence through the élan and attention to detail with which its highly skilled chefs use ingredients of outstanding freshness and quality to play riffs on Italian-American home cooking. Mark Pascal’s grandmother set the standard, and diners will delight in the outstanding results produced by her grandson’s nostalgia and the experience and commitment to first-class dining that he shares with Francis Schott.