Da Prato provided a statement about the shutdown provided to her from the backers to share with the press: “Etrusca has permanently closed. The pair of quick-to-crowd watering holes share little DNA with Etrusca. One of those titles is Mad Dog & Beans, a self-billed “Mexican cantina” with margarita towers nearby in FiDi and up in midtown. I created the restaurant and conceptualized it, named it and all that stuff it was my concept and my menu and my thing, but it was funded by a small group, which owns other, mostly bars, in Manhattan, and elsewhere.” “Obviously, I wanted the restaurant to be financially successful, and everyone wants their restaurant to be full,” says Da Prato, who, in spite of having become Etrusca’s public-facing name, was a contracted employee. She spoke with me by phone about Etrusca’s truncated run after the announcement. Da Prato’s previous venture was in Barga, Italy. “ We would like to thank our many wonderful guests for their support and excitement for this tender little jewel of a restaurant and especially thank our incredible team that made some of the best food this city had to offer in one of the most lovely dining rooms to ever be,” first-time NYC hospitality operator Da Prato wrote in an Instagram post this month. Etrusca received more media attention than most in its brief existence, too, earned media that, combined with my firsthand knowledge of its excellence and a back-of-the-envelope assumption (based somewhat on lease term expectations) that it would be allowed a little more time to grow, made its closing seem puzzlingly premature. ![]() ![]() Recent news that Etrusca would permanently close gave me greater pause than places that I’ve been going to for years, ones that seemed to populate best-of lists for this or that season after season. It was the kind of spot where I wanted to be a regular, and, in addition to the published piece, I’ve recommended it in person more than any other new restaurant in the intervening months. In February, I awarded it four stars in a review, citing executive chef Elisa Da Prato’s excellent beef tartare with New Mexico chiles, grated cured egg yolk and polenta crisp, pastas like lumache al ragù and delightfully unique fried quail, among its more cosmetic attributes and a relatively rare, chic neighborhood destination vibe.Īlthough lodged in the looming, inhospitable Financial District, Etrusca felt like an idealized home: warm, friendly, comfortable and inviting, with a great dinner menu. ![]() Last December, a tangibly charming restaurant called Etrusca opened on theoretically charm-adjacent Stone Street in Lower Manhattan.
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