Torrisi owners Mario Carbone (left) and Rich Torrisi are native New Yorkers who are seriously excited about the city’s culinary history. (Lorenzo Ciniglio/Freelance)
Only in New York, kids, would you find a delicious tasting-menu inspired by, among other things, the Nuts4-Nuts cart, Chinese-American takeout, the signature dishes of Delmonico’s, the Lemon Ice King of Corona, the knishes at Yonah Schimmel and Le Cirque maestro Sirio Maccioni’s pasta primavera.
But a wild ride through the city’s rich culinary landscape is just what serious talents Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi, along with partner Jeff Zalaznick, had in mind when they relaunched their groundbreaking Mulberry Street restaurant, Torrisi Italian Specialties, in December.
“The three of us are really proud of being native New Yorkers. When you grow up in New York City with a food passion, you’re exposed to a lot, and the things that you love cross ethnicities,” explains Carbone.
“I love a bagel with cream cheese as much as Jeff does, even though he’s a New York
Jew who grew up on the Upper East Side, and I’m from Queens. We’re New Yorkers, and we grew up with these embedded New York food traditions.”
A highlight of the relaunch is an ambitious 20-course chef’s tasting menu filled with fantastic creations. Now, a new $150 spring version has been introduced. It’s a gastronomic parade featuring everything from an edible smoked sable “cigarette” — in homage to the Stork Club — to a painted Easter egg filled with lavender and vermouth sabayon, asparagus and “land caviar” (a k a the Japanese delicacy known as tonburi), a nod to Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s signature caviar egg.
The chef’s tasting menu is also one of the toughest reservations to score in town — tables open 30 days in advance at 9 a.m., and routinely book up in minutes. (Call 212-965-0955 to reserve or to be placed on the waiting list; a $65 four-course menu is also available.)
It’s the latest step in the evolution of the restaurant — the duo launched an earlier version in December 2009 as an homage to the Italian-American delis of their youth, and soon drew lines out the door. Not long after, an affordable four-course dinner menu was added — a marriage of high- and low-brow genres that perfectly summed up Carbone and Torrisi’s culinary sensibilities.
Their love of the city’s Italian-American culinary heritage — a genre that had fallen out of favor with the rise of “authentic” and “regional” Italian fare — was clearly shared by many: Late last year, they moved the sandwich side of the business to a new next-door restaurant called Parm, and began rethinking the flagship.
In an effort to free up the space to allow for the more high-tone service needed by the chef’s tasting menu, the deli counter and tables were removed — but not the shelving lined with Progresso and Polly-O containers. And while they kept the four-course menu, they added a far more elaborate version, whose inspiration goes way beyond the Italian-American genre.
So, what do they hope diners take away from the new experience? “I want people to walk away with an understanding — even if they’ve never met me, Rich or Jeff — of who we are, where we’re from, what we’re passionate about, what our viewpoint is,” says Carbone, who met daily with his partners to comb through books such as William Grimes’ “Appetite City” and the rare books division at the New York Public Library to research their artful new menu. “There’s a lot of playfulness there, but it’s also very serious food,” he adds.
Here, they take us on a tour of their crazy New York culinary vision.