Somehow Ignacio Mattos’ restaurants have a knack for feeling like the center of the world. It’s not only their locations—though Estela, in a highly trafficked area of Houston Street, and Altro Paradiso, sprawling over a corner’s two sidewalks on the western edge of Soho—do fall on some of the main arteries of downtown Manhattan. No, it’s something about the way they’re animated from within, filled always with the most stylish and interesting people seemingly anywhere, and an extension of Mattos himself: elegant but fun, a little mysterious, and with an inexplicable gravitational pull.
In 2013, Mattos began what has become today one of the most down to earth but cultish hospitality brands in New York City. You might not know it by name (Matter House), but if you know anything about food and live in proximity to the city, chances are you’ve been to his restaurants or at least have always wanted to. The Uruguay-born chef gained his work ethic young and accidentally from life centered around a family farm and an old-school Italian grandmother, and as a young chef managed to place himself in proximity to some of the greatest minds in food history. Francis Mallman, the Argentinian chef known around the world for his wood-fired grilling wizardry, and Alice Waters of Chez Panisse were his casual early mentors. And Mattos helped power the kitchens at Zuni Cafe in San Francisco and Il Buco in New York before setting out on his own.
His first restaurant, Estela, opened in 2013, and by 2014 it had a Michelin Star and a reservation for the Obamas. Ever more ambitious as the years have passed, he opened Flora Bar in 2016 in the Met Breuer museum, a space so unfussily stylish and a menu so warm and feminal, that it evolved New York’s communal understanding of what a restaurant experience could be. Flora Bar has since closed its doors, a victim of COVID-19’s impact, but his brand new venture has a similar mist of Mattos’ magic dust swirling about it, and a menu as equally romantic and memorable.
Lodi is an all-day caffè, pasticceria, rosticceria, and restaurant with a serious baking program in-house. “It draws inspiration from Italian aperitivo culture and the Art Deco architecture of the bakery and restaurants’ surroundings,” Mattos says. He wanted “a neighborhood anchor both elegant and friendly that matches its historic address”—1 Rockefeller Plaza, to be exact—and the spirit and food of the place he created has instantly recognizable staying power.
Once again, it feels as if he’s replotted the location of the center of Manhattan. Lodi is a place where a perfect espresso and girella al pistacchio or brioche bombolone by morning becomes a white tablecloth respite at noon and aperitivo hour; where the all-day opening menu includes the literal most perfect porchetta sandwich ever made (infinitely juicy and crispy, and with the fragrance of fennel pollen perfuming up with every bite), a petite roast chicken with broccolini, and smaller plates like anchovies with roasted sweet peppers and butter, or al dente beans cooked with caper leaves and topped with fragrant, salty bottarga. It’s a place that’s hard to leave, and even harder to stop thinking about.
How he does it once again evades explanation. But Mattos shared some details about why he chose Midtown, where his sights are set next in the world, and his take on the perfect order at Lodi before and after a Broadway show.
PRIOR: Where did the idea come about to open a place in Midtown? Why did you feel it was worthy to give Midtown a chance?
MATTOS: Midtown is one of my favorite places. Wandering around and discovering little pockets of the city. It's amazing to be near Broadway, museums, beautiful architecture and culture. You have people coming from all different places, everything is there. It feels like real New York, it's the New York that I grew up watching in the movies.
