Quince gets a little sister

Sequels are rarely a good idea -- after all, you really think you're going to top the original Crank? Dude uses a defibrilator on himself! For an actually good restaurant sequel, feast your eyes on Cotogna

From the epic-pasta-making couple behind Quince, Cotogna is the duo's new less-pasta-more-meat sister resto two doors down in a smaller space (50 seats, around the size of Quince's original location) that shares some interior details with big sis (exposed brick, timber), and adds a few of its own, like a natural wood-slatted ceiling, swing-arm lighting, and its crown jewel: an emerald green triple-grill-shelved, spear-roasting rotisserie/grill imported from Florence, though when it wants to go hogging it tells female diners it's from Firenze. Highlights from the menu include grill grub (spit-roasted pork with fennel and oranges, red wine garlic sausages, duck leg with treviso & roasted grapes), pastas (tagliatelle alla bolognese, pappardelle with chicken and black cabbage) and wood-fired pizzas like one with ricotta salata, tomato, and wild nettles -- which may have been true during his playing days, but man, Graig is like 66 now. They've also got antipasti like polpo alla diavola & Tuscan chicken liver crostini, plus sweetness like panna cotta with rosemary pine nut cookies, and crostata made with quince & Sierra Beauty apples, also what Matt Damon will inevitably press up against a Tahoe cafe window to ask if you like them.

And if you need your whistle whetted, they're featuring a laudably focused Italian wine program where every bottle'll run you $40, as well as vintage-seltzered libations like the Cydonia Fizz (brandy, almond/quince syrup, lemon, egg white & cinnamon shavings) and The Hudson (bourbon, bitter orange, maple), all created by a former Beretta/Rickhouse/Bourbon & Branch alum known only as "Buffalo", also the technique Jason Statham employed to get Amy Smart to bang him in the middle of a Chinatown street.