Tappo Trattoria reopens in SP serving classic pasta – 02/22/2024 – Restaurants

A charming room with high ceilings, glass windows and views of Buenos Aires square, in Higienópolis, is the new home of Tappo Trattoria. The Italian restaurant had closed four years ago and reopened at the beginning of the month on the ground floor of the Paquita building, built in the 1950s by Polish architect Alfred Josef Duntuch.

Previously, chef Benny Novak’s trattoria, opened in 2007 with partner Renato Ades, was in Jardins. Tappo returns bigger, with 45 seats – it was 28 –, but with the same essence, including similar decor and the classic Italian pasta menu that made it famous.

Among the flagships, the carbonara (R$81), with short pasta made there, is prepared with guanciale (pork cheek sausage), egg yolk cream, parmesan and pecorino cheeses and black pepper. Another example is the amatriciana (R$81), which contains tomato sauce, guanciale, peperoncino (pepper) and pecorino.

Among the starters, one of the most popular is carne cruda (R$62), a lean beef cut seasoned with olive oil, lemon and salt, served with bread.

The reopening also brings new features, such as the genovese ragu (R$79), a typical recipe from southern Italy. The short pasta is served with meat cooked slowly for six hours, with a good dose of onions, which gives a slight sweet touch, tomatoes and red wine.

From this same region of the European country comes manell (hand, in the local dialect), polenta that is pressed with the fingers and takes on a wavy shape. It is fried and topped with aïoli and grana padano, for R$42.

One of the main changes is the installation of a bar in the lounge, with a counter and six more seats. Headed by bartender Andy Acaspcio, it also focuses on classics, such as negroni (R$48) and dry martini (R$52). Another menu lists wines.

The closure of the original house after 13 years of operation was caused by Covid pandemic restrictions. But it was a break, says Novak, as the idea was always to return to Italian cuisine.

In this sense, the partners created Tappo’s delivery and served some of the recipes in the Ici Bistrô room, a French restaurant owned by the same owners. When the Modi restaurant vacated the ground floor of Paquita, the duo resumed the project.

The return is celebrated. The room opens promptly at 7pm for dinner, and before that, there are already queues of people who know the trattoria and curious onlookers peering through the glass windows at what’s new in the neighborhood.

The restaurant was open for lunch during the week, but the service was paused due to high demand, which reduced the restaurant’s stock. “My life is like the character in ‘The Bear,'” says Novak. He rented a property nearby, which is undergoing renovations and will house a new production kitchen and storage.

For now, I only have lunch on Saturdays and Sundays. From Tuesday to Friday, dinner reservations are available on a first-come, first-served basis.