il torchio

as suspected here, and confirmed here, a new italian eatery is coming soon to myrtle between washington and waverly. i was passing by today and saw an open door, so i stopped in, chatted with one of the owners, frank, and the manager, andrew, and got some pre-opening photos. as lesterhead mentioned in her earlier post, the place is looking gorgeous:

the wine rack and all of the shelving are made from wood from orginal beams that they took from the ceiling, as is the top of the bar. there's also an outdoor space that looks like it will be lovely:

it will be called il torchio, in honor of this:

which is, of course, a torchio, or old-fashioned hand pasta press.

but most exciting, to me anyway, is the concept for the place: italian wine bar and tapas restaurant. they will have bottles from all regions of italy, and instead of the traditional appetizer/pasta/main course menu, will serve tapas-style small plates.

frank owns this building and the two next to it—his business up until this point has been construction, this will be his first food & wine venture.

they hope to be open in the next few weeks, once all of their licenses have come through from the city. so keep your eyes open....

il torchio 458 myrtle ave. 718-422-1122 www.iltorchionyc.com [not up and running yet]