PARK SLOPE
It begins—where else?—with Al Di LÀ.
Back in 1997 Anna Klinger was cooking at Lespinasse, the storied, staid, and now defunct French restaurant in the St. Regis hotel in midtown Manhattan. She worked nights, her husband worked days, and they never saw each other. This, they realized, was no way to live. So the couple decided to open a restaurant in their Park Slope neighborhood. Al Di Là—the name means “over there”—would be an intimate Venetian trattoria specializing in the simple, soulful cuisine that Emiliano Coppa (right), the chef’s Italian husband, grew up on. They leased a space on Fifth Avenue (“a bit dicey at night back then,” Klinger recalls), ripped out the nine-foot wok in the kitchen (it had been a Chinese takeout place), scavenged mismatched plates and glasses at flea markets, and opened in November 1998. The neighborhood was hungry.
“I was telling my husband, ‘Take tables out of the dining room; I can’t handle it!'“ Klinger says now, laughing at the heart-pounding blur of those early months. One night soon after opening, she sent some extras out to a friend who’d come in for dinner. But the waiters hadn’t mastered the table-numbering system, so the freebies went to the wrong diner—who happened to be an influential food critic. “He was delighted he was being taken care of,” she says drily. “Soon he was talking up a storm on the radio, and we got a million phone calls.”
But Al Di Là doesn’t take reservations—not then, not now. Instead there’s a nightly waiting list that always seems to be an hour long. You just shrug and say okay. You’re willing to wait for your favorites: malfatti with Swiss chard, ricotta, brown butter and sage; trippa alla Toscana; and the braised rabbit on page 8, Klinger’s most beloved dish. (“I can’t take it off the menu. I try to every once in a while, but people yell at me.”) To make the wait a bit more bearable, Coppa and Klinger added a wine bar directly behind the restaurant in 2003.
By then it was clear that the couple had pioneered—and to some degree inspired—a food scene that would grow much larger and more dynamic. Not that they realized it back in 1998. “We just had our heads down and were doing our thing,” she says. “It was all-encompassing.”
It still is, which means the wine bar is probably the extent of their expansion plans. “I don’t know how people do two restaurants without losing control of the first one,” Klinger says. “I’m perfectly happy with the way things are going. It’s still very personal, and I like that.”
SERVES 4
2 dozen Manila clams
Coarse salt
12 ounces spaghetti
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 large shallot, finely diced
4 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Freshly ground black pepper
“Every hand that makes this makes it slightly differently,” says chef Anna Klinger of this classic dish, a perfectly balanced blend of briny, garlicky, spicy flavors. The shallots, for example, are controversial. “My husband and I argue about whether or not we should put shallots in,” she says, laughing. “Traditionally, there aren’t any. But I win.” Klinger uses Manila clams, but you can also go with Littlenecks or cockles.
1. Fill a large bowl with salted water. Add the clams and soak for 10 minutes. Drain, then scrub the clams with a brush to remove any remaining grit.
2. Discard any clams that have broken, cracked, or open shells that do not close when tapped firmly.
3. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the spaghetti and cook until just al dente, about 9 minutes.
4. Heat the olive oil in a 12-inch sauté pan. Add the shallots, garlic, red pepper flakes, and oregano. Sauté until the garlic is just beginning to turn a light golden brown and the mixture is very aromatic, about 2 minutes. Add the clams to the pan and mix well. Add the wine and cook over high heat until the clams begin to open, shaking the pan occasionally to cook the clams evenly. As each clam starts to open, transfer it to a large plate, leaving the liquid in the pan; the clams will finish opening and won’t be overcooked. Discard any clams that do not open. Bring the pan liquid to a boil over high heat and cook until reduced by half. The sauce should be reduced enough to cling to the pasta, with a little extra for mopping up with bread.
5. Drain the pasta and add it to the reduced liquid. Top it with the reserved clams and the parsley and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Toss well, then divide among 4 plates and serve immediately.
SERVES 6
For the rabbit
2 3-pound rabbit fryers, cut into 7 pieces: 2 forelegs, 2 hind legs, and the loin cut across the saddle into 3 pieces (have the butcher do this for you)
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil ¼ cup canola oil
1 cup dry white wine
10 garlic cloves, minced
4 fresh rosemary sprigs
6 cups hot homemade chicken stock or prepared low-sodium chicken broth
6 tablespoons (¾ stick) unsalted butter
24 oil-cured black olives
2 large tomatoes, seeded and cut into ¼-inch dice (about 3½ cups)
For the polenta
1½ cups heavy cream
2 teaspoons coarse salt 1½ cups polenta (cornmeal)
This dish has been an anchor of Al Di Là's menu since day one, but chef Anna Klinger almost talked herself out of serving it at all. Rabbit is popular in Northern Italy, and her Italian husband and partner pushed for it, but Klinger had her doubts about its potential in Brooklyn. Those doubts were unfounded. “There are people who have been coming since we opened who have only had the rabbit,” she says. It’s a visually striking dish, too, with an upturned bone that makes it look rustic and theatrical at the same time.
1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. To braise the rabbit, pat the rabbit dry with a paper towel and season liberally with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and 2 tablespoons of the canola oil in a large heavy-bottomed casserole or Dutch oven over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Working in batches, place the rabbit in the oil and brown on all sides, 8 to 10 minutes in all, adding more olive oil and canola oil as needed. Transfer the rabbit to a plate lined with a paper towel and drain the cooking oil from the pan.
3. Return the pan to the stove. Add the wine, garlic, and rosemary and increase the heat to high; simmer, scraping up browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Cook until 1 tablespoon of the wine remains.
4. Add the rabbit back to the pot. Add the hot stock and cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid or aluminum foil and place it in the oven. Roast until the rabbit is fork tender, about 1 hour. Transfer the rabbit to a serving plate and tent it with foil to keep it warm.
5. To cook the polenta, in a heavy pot or large saucepan, bring the cream, 3½ cups water, and the salt to a boil. Whisking constantly, pour the polenta into the pan in a thin stream. Cook the polenta, still whisking constantly, until the mixture has thickened, about 3 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 45 minutes, stirring as frequently as possible with a wooden spoon. Remove the pan from the heat and cover to keep warm. Stir the polenta just before serving. The polenta will keep warm, covered, for about 20 minutes.
6. While the polenta cooks, prepare the sauce. Add the butter, olives, and tomatoes to the braising liquid. Reduce over medium-high heat until the sauce thickens enough to cling to the rabbit, 15 to 20 minutes. Adjust the seasoning. Return the rabbit to the pot and spoon the sauce over the rabbit to coat.
7. To serve, divide the polenta among 6 serving plates. Place the rabbit on the polenta and spoon the sauce on top.
