In New York, the tried-and-true formula of restaurants setting up shop in Manhattan, then expanding to include an outer-borough outpost, has proven popular. (Think Blue Ribbon and Café Habana, which have both set up sister spaces across the river.) But today the reverse seems to be happening.

In the wake of Brooklyn eateries like Aurora and Frankies 457 installing Manhattan outposts, comes Lunetta--the Flatiron-located sister to the original Boerum Hill eatery. (And the trend hasn’t stopped there: Brooklyn boutique Oak recently opened a new outpost on Bond Street, while Williamsburg's Black and White Gallery debuted a second space in Chelsea.)

Eager to taste the latest from Lunetta chef/co-owner Adam Shepard, we enlisted the help of artist Mathew Cerletty, a seasoned Brooklyn resident who’s no stranger to the commute (he’s represented by the East Village's Rivington Arms Gallery). The budding art star recently wrapped up a solo show at Soho's Team Gallery and is enjoying some quiet time before heading to Antwerp this fall to show at Office Baroque. Considering Cerletty has shied away from press in the past (appearances such Vanity Fair's Hedi Slimane-photographed feature are few and far between), fine Italian fare proved an ideal excuse. Here, over the course of a leisurely three-hour dinner, Cerletty discusses panna cotta and channeling Paul Giamatti:

What do you think of the place?
It’s nice. I like the lights. There’s lots of space here compared to most restaurants in Manhattan. I never realized this was like a furniture district. I need new furniture; I’m going to have to come back here. What is it, Wednesday?

Yep, Wednesday…
[Referring to the menu] Whole Grilled Snapper day…

[The waitress explains the cocktail menu—a selection of Prosecco-based concoctions currently substituting for Lunetta’s soon-to-be-opened full-bar.]

I think I have to do the normal thing. Is there a glass of red that you recommend? Something dry, full-bodied?
Waitress: There’s a really nice Syrah…
I’ll try that.

[The waitress tells us about the specials.]

Do you have any favorites?
Waitress: The Butternut Mezzalune, served with a butter and sage sauce. The Duck Agnolotti, which actually means pope hats. It’s little triangle pastas filled with duck. All our Bruschette are awesome. The Ricotta with hazelnut and lemon zest is a favorite. We make the Ricotta in house. The scallops are excellent; and the Veal Saltimbocca, which means jumps in your mouth, like it’s so delicious it jumps into your mouth. It’s pounded flat so it’s very tender and served with pancetta and little potato croquets.

[We settle on Octopus, Ricotta Bruschette, Veal Saltimbocco, Scallops and Duck Angnolotti.]

That was very detailed. I never listen to them actually. Every once in a while there'll be an ingredient that I'm like, oh, ‘I liked that,’ but then it's gone. Have you ever had a waiter be really aloof, with a chip on their shoulder? Never make eye contact with them. It establishes a hierarchy. Just don't look over when they look at you; it's humiliating. My friend told me that, he's a psychiatrist.

Are you saying we should do that now?
No, she's too nice and attentive.

How's the wine she suggested?
Okay this time I'm going to really pay attention. [He swirls and sips] I learned that from Paul Giamatti. That’s good. I’d recommend that.

[The chef sends out a plate of fried Zucchini.] Those are good chips. [Next comes the Bruschette.] That's delicious. Like desert.

How long have you lived in Williamsburg?
Four years. I don’t particularly want to live there. I don’t like that it’s so homogenous. It feels like a copout. If you’re going to live in New York it should be like this [gesturing out the window] with the tall buildings, tons of different kinds of people all over the place doing different things. But, having a studio and an apartment, I would have to get a live/work and I think I might get really weird then. It would be bad if I didn't have to talk to someone once a day. I would start believing in things that weren't true [laughs].

[The octopus arrives.] That’s its face [pointing to the larger piece in the center of the plate]. The face is the best part—a lot of people don’t know that and go for the legs. My old roommate was trying to tell me that the octopus is the smartest animal in the world. Not true. He believed it based on seeing one NOVA special where an octopus opened a jar or something.

So what is the smartest animal?
I don’t know the answer to that. But I looked up the octopus and it said: the octopus is very smart, intelligence equivalent to the house cat. The dolphin is famous for it’s intelligence, also the ape. But those aren’t as smart as the Bonobo, the Gorilla and [pause] I guess Chimpanzees are smart. I think Orangutans are really good with language, whereas Bonobos are really good at doing it with each other. I don’t know what’s the best, but they’re clearly all smarter than the octopus.

Do you like the dish?
Yes, it’s delicious. It’s weirdly tender.

[Next come the veal, duck and scallops.]

What do you think?
These are really good tater tots [digging into the veal]. And the scallops, you can’t go wrong with those. This is the duck pasta? She called them pope hats. I don’t think that’s a technical term… that’s good. But this [pointing to the scallops] might be the winner for me.

What’s the overall rating?
Number one goes to the scallops; number two to the pope hats; and three to the Ricotta Bruschette.

So what are you working on right now?
I just finished two big paintings of the North Face logo. I’ve been doing all of these logos that are text, mostly commercial stuff [Diet Coke and The Economist included]. I don't like saying I paint logos and make them my own; I just don't want it to sound like a weird formula.

So how do you choose them?
They just keep popping up. The things that I pick I usually have a relationship with. Like North Face, in high school the kids who had the North Face jackets were the cool rich people. I just liked the design of it and I wanted to try and do something that would be surprising; it's such a well-designed logo and it's also familiar. It's sort of challenging to take something that already has so much baggage and try to pull it over and say, ‘No, that's mine now.’

Is this at all reactionary to your having received so much praise for your portraiture at the beginning of your career?
Definitely. This was new for me so it was exciting in that sense. Doing portraits was great but it started to not feel like the right thing. Or it’s just not the kind of work that I’m drawn to. I’m pretty lazy I guess, so, if I don’t care, I can’t make myself do it.

[A Honey Panna Cotta arrives.]
I don’t think I’ve ever had Panna Cotta [dipping into the white, lightly glazed desert.] That’s good, really good.

~Alisa Gould-Simon

First photo by Hedi Slimane for Vanity Fair