Rezdôra has been championing regional pasta dishes since it opened five years ago and to great effect: those stunning bowls of anolini di parma, tagliolini al ragu and the famed grandma walking through the forest in Emilia (Cappelletti verdi with roasted, sautéed leeks and black mushroom purée) haven’t just won the restaurant plenty of local fans but also a coveted Michelin star. And now that pasta pedigree is expanding with a sibling: meet Massara.
From chef Stefano Secchi and partner David Switzer comes the Flatiron newcomer, which celebrates the cuisine of Italy’s Campania region. (For you Duolingo-heads, “massara” means “matriarch” or “head of the household” in the Campanian dialect.) For the menu, Secchi taps into memories of visiting Southern Italy as a child, with much of the cooking centered around the restaurant’s wood-burning oven.
From there, he fires up pizzettes made with a “lievito madre” starter of wild yeast that the chef brought back from a family trip to the region as a young boy. Those al forno rounds includes a traditional Margherita, a cheese-free Montanara Marinara (with tomatoes and capers) and a Montanara with Crudo (with mozzarella, arugula and prosciutto.) The kitchen’s wood-burning grill anchors the menu’s Secondi section—including “Capra in Four Ways” (a whole heritage goat that gets braised, roasted and grilled before it’s served with cannelloni) and a Wagyu steak that’s grilled with flakey salt and comes served with an optional 25-year-old aged balsamic—as well as seasonal vegetables like broccoli rabe “Stracotta” (with garlic and pepperoncino) and zucchini “Alla Scapece” (with mint, vinegar and house-smoked olive oil.)
And it wouldn’t be a Rezdôra sibling without, of course, fresh pasta: Corteccia arrives with sausage ragù in bianca; candele with ragù Genovese; and “Cheesemakers Raviolini” with bufala mozzarella and basil. There’s also a cold spaghetti dish, dubbed “If Pasta Fredda was Eaten in Amalfi,” which pairs the chilled noodles with raw red shrimp and almonds.
Poured at a Carrara marble bar, wines curated by Wine Director Michael Duffy skew south of the boot, with selections from Sardinia, Campagna and Sicily. And the cocktail menu, designed by Morgan Marak, is centered around southern amaros and the citrusy, herbaceous flavors found along Italy’s sunny southern coast, which means you can settle into those buttery leather booths for spritzes, Negronis and more.
Check out Chef Secchi’s regional Italian dishes at Massara, as well as photos of its dining room, below:
Photograph: Alex Staniloff | Raviolini at MassaraPhotograph: Alex Staniloff | Branzino at MassaraPhotograph: Alex Staniloff | Pizzettes at MassaraPhotograph: Alex Staniloff | Spaghetti at MassaraPhotograph: Brian Ferry | inside MassaraPhotograph: Brian Ferry | Inside MassaraMassara
Massara is open at 913 Broadway in the Flatiron District.
Clearly, the public’s hunger for all things immersive is not slowing down: INTER_, the interactive art center at 415 Broadway by Canal Street in Soho, will debut its latest experience, The INTERnet, on June 20.
Basically a massive maze made of ropes, the exhibit allows attendees to jump inside, climb, relax and even get lost in the whole webbed arrangement that’s comprised of 80,000 feet of handwoven rope, which is part of a 400-square-foot interactive artwork created by Treenet Collective, a net expert company.
Photograph: Courtesy of INTER_
Unsurprisingly, the 375-square-foot exhibit took a combined 1,500 hours of work to be completed.
“The INTERnet gives our visitors a space to unleash their inner child and also provides a space to quietly reflect and connect with others in a new, unprecedented way,” said Stanton Jones, Creative Director at INTER_, in an official statement. “Every strand interconnects and is dependent upon the strands around it for the overall strength of the net—like the human family, we’re stronger as INTERconnected communities than when we try to stand alone.”
Photograph: Courtesy of INTER_
The installation, which accommodates 15 people at once, boasts a variety of different weaving styles, each one creating a “setting” for folks to dive into, including the “quantum leap,” where guests can play in mid-air, and the “social network,” a more serene space that will feel like you are floating above everyone else.
In case you’re a rope fanatic, here are some fun facts: the organizers used parachute cords to build the system, which are lightweight nylon ropes “originally used in the suspension lines of parachutes” but also commonly seen across military circles.
The organizers also let us know that the installation can hold 10,000 pounds at once—which is just about the weight of 25 grand pianos or an average adult male African elephant. Pretty intense, right?
Theater goers will (finally!) soon be able to enjoy an expertly-crafted Manhattan before or after catching a show on Broadway as Dear Irving—one of the best speakeasy-inspired bars in NYC—has just announced that it will debut a third local address in the Theater District this September.
Dear Irving on Broadway follows the opening of Dear Irving on Hudson back in 2019 and its original predecessor—simply, Dear Irving—on Irving Place in 2014.
The newest iteration of the drinking den will debut at 1717 Broadway near 55th Street on the heels of the cocktail empire’s 10th anniversary, courtesy of bar director and partner Meaghan Dorman, the now-iconic speakeasy expert who has come to define the city’s cocktail scene.
Photograph: Eric Medsker
You can expect Dear Irving on Broadway to look and feel like its sister locations, allowing patrons to time-travel to the 1930s, “a period where people looked to theater and live performance as a means of escaping the Great Depression’s hardships,” according to a press release.
“Taking inspiration from Nightmare Alley and Babylon, guests will be able to cozy up to both a lavish, rectangular bar in the main room and a more subdued pergola bar, complete with plenty of seating by way of velvet barstools, large orange sofas, and comfortable armchairs,” reveals the release.
Cocktail-wise, guests will get to choose from a robust Gibson section—the classic gin and dry vermouth drink that harks back to older times—alongside a slew of Dear Irving originals.
Unique to this location will be a menu portion dedication to post-show cocktail recommendations from notable bartenders turned performers that will function as an ode to the connections between the hospitality industry and Broadway. Joanna Carpenter of Sweeney Todd and Sherz Aletaha of Merrily We Roll Along are only some of the personalities that have lent their cocktail preferences to the cause.
The destination will also be serving food inspired “by city classics” at two separate bars with a terrace overlooking the city.
Let’s be honest, the Theater District really needed this. We can’t wait for the new Dear Irving to open.
Dear Irving’s Theater District location will open in September at 1717 Broadway near 55th Street.
