Ciao Down

Sometimes there are out-of-the-way restaurants that are so delectable, so mouthwatering, so damn good that they become a destination. Peter Luger. Red Rooster. The River Cafe.

Antica Pesa is the latest. Go now.

Antica Pesa is a big deal in Rome. Like, frequented-by-Hollywood-royalty big deal. They’ve been plating traditional cucina Romana there for 90 years, and now they’ve landed in Williamsburg with shelves stacked with bottles of pinot bianco, and an open kitchen wafting snippets of italiano and the scent of house-made spinach gnocchi.

Antica is so enticing that Mayor Bloomberg and Rupert Murdoch rented out the restaurant pre-opening for a six-course group meal and, presumably, talk of Hugh Grant’s love child.

And now you can enjoy the same dinner they did.

Mention InsideHook when making your reservation and Antica Pesa will re-create the exclusive off-menu feast served to Bloomberg’s crew – sip glasses of Lugana and Montefalco rosso as the kitchen sends out steaming plates of spaghetti cacio e pepe and crispy veal saltimbocca.

Or, feel free to order specialties like crispy chicken with smoked mayonnaise or braised beef cheek with whipped carrot from the regular menu. Hard to go wrong.

And after your surprise dessert (hint: it involves amaretto sauce), adjourn to leather couches in front of the fireplace for an after-dinner limoncello.

Special treatment? No big deal.