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"Alan Richman savors the dinner menu at Maialino.\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\nYou&amp;amp;#x2019;ve undoubtedly heard the story: Danny Meyer&amp;amp;#x2019;s new restaurant in the Gramercy Park Hotel is named Maialino, which means &amp;amp;#x201C;little pig,&amp;amp;#x201D; because he was affectionately called that as a young man. It is the wrong tale to tell. What needs recounting, particularly in business schools, is how Meyer grew up to become the best entrepreneur in the restaurant industry, one with the acumen to open exactly the right place at just the right time.\n\nHow long ago did Meyer realize that a recession was inevitable, and the restaurant best suited to coping with it would be a Roman-style trattoria, modest in size and ambition, one that doesn&amp;amp;#x2019;t dazzle and isn&amp;amp;#x2019;t intended to? He already has plenty of flamboyant places, including the Bauhaus-inspired Modern and the Art Deco palace Eleven Madison Park. They were just right for then, but they wouldn&amp;amp;#x2019;t be for now.\n\nHow did he know? He always knows.\n\nAnd another thing. Why isn&amp;amp;#x2019;t he managing my stock portfolio?\n\nI suppose Meyer also knew that America&amp;amp;#x2019;s craving for pork would remain undiminished. (I would have thought it would be waning by now.) At Maialino, you get plenty. Four of the six pastas on the menu contain pig parts, and when have you ever seen that? Of course there&amp;amp;#x2019;s also suckling pig, by far the most expensive item, priced at $72 and consisting of a platter of golden, crunchy skin over moist, fatty meat, the assemblage surrounded by roasted rosemary potatoes. It&amp;amp;#x2019;s a compilation of crispness and succulence, my only complaint being that the potatoes become soggy from soaking up the pork jus in which they&amp;amp;#x2019;re plopped. The dish, listed as a portion for two or three, is easily enough for four, making the price reasonable\u2014but nothing here is terribly costly, almost all the entrees going for less than $30.\n\nThe best dish I ate at Maialino, by the way, was swordfish, a slab more than an inch thick served with both hen-of-the-woods (great) and oyster (okay) mushrooms. The fish was a reminder of what swordfish used to taste like when it was considered the aquatic equivalent of a thick, juicy steak.\n\nThe menu is modest. It looks large, with more than 50 items, but cold cuts (salumi) and cheeses (formaggio) amount to nearly half. Chef Nick Anderer, a veteran of Babbo, isn&amp;amp;#x2019;t serving Batali-style food. His is less exuberant, closer to authentic Italian. Everything he prepares is under control, with not a single dish disappointing, and all I can do is nit-pick. I question whether tonnarelli, somewhat fat and soft, is the right pasta for cacio e pepe, the Roman dish of grated Pecorino Romano cheese and fresh ground pepper, two ingredients with plenty of bite. I wonder if crisping up the guanciale (pig cheek) in the bucatini all&amp;amp;#x2019;amatriciana is merely a clever idea or a brilliant one? I think a special of spaghetti vongole, made with small, briny clams, could use a touch more garlic, but I suspect that would have made it less authentic, not more. And\u2014here I know I&amp;amp;#x2019;m right\u2014the pig&amp;amp;#x2019;s foot in the cotechino-and-pig&amp;amp;#x2019;s-foot-combo-plate was somewhat bland, lacking kick.\n\nYou get to the dining room of Maialino by walking through an oversized, always packed bar with a menu all its own. I&amp;amp;#x2019;d recommend pausing for a snack\u2014they&amp;amp;#x2019;re that good\u2014but there&amp;amp;#x2019;s not much chance of getting a seat without a wait. (Should you find a spot, don&amp;amp;#x2019;t miss an off-the-menu but often-available special of swordfish belly. Odd that swordfish is the best dish in a Roman restaurant, but maybe Emperor Hadrian liked deep-sea fishing.)\n\n Next on your stroll comes a gauntlet of goodies, breads to the left of you, charcuterie to the right, making it pretty certain you&amp;amp;#x2019;re going to want both after you&amp;amp;#x2019;re seated. Finally you reach the dining room, surprisingly small, accommodating only 70, with a beamed ceiling, Edison-style bulbs in chandeliers, dark-wood wainscoting, and nice tablecloths. One of my friends described it as &amp;amp;#x201C;early Frank Lloyd Wright prairie school meets rustic Tuscan farmhouse.&amp;amp;#x201D; The one lavish touch is service-oriented, the continual replacing of flatware, used or unused. I asked our waiter how many forks, knives, and spoons have to be washed each night, and he said, &amp;amp;#x201C;About a billion.&amp;amp;#x201D; A friend eating with me said, &amp;amp;#x201C;It&amp;amp;#x2019;s like a state dinner.&amp;amp;#x201D;\n\nOn the two evenings I was there the dining room was stuffed with people who hang around the restaurant industry\u2014chefs, food writers, food historians, newspaper reporters, and magazine editors. They must be the ones calling Meyer and getting the 8 p.m. tables, because the best I could do was pre-6 p.m.\n\nThe wine list is good enough. Nobody can&amp;amp;#x2019;t like the 2008 Livio Felluga Pinot Grigio ($40), unexpectedly intense. For a sweeter white, try the 2008 Abbazia di Novacella Kerner ($44). For the suckling pig I&amp;amp;#x2019;d recommend the 2006 Fondoti Chianti Classico ($65), which has plenty of fruit but is also slightly austere, nicely balancing the overwhelming rich meat. Desserts are on the same level, quite respectable but not extraordinary. If you wish to be overwhelmed, your best choice is the budino, which translates as pudding but isn&amp;amp;#x2019;t quite what you might expect. It&amp;amp;#x2019;s more like a gooey hazelnut bread pudding accented with chocolate.\n\nService is much like that at any Danny Meyer restaurant, which means a lot better than it has to be. Here you&amp;amp;#x2019;ll encounter casual charm\u2014or maybe it&amp;amp;#x2019;s not that casual. At my first dinner, my waitress turned out to be the sister of a guy I worked with years ago. (Hi, Merv, wherever you are.) I don&amp;amp;#x2019;t believe in coincidences, so I have to think a senior director of the DIA (Danny Intelligence Agency) combed my personal records, then assigned a staff member with a connection to me. I told you that Meyer always knows more than you expect him to.\n\nGramercy Park Hotel, 2 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY; 212-777-2410; www.maialinonyc.com"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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