Erica De Mane

Happy customers at Aroma’s bar.

Aroma is a fine bar and intimate caffé with a name that doesn’t sound as good in English as it does in Italian, even though it’s the same word. I suppose they could have done worse. They could have called it Smell, or Stink. Luckily the aroma when you walk through the door is a good one, all basil and sweet sea broth and pecorino and salumi and red wine. This is just what I’d be hoping for from the Southern Italian couple that opened this lovely little place in 2005.

The first thing I noticed the last time I took my seat at the bar was that everyone seemed to be regulars. That is a wonderful thing and exactly what I long for in a restaurant. So few places in New York have any neighborhood feeling to them these days, but at Aroma the customers know the bartender and the hostess. I heard a waitress say to two guys who were eating at the bar, “What did you do with yourselves last week when we were on vacation?” “Oh we got by, somehow.” That’s a nice thing to hear.

I love a place where I feel comfortable ordering a salad and a glass of wine at the bar, and Aroma, at first glance, looks like all bar. There are a few pretty tables at the doorway, under a big crystal chandelier, and a group of cozy tables in the back. But down a narrow, East Village stairway is what they call the Farmhouse room, a long communal table where you can hide away with a bowl of orecchietti with broccoli rabe pesto or a plate of their arancini, the Sicilian rice balls (not great diet food, but once in awhile you’ve gotta have them).

If you’d prefer to stick to your diet, there are plenty of healthy, good carb dishes here. I tried the calamari stuffed with shrimp and capers and fennel, which was tender and highly flavored. I also very much enjoyed the little warm stacked beet salad layered with gorgonzola. These are small dishes; you’d need two to make a meal, which is what I usually do at Aroma. They make a very good Caesar that includes a poached egg and a hefty hit of anchovy; it can be a full meal if you’re not starving. If you are starving, you might be happier with the monkfish and shrimp spiedini that comes with fregola, the Sardinian couscous-like pasta, and summer vegetables.

This is a place where care is put into every dish and the chef loves to cook (you’d think this would be automatic for someone who chooses cooking as a profession, but strangly, it’s not always the case). For instance, a black linguine with shrimp and calamari, something you might find on the menu at any number of Italian restaurants in New York, was fussed over, the pasta infused with a delicate fish broth laced with tomato, and the shrimp and calamari both cooked perfectly. This was not the rubbery, careless dish I’m more used to encountering. Aroma has a seasonal, always changing menu, another reason for me to keep going back. And if you’re not really hungry at all but just want to hang out with a glass of good Montepulciano d’Abruzzo and a bowl of olives, Aroma is a wonderful place to stop and chill.

Aroma
36 East 4th Street (near Bowery)
New York. N.Y.
(212) 375-0100