Da Silvano: are taste and elbow room inversely related?

It seems as though the less elbow room a restaurant in NY has, the bigger, bolder and more delicious the food tastes.  This theory was definitely proven true as I dined en masse (party of 6)  at Da Silvano. Seriously, I thought the waiter would poke my eye out as he opened a bottle of wine for the table directly across from us. 

However, I would not be discouraged: I would order a no-knife-required arugula and Parmigiano Reggiano salad and the gnocchi with lobster and tomato so I would not give my fellow diners a black eye. 

The salad was refreshingly light and seasoned with the perfect amount of salt and pepper to balance the bitterness of the arugula.  Oh, and the hefty shavings of Parmigiano didn't exactly hurt.

Now, let's get dirty and talk about these delightfully tender pasta pillows.  Gnocchi is just one of those pastas that's either really bad (heavy, doughy, heavy on the sauce retention) or really, really good (light, fluffy, soaks up the proper flavor).  The gnocchi at Da Silvano was simply perfect: a healthy portion (truth be told, I had to dole out a good amount), mild tomato sauce complemented the succulent lobster insanely well. I didn't want the dish to ever end.

 Photo: Bene.com

I left the wine list selections up to the birthday girl so I can only assume it included a range of Italian varietals and prices as we downed three (or was it four?) bottles. 

Definitely great for an "occasion" dinner but only with four people max.  You don't want to go elbowing anyone while they're eating.