4.8.09
Food:
Emporio
231 Mott St, between Prince and Spring; 212.966.1234
From the Aurora guys, this Roman-style trattoria is rustic homey up front (L-shaped bar, dark-stained ceiling planks, cast iron chairs, cured meats and a weighing scale), and metro-retro in the back (huge retractable skylights over a subway tiled dining room deco'd with B&W photos, tin plate lanterns, and an old gas pump). Grub runs from Frascati-wine-braised rabbit and wood-fired octopus, to pies from a custom-built wood-burning oven, all made using regional ingredients, like cheeses from Colchester, CT's Cato Corner Farm, and pork from Shushan, NY farm Flying Pigs -- for swine, a truly miraculous development, though a fat load of good it did them.
They're BYOB for the first few weeks. Put this menu in your belly.
