In the city, you can walk by all sorts of places without ever noticing them. Aroma has been around for a few years, it’s a great location…yet we first came across it online.

One thing is abundantly clear: this place is a labor of love, but that doesn’t pay the rent in Manhattan.

We sent our grizzled old pro Marcel to see if Aroma smells like a winner.

Sometimes in these grey times, I have to remind myself not to be an old Wine Fart. The (unsexy) website for Aroma attests to Italian passion and three dining rooms. Cozy and dark is what you need to know.

Our barman Geoff seems to know everyone; is this a Mediterranean Mayberry? Billie Holiday is my jaded angel overhead. A “Luna Janca” 2007 Borboni challenges my mood – the sun shines somewhere.

Stuffed calamari, proud and fantastic. An architectonic tower of warm beets with gorgonzola mortar pair incredibly with a dark Carlo Boffa 2005 Nebbiolo (what’s that on the nose, gunpowder?). I’m shot through the heart.

Aroma’s olive oil is a miracle – sweet and creamy as a vanilla milkshake. Ever-attentive Geoff informs me that the chef’s father is a producer as he offers Prosecco as a palate-cleanser.

Sicilian Meatloaf is small but rich in a perfect creamy polenta. Geoff lingers: try a Cantina del Taburno 2004 Fidelis, an excellent Aglianico, because life is short. My accomplice detects “sweaty horse” in the nose – a come-on? My derrière is shaking! Oh – it’s the dumbwaiter beneath, ferrying plates up from the kitchen.

We inhale a cinnamon raisin bread pudding (and oversold Sicilian zibibbo – désolé, Geoff). A bitter Scrooge would say that the people of Aroma are too eager and willing to share, but you would have to be heartless to decline their invitation.

Aroma
36 E. 4th (btw Lafayette and Bowery)
212-375-0100
aromanyc.com