Celeste - Neapolitan Cooking

This is a small Roman Trattoria in the Upper West Side.  I live on the other side of town so whenever I'm on this side, I usually don't have much time to scout and try places to eat in this neighborhood.  But today, I had planned to pick a local restaurant in the neighborhood because we were going to watch an off-Broadway play in the area.

We were delighted to have picked Celeste.  The prompt service was what we needed to make our theater date.

To my delight, Celeste is rated A by the city for sanitary grading

For my first course, I had the asparagus special with a light sauce and Parmesan cheese and prosciutto on top.  This should be in the menu regularly.

The main course we chose were pizzas because I wanted to try their version since they do have a fired oven and they said that their pizzas had a thin crust.

I had the 4 kinds of pizza in one.  It had prosciutto, mushrooms on another quarter, artichokes, and tomato as you can see.  I loved it!

The special pizza for the day was on the right which had meat, eggs and spinach.  It may sound unappetizing to some, but was actually delicious when I tried it.

Now, the real test for the night was dessert:

I selected the Tartufo al Limoncello.  No regrets! A perfect ending to a meal so quick to eat and yet so delicious.

The Tartufo al Limoncello is like eating fresh lemon turned gelato.  And in the center was the limoncello sorbet.

The little circles on top that you see are like crunchy meringue specs.

Next time you're looking for another Italian restaurant in Manhattan, try Celeste in the Upper West side (UWS).  I know that I'm going back.  The lady seated next to us raved about the seafood pasta she orders when she eats there.  They make their own pasta and the shrimp looked very fresh.  The sauce was not cream based but looked so nice and light.

Celeste is also in Rome.
http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/3/24097/restaurant/Upper-West-Side/Celeste-New-York