Altro Paradiso

After making a splash with peekaboo plating and unexpected combinations at Estela, Ignacio Mattos wanted to do something daring for a name-brand chef in 2016 Manhattan: unadorned, stripped-down, no-tricks Italian cooking, along the lines of London’s venerable River Café. (Witness the quiet triumph of the antipasto plate; the butter-slicked potato ravioli; or a simple, succulent piece of perfectly cooked swordfish.) Although this strategy took some critics and fans by surprise, Mattos’s style here is no less satisfying, if arguably more traditional. The menu changes often, but the level of cooking and attention to detail never waver.