Italian Cuisines
Restaurant Spotting: Italienne
A name like Italienne (French for Italian) doesn’t exactly portend a red sauce menu of spaghetti and parmigiana. And indeed, the hot Flatiron newcomer from the talented chef, Jared Sippel, represents a culinary meeting of the minds, between Northern Italy and Southern France — melding the former’s heart and soul with the latter’s elegance and refinement…
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Q & A with Prova Pizzabar’s Donatella Arpaia
Having spent the past 15 years entrenched in NYC’s fine dining world (past and present projects include Davidburke & Donatella, Anthos, and Kefi), Donatella Arpaia’s entrance to the fast-casual fray comes as a bit of a surprise with Prova Pizzabar…
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A Guided Tour Through Eataly Downtown
If you thought it was impossible for Eataly to outdo their flagship Flatiron store, you’ll have to catch an eyeful of the newly opened Eataly Downtown with a fantastic bread bakery, mozzarella bar and more…
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A California Chef Assembles an NYC Dream Team at Casa Apicii
Casey Lane is well known in California for his trio of hip Los Angeles restaurants; an English gastropub called The Parish, a rotisserie and pasta spot dubbed Itri, and his original, star-making venture, The Tasting Kitchen, a terroir-focused bistro just steps away from Venice Beach…
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Q & A With Barano’s Pizza Guru Albert Di Meglio
Having spent the last five years at the venerated Rubirosa, it’s no wonder that Al Di Meglio is indelibly associated with pizza. And so, with the opening of his new Southern Italian restaurant, Barano, it stands to reason that much of the focus has been on his wood burning oven — would he seek to replicate that top-rated Nolita pie in Williamsburg?
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Q & A with Lilia’s Missy Robbins
All seemed relatively quiet on the Missy Robbins front, ever since she left A Voce back in 2013. But it turns out that the extended break was a boon not just for the Michelin-honored chef, but for NYC diners in general, when she returned with a bang with the Brooklyn-based, Southern Italian-inspired Lilia this past January…
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Q & A with Impero Caffè’s Scott Conant
Having recently returned to the scene with Impero Caffè, a rustic Italian bistro beneath Nomad’s INNSIDE hotel, fans can finally reacquaint themselves with Scott Conant classics like spaghetti pomodoro, as well as newer, alluring creations, such as cavatelli with braised duck…
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The Surf’s Finally Up at Pizza Beach on the Lower East Side
Pizza Beach may have opened on the Lower East Side back in October, but now that its spring, it finally feels like the right — read; non ironic — time to visit the laidback, Orchard Street spot, from the team behind the East Pole and Brinkley’s.
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Eataly’s Rooftop Transforms into Italian Seaside-Themed Sabbia
Eataly is at it again. Not content to maintain their rooftop beer hall, Birriera, as a single, unchanging concept, they’ve taken to transforming it season by season; starting with the Alpine ski lodge, Baita, last winter, and turning it into a breezy seaside haven this spring…
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Impero Caffe – First Bite
It’s crazy how things change in just a few years. I remember when the area north of Madison Square in New York, now famously referred to as NoMad, was a haven for nothing more than fake handbags. Now, it’s not only a hotel destination, but also a restaurant destination. But the newest entry to the NoMad’s food scene was a surprise to me. I was waiting around for Scott Conant to open his long-awaited, eponymous new eatery, Conant…
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Thanks to Lilia, Brooklyn Is No Longer a No-Reservation Zone
Need proof that Lilia’s the hottest Brooklyn opening of the last few years — in Manhattan’s estimation, at least? Witness the capacious refurbished auto body shop, properly prettified with exposed beam ceilings, soaring casement windows, tableaus of wine bottles and stacked cords of wood for the grills — utterly packed by 6:30pm…
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Raw Food Guru Opens OO+Co, a Vegan Pizzeria in the East Village
For as trendy as fast casual food is, virtuous vegetarian fare is just as in vogue, and in many cases, you’ll actually find them deliciously intertwined, like at Superiority Burger & Avant Garden. Such is the case with the recently opened OO+Co, a plant-based pizza concept from celebrity raw food chef, Matthew Kenney…
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Inside Acme’s Unexpected Culinary Revamp
Perusing the recently revamped menu at Acme, it’s evident that Mads Refslund — co-founder of the exceedingly influential Noma — has categorically left the building. Instead of esoteric New Nordic offerings like hay-roasted whole sunchokes and “burlap sack” lobster with wildflowers, it’s newly padded with deliciously rustic French brasserie fare…
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Inside Baita: An Italian Alps Pop-Up At Eataly
We never thought we’d say this, but a string of 60-degree days in December sort of has us wishing for snow. According to the forecast, that doesn’t appear to be in the cards anytime soon — but even if we had a sudden, surprise blizzard, relentlessly urban Manhattan is still a far cry from rustic-chic Aspen. Unless you head to Eataly in the Flatiron District that is — where they’ve recently transformed their rooftop restaurant, Birreria, into a winter-long, Italian Alps-inspired pop-up called Baita; the Piedmontese term for a small ski lodge.
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L’Amico – Review
What’s a Frenchman doing cooking Italian food in Chelsea? That’s what I wondered the first time I ventured to Laurent Tourondel’s newly minted and already mobbed eatery, L’Amico. Yes, Tourondel has proved himself a talent where American cooking is concerned, particularly in the steakhouse genre, adding a distinctly French touch to American classics at…
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Mulino A Vino Scores NYC’s Newest Wunderkind Chef
22-year-old Massamilliano Eandi, seem positively ancient compared to wunderkind chefs like Flynn McGarry, until you realize how much Eandi’s accomplished in such a mind-bogglingly short span of time — working his way up the ranks at Michelin-starred restaurants, like Gordon Ramsey and ARBITUS in London, as well as the avant garde Combal.Zero in Rivoli, Italy, under the tutelage of the highly esteemed Davide Scabin…
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The Box Kite Team is Flying High at Bruno
If the duo behind Box Kite — the acclaimed tasting room situated in a St. Marks Street coffee shop — could work culinary magic in a 300-square foot space, it’s little surprise that they’ve achieved super-sized success at their newest venture, Bruno…
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Raising a Glass to In Vino in the East Village
There may be a high intimidation factor when it comes to wine, but the vibe couldn’t be any more relaxed at In Vino in the East Village. In fact, you’ll generally find owner and head oenophile, Keith Beavers, working the room in a Star Wars or Ween t-shirt (he originally moved from Syracuse to Manhattan in hopes of becoming a rock star)…
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Q & A with dell’Anima & L’Artusi’s Joe Campanale
It’s no small feat to become a sommelier at Mario Batali’s Babbo at the tender age of 23, but Joe Campanale did just that, and he hasn’t stopped impressing the food community ever since. Together with restaurateur August Cardona and chefs Gabe and Katherine Thompson, the now 31 year-old Joe Campanale has made the Epicurean Group a triumphant success that it is…
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