The space is a spacious, soaring two-story with large windows, modern Italian touches and a lot of light. Great large bar area for what I’m sure will be interesting cocktails; unfortunately they were a day short of their liquor license when we dined, but it should be in place now. We were seated on the upper loft-like 2nd story, which gave us great views of the open prep station for salads, charcuterie and cheese platters. The Chefs Choice platter was drop-dead gorgeous, and the largest amount of cheese and charcuterie I’ve seen in town. It does requires a lot of prep; I’ll be interested to see how well they can keep up with the large volume of orders they’ll get for this.
The well-designed menu has a great selection of options: gourmet pizzas, Antipastis, crostinis, pastas, and Secondis (main courses). The variety works well to meet many dining experiences- while it’s geared toward a multi-course meal, I could also see coming in for a cocktail and a couple of antipasti, or alternately going with the kids for pizzas. We were thrilled to see some dishes from the much-lamented Cena on the menu.
We were very impressed with the service (especially for a soft-opening); our server was very enthusiastic, knowledgeable about the menu, and genuinely welcoming without being too intrusive. The food was even better- the many dishes we shared were all inventive with outstanding flavors. Our table’s very favorites were: the fried goat cheese balls with pesto & truffle honey (a heavenly Cena favorite), the meatball antipasti (great flavor, and somehow delicate and substantial at the same time), the Costella di Maiale ( huge Flintstone-eque pork chop stuffed with cheese, and wrapped with prosciutto) and the Pollo Arrosto. The latter was the moistest chicken I’ve ever had; conversation with Fernando revealed that the whole chicken was first confit’ed, then finished in their imported brick oven. Wonderful! We will be back soon to try the pizzas and pastas- the one’s we saw at other tables looked great.
The “Market” part was not open yet, but Cristina shared that the plans are to sell the cheeses, charcuterie and house-made pastas they use in the restaurant. The rest of their stock will depend on what they find their customers ( and Norton Commons residents) want. I’m praying that they sell the Burrata in my Beet and Burrata salad- I’d drive ‘cross town for that alone.
Opening was yesterday- currently open for dinner, but expanding to lunch in several weeks. Get there soon folks- they are going to be mobbed.