Before considering the appeal of the two-year-old trattoria L’Artista, it is pleasant to consider its location on the west side of Harlem in what is known as Sugar Hill, which gets its unofficial name from its offering of the “sweet life” to affluent Black residents who were part of what was called in the 1920s the Harlem Renaissance.

These included Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway and Thurgood Marshall, who lived within its ten blocks in some of Manhattan’s most beautiful, majestic townhouses. North of Columbia University in Hamilton Heights, the neighborhood is within sight of the Hudson River and so removed as to be exceptionally quiet and peaceful.