In Rome, everybody has their neighborhood trattoria. They go there when there’s little desire to cook and want to feel at home – a place where people know them by name, where they know exactly what’s on offer. In New York’s East Village neighborhood – at least for Italian expats and those who love Italian food – that place is Via Della Pace. The cozy restaurant’s bay windows are perched atop a couple of the neighborhood’s characteristic stoops. Inside, the wooden floors glow in the candlelight and the tin panel ceilings give you a taste of what the East Village was like back in the day. But the memorabilia and menu transport you directly to Rome.
Via Della Pace gets much of its character from owner Giovanni Bartocci. Imagine a long-haired bearded wild man with the social graces of a Roman nobleman. He came to New York 12 years ago, when his uncle, who was part owner of Caffè Pace at the same location, asked Giovanni to run the restaurant. Since then, the flamboyant and always welcoming owner has been holding court, greeting guests, pouring drinks from behind the bar, and creating a space full of those Roman rough edges familiar to every Italian.
He wanted to make a home for expats and New Yorkers, where you could get thoroughly authentic Roman dishes – like pasta all’amatriciana or porchetta di arricia – at a price that wouldn’t break the budget of the neighborhood’s many struggling artists and musicians. And despite the relentless gentrification, Via Della Pace has kept the bohemian flavor that has always been the neighborhood’s hallmark.
Let’s go Lazio!
Over time, Via Della Pace has become a magnet for Romans all over the city – especially those who support Lazio, Rome’s oldest Serie A soccer team. Indeed, the restaurant has become the headquarters of Lazio Club NYC. Whenever Lazio plays, usually on Saturdays, you’ll find up to 50 fans packed tight, standing room only, wearing their sky-blue jerseys as they cheer their team (and inveigh against the opposition). Bartocci leads the festivities with a megaphone. If you close your eyes you’ll swear you’re at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico.
But Bartocci likes other sports too. He boxes to keep in shape. And whenever Italian athletes are in town, many of them come to the restaurant. During the most recent U.S. Open, Via Della Pace became a hangout for up-and-coming tennis star Matteo Berrettini, also from Rome, and his entourage. Marco Belinelli, Italy’s first basketball player to win an NBA championship, comes whenever he’s in town, too. Another athlete you’ll often see at Via Della Pace is Paulie Malignaggi – the Brooklynite-Sicilian former welterweight boxing champion.
The food is the thing
In the end, though, it’s all about the food. For Romans, good food has little to do with exoticism and exclusivity. And let’s face it, the idea of spending a small fortune for a plate of spaghetti is irksome to any Italian. Via Della Pace has managed to nail down the classic formula of a Roman trattoria: great food, affordable prices, and a warm atmosphere where you feel like you’re surrounded by friends.
Q&A with Giovanni Bartocci
What Roman dishes do New Yorkers like most? And how have you had to adapt to their tastes?
No question. Carbonara and amatriciana. In Rome, in a place like this, we’d also be serving hearty dishes like coda alla vaccinara (oxtail stew) or tripe. But it’s not something that’s easy to sell here. The famous Roman Trattoria Sora Lella tried to come to New York some years ago with a menu full of that kind of Roman food, but they had a hard time. Whatever we do, though, we do it with the classic recipes. Like the amatriciana: we don’t use onions – even though it says so on the menu. That was a mistake the previous chef made. We still need to reprint it. Just excellent guanciale and tomato sauce. Simple. The onions would sweeten it too much.
Authentic Italian food in New York usually comes at a steep price. How do you do it?
It’s not easy to keep a restaurant that relies on real ingredients going without some big investors behind you. Here we try to give you what we would want – and keep it competitive. But the rents are going up all over the city.
You’ve become a magnet for celebrities. Is that intentional?
No, they come because we make the place real. Like we’d like it. One time, though, I nearly had to kick Woody Allen out. He was filming in the neighborhood and came in to order spaghetti with tomato sauce. Then he asked for hot chocolate to drink with it. You have to draw the line somewhere, I thought… Just kidding. Woody Allen is always welcome.
So what do you keep in your fridge?
Nothing. It’s absolutely empty. I wake up in the morning get on my motorbike and come down here. I spend all my time in the restaurant. At home, I use my oven as a food dispenser for my Sphinx cat, Giggia. It’s full of cat food cans.