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“Aurora”

Occasion:	Cuisine:	Area:	Cost:	Rating:
Night Out	Italian	Soho	Moderate	Great

just then, Jamie arrived, and my attention was diverted. No more listening in on other people’s lives. Drats.

Jamie ordered a glass of Falanghina, a crispy white wine we drank while in Capri, and as we waited on Adrienne, we reminisced about our trip to visit Susie in October, when we canvassed Rome, Naples, Capri, and parts of Umbria and Tuscany in our very own eating and drinking road trip.

Aurora reminded me of that trip; the place smacks of Italy. If Susie were with us, she might’ve wandered outside looking for her street, Via della Frezza. First, there’s the space, which is filled with rustic details of the countryside—big canisters of flowers, mismatched tables and chairs, terra cotta and raw brick walls, and wood-planked floors. It’s sort of a smaller, but less cramped version of il Bucco. Then there’s the passionate wine director and manager, Gianluca Legrottaglie, who used to work at il Buco and hails from Rome and is so charming, I think he could seduce the Pope. He had Jamie at Buona Sera. (In addition to his charms, he’s also put together an impressive 80-bottle list of Italian wines made from only indigenous grapes—no Merlot or Chardonnay here.) And then there’s the chef, Riccardo Buitoni of Piedmont, a Slow Food advocate and who first brought his regional Italian cooking to New York with Aurora in Williamsburg in 2003. But Riccardo has now done the reverse commute, and found a spot on Broome Street, sadly located next to an oversized SUBWAY sandwich shop with a massive, highlighter-yellow aluminum awning. It’s dreadful. But once you walk inside and have a seat, it really doesn’t mater. You’re pretty much transported far away from fake meat sandwiches to the promised land of Italy.

In that promised land, dinner begins with a basket overflowing with house-made bread—a stone ground loaf of rustic wheat etched with cabbage is sliced up in a pile next to paper cones filled with little cubes of olive oil foccacia dotted with sweet tomato and caramelized onions. You honestly don’t need to go any further. You could just have the bread basket and perhaps a bottle of the Alba Rosato, Strade vigne del sole (2004), from Lazio ($30)—a cool dark rose that’s manages to be crisp and juicy at the same time—and be quite happy. But then you’d miss out on the antipasti, and you don’t want to do that.

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Posted: June 4, 2007

Other restaurants in Soho :
+ Balthazar   + Savoy   + Blue Ribbon   + Lupa   + Public   + Kittichai   + Lure Fishbar   + Barmarche   + Porcupine-- CLOSED   + Ama   + La Esquina   + Jerry's- Closed Now   + The Tasting Room   + Papatzul   + Shorty's.32   + The Monday Room   + Ed's Lobster Bar   + Aurora   + Provence   + Tailor   + Hundred Acres   + Delicatessen, By Guest Reviewer Julie Besonen   + The Mott   + The Dutch   + Cherrywood, by Guest Reviewer Dara Pollak   

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