NYCReview
photo credit: Kate Previte
Torrisi Bar & Restaurant
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Major Food Group does pastiche. That sounds like an insult, and it sort of is—but if you can experience the old-school hospitality at Carbone and still leave disgruntled, or have dinner at The Grill without feeling like you just had your on-screen debut alongside Cary Grant, you’re lying to yourself. These people do the whole themed-restaurant thing better than anyone else. But for the first time, they’re trying something different. That something different is their best restaurant to date.
This Nolita spot isn’t a 1950s fantasy, red sauce extravaganza, or sceney French bistro with burgundy banquettes. Unlike its sister establishments, Torrisi Bar & Restaurant has no elaborate theme. The food is technically Italian, but that label feels awkward. (Sort of like calling a cronut French.) Drawing inspiration from all over NYC, Torrisi’s menu is fun, freewheeling, and full of inventive dishes that become even more impressive in the context of an extravagant space.
photo credit: Kate Previte
photo credit: Kate Previte
photo credit: Kate Previte
Torrisi is an expensive place where no expense is spared. It’s located a block from where the restaurant group began—at the now-closed Torrisi Italian Specialties—in a historic building with sky-high ceilings. The menus look and feel like elaborate wedding invitations, the servers wear cream-colored dinner jackets, and the open kitchen is lit like an intimate Broadway production. Ideally, you’ll be seated in a crushed velvet booth in the rear dining room (the VIP section, essentially), but even if you wind up at a stray table by the entrance, you’ll have an absorbing meal.
Every dish at Torrisi is executed with an obsessive perfectionism worthy of a breakup text, but there’s one obvious standout in each section of the menu. Among the antipasti, the unlikely winner is the fennel and grapefruit cocktail, which is light years more interesting than it sounds. You should also order the Italian and American hams. Listed under "specialties," the sprawling platter of donuts and cured meat will whisper your name outside your window at night.
If there are any specials on the menu—bao buns, say, or a Katz’s-inspired pastrami-spiced short rib—get those as well. And don’t ignore the rotisserie item. It might be a hunk of lamb that does an impeccable impression of prime rib, or it might be porchetta with skin that shatters like your hopes and dreams after Torrisi’s host quotes you a four-hour wait for a bar seat. Whatever it is, there will be limited quantities available. This restaurant is not above manufacturing hype. (It’s the Nolita way.)
photo credit: Kate Previte
photo credit: Kate Previte
Like every other Major Food Group establishment, Torrisi is a production. It’s big, it’s hot, and every part of the experience feels workshopped and rehearsed. As a result, it can feel a bit like performance art for high-net-worth individuals—but for a restaurant group with a lease in Vegas and a name that sounds like a subsidiary of Monsanto, that’s to be expected. At least this time around, they’re doing something original. When your several-hundred-dollar check arrives with a gilded pen in a leather portfolio, you can pay with full confidence that you experienced something fun, unique, and even a little daring.
Food Rundown
photo credit: Kate Previte
Italian And American Hams With Zeppole
photo credit: Kate Previte
Fennel And Grapefruit Cocktail
photo credit: Kate Previte
Chopped Liver With Manischewitz
Duck Alla Mulberry
photo credit: Kate Previte
Rotisserie Lamb With Flag Sauces
photo credit: Kate Previte
Spaghetti With Lamb Amatriciana
photo credit: Kate Previte