Since chef Ignacio Mattos and restaurateur Thomas Carter’s Nolita restaurant, Estela, became a perennial favorite of savvy New York diners and earned them a James Beard nomination, the city’s culinary crowd has been eagerly awaiting the opening of their sophomore establishment. Well, their second act is here: Café Altro Paradiso.
Set on a quiet corner just west of SoHo, the airy, high-ceilinged space was crafted by a past AD Ones to Watch designer, David M. Sullivan, who found creative nourishment in the establishment’s rustic Italian menu. Wainscoting of 100-year-old reclaimed oak harvested in upstate New York mingles with Carrara marble floors that underscore the room’s loftiness, while sculptural pendant lights glow overhead, their elongated forms modeled after fixtures at a 1930s Sicilian post office.
Activity in the dining room is centered around a window into the kitchen; here, chef Mattos sends out classic Italian dishes with homey flavors—think carpaccio with fried capers and aged balsamic, homemade pastas, and Campari gelato. High ceilings and expansive windows let light pour into the dining space, casting shadows on the L-shaped bar, accented in brass and wood. The shelves are stocked with wines from all over the world, with a focus on Italian favorites like Terreno Chianti Classico Riserva from Tuscany, and obscure picks that might never otherwise leave the region they’re produced in, like Daniele Ricci Timorasso San Leto from Piedmont, Italy. The bar also has a robust cocktail menu with many aperitifs, like the Uva Passa with grappa, Jamaican rum, lemon, vermouth, raisin syrup, and egg white. And for something more on the heavy side, try a Scopa della Strega with rye, Cocchi Torino, Strega, maraschino, and Peychaud’s bitters.
234 Spring St., New York; altroparadiso.com
