Authentic Italian at Matto in East Hampton

Lidia Buonanno has owned Matto on North Main Street in East Hampton for three years, but she said in a recent interview that this summer marked a new beginning for the Italian restaurant.

“The only thing that is the same is the name,” she said with a laugh.

Housed in the space that once held the Taste of Italy pizzeria, Matto has always been a casual but upscale Italian restaurant. But Ms. Buonanno said the previous chef was “very inconsistent” and she had long wanted a change in the restaurant’s kitchen and management.

“I wanted to bring in a professional team,” she explained. “Because I am in the advertising business, I’m picky. I want good service. I want fresh cooked food, and I don’t want my chef in the dining room more than in the kitchen.”

Ms. Buonanno, who works in advertising in Manhattan during the week and spends weekends in East Hampton, said she knew when she met them last winter that Pietro Molendini and Giovanni Zuanon—now manager and executive chef, respectively—were the right people to transform Matto.

“I told Giovanni I could use his help. I wanted a new concept. I wanted this to be a really authentic Italian restaurant. Not American Italian, but Italian Italian,” she said. “If you go to Italy, their penne a la vodka doesn’t have cream in it. I wanted that authentic type of food.”

Ms. Buonanno said Mr. Molendini and Mr. Zuanon—native Italians who both spent years working with the Cipriani restaurant group in New York—agreed to help her achieve her vision, and by late winter, the new version of the restaurant opened.

“Around February I brought them on, and on March 25 we opened,” she said.

Ms. Buonanno said that since then, both the restaurant’s food and service have improved.

“The service is now extremely professional,” she said. “It is all about the customer.”

But Ms. Buonanno added that she and the staff encourage customers to enjoy a leisurely meal.

“You come there to relax, not to rush,” she said. “It’s not a pizzeria.”

And the restaurant’s interior certainly doesn’t feel like a pizzeria. French doors make up most of the walls, while the ceilings are draped in sheer, white fabric. A large, covered patio provides most of the seating, while a long bar next to the restaurant’s entrance showcases brick ovens.

The revamped restaurant will be open year-round, Ms. Buonanno said.

“It’s casual, and our menu is very reasonably priced,” she added. “Our price point is affordable. We have expensive specials, but our regular menu is affordable.”

“We’re the real thing,” she said with a laugh.

Antipasti range from bruschetta classica, with toasted Tuscan bread, tomatoes and Fontina cheese, $8, to Caprese di buffala, with buffalo milk mozzarella and tomato and basil, $17. Other antipasti include pepata di cozze al rosmarino, with steamed mussels and rosemary, and calamari fritti, fried squid with dipping sauces, both $12.

Salads range from insalata di sedano, thinly sliced celery with fresh Parmesan, lemon and extra virgin olive oil, $10, to insalata de barbabietola, red beets, asparagus, walnuts, grapefruit and goat cheese, $14. Other salads include insalata matto, with radicchio, endive, onions, cherry tomatoes, peppers and gorgonzola with a splash of balsamic vinegar reduction, drizzled with olive oil, $13, and insalata Firenze, with fresh arugula and parmigiano reggiano, also $13.

Primi piatti, or first plates, range from fusilli al pesto Genovese, fusilli pasta with homemade pesto sauce, $17, to risotto con cappesante e aspargi, risotto with scallops and asparagus, $25. Other dishes include orecchiette con salsiccia piccante e rapini, with crumbled spicy sausage and broccoli rabe and garlic, $21.

Secondi piatti, or second plates, range from hamburger matto, a burger topped with avocado and provolone cheese and thin, homemade fries, $15, to bistecca con patate e spinaci, rib-eye steak with roasted potato and spinach, $35. Other dishes include scaloppine con limone e capperi, veal scaloppine with lemon and capers, $24 and spiedini di pesce, mixed seafood on a skewer and grilled vegetables with salmoriglio sauce, $25.

Side dishes, or contorini, are all $8 and include polenta tartufata (truffled polenta), broccoli di rabe (sauteed broccoli rabe with oil) and asparagi au gratin (asparagus with crusted parmigiano).

Dolci, or desserts, are all $9 and include tiramisu, paradiso di cioccolato and chocolate mousse cake with vanilla ice cream.

Matto also offers a bar menu, including calzone, pizza, crostini, focacce, bar/aperitive, bruschette and panini.

The calzone menu consists of two dishes, both $15—calzone salame with tomato sauce, mozzarella, salami and ricotta cheese, and calzone prosciutto, with tomato sauce, mozzarella, ham, mushrooms and ricotta cheese.

Pizzas are offered in small and large sizes and range from pizza margherita, with tomato, mozzarella and basil, $9 and $17, to pizza tirolese, with tomato, Gorgonzola cheese, porcini mushrooms and speck truffle oil, $14 and $22. Other pizzas include pizza marinara, with tomato, garlic and oregano, $8 and $15, and pizza Napoli, with tomato, mozzarella and anchovies, $9 and $17.

Crostini include crostino Napoli, toasted homemade bread topped with warm mozzarella and anchovies sauteed in olive oil, $8, and crostino con prosciutto, toasted homemade bread topped with warm mozzarella, mushrooms and Parma ham, $12.

Focacce, $18, include focaccia matto, two thin layers of pizza spread with robiola cheese, prosciutto Parma, arugula and truffle oil; focaccia Caprese, with buffalo mozzarella, fresh tomato, basil and extra virgin olive oil; and focaccia al salmone, with robiola cheese, smoked salmon and asparagus.

The bar/aperitive menu includes arancini alla Siciliana (saffron rice balls) $6; prosciutto di Parma (Parma ham), $8; and formaggi misti (a plate of mixed Italian cheeses), $12.

Bruschette, mostly $3, include tomato and basil, roasted peppers paté and sauteed eggplant.

Paninis range from panino Caprese, with fresh mozzarella, tomato, basil and extra virgin olive oil, $10, to panino matto, with grilled sea bass, zucchini, grilled tomato, fresh rugola and extra virgin olive oil, $12. Other paninis include panino dolomiti, with bresaola, rugola and shaved parmigiano cheese; panino Parma, with Parma ham, rugola, mozzarella and extra virgin olive oil; and panino calabrese, sopressata from Calabria, provolone cheese, and eggplant, all $10.