Knife & Fork - February 1999

A tasting of estate-bottled olive oils from Italy's premier producing regions, hand-cut pasta as supple as silk, a risotto stirred for a full twenty-five minutes, a wood-roasted whole fish filleted tableside by a hotel-trained waiter, all would be unusual enough anywhere in this city. But south of Ponce de Leon, in a neighborhood of avant-garde theaters and warehouses on the edge of Inman Park, Sotto Sotto is an astounding gourmet revolution.

As the original chef and one of the owners of Pasta da Pulcinella, Riccardo Ullio introduced Atlanta to such phenomenal Italian tastes as sausage and Granny Smith apple tortelloni with brown butter and sage and eggplant with walnut ravioli with fresh tomato basil sauce. In one quick step, he took the frou-frou and the vulgarity out of the pasta experience with a charming casual restaurant.

After leaving Pulcinella, Ullio became a hired chef at Pricci and then Coco Pazzo. Experience and passion are the two complementary aspects of Ullio's culinary personality. He may have left Milan at the age of twelve and grown up in Conyers, but he can still conjure up the taste of his first risotto made with champagne. In a restaurant of his own, a more complex operation than his first, he can now share his passion for spaghetti with bottarga (Sardinian sundried mullet roe), lemon and parsley; tortelli di Michelangelo, "a faithful reproduction of the artist's favorite ravioli recipe" (veal, lamb, chicken, parmigiano reggiano), culled from his journal; properly made spaghetti carbonara; and sliced hanger steak with wilted arugula, rosemary, olive oil, and garlic potatoes.

There is a wonderful congruence about Sotto Sotto. "Everything is Italian here!" says the proud owner, standing among Italian designer chairs, pointing at modern barstools and heavy white plates. The restaurant, formerly three dingy commercial spaces, has the sort of hip simplicity that will ease it into the millennium.

From the street, one sees enough of Sotto Sotto to whet the appetite. In an attractive and busy kitchen, chefs in white, serious pots, expensive wood oven, sheets of pasta stretched over a long wooden table, all inspire confidence. The dining room, visible through the immense windows, is spacious and suave. The walls have been sandblasted. Each previous layer of paint has some left over color behind on the now mostly white plaster divided by flat wooden columns. Shiny new parquet and tables covered with white paper over white tablecloths give the room a polished look. Everything, from the blue-bottomed water glasses to the tongue-and-groove mahogany bar and the mosaic around the kitchen opening, has been chosen with quiet good taste.

Our advice: get as many courses as possible! This means the olive oil tasting; the antipasto with Italian prosciutto, salami, cheeses, marinated olives and mushrooms; the seared sea scallops with warm truffled beans and wilted arugula; a half order of pasta (for example, fresh tagliatelle with porcini and other wild mushrooms or one of the sublime ravioli dishes); a full entrée (wood roasted pompano or silk snapper, crisp baby chicken over Tuscan white beans, pork braised in Chianti with Juniper berries); and a delicious dessert (biscotti dipped in vin santo, mascarpone cup, chocolate soup, or a beautiful panna cotta drizzled with caramel). The prices are good ($12 pasta, $17 entrees), the wines are well matched, the staff friendly.

Sotto Sotto may mean "hush hush" in Italian, but the secret is out, especially in the restaurant community. You will still be able to beat the crowds, most of which come late, by dining before seven. The restaurant has a full bar, and everything about it feels great if you have something to celebrate.