THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Falai

THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Falai Restaurant Review:

Former Le Cirque pastry chef Iacopo Falai has a mini downtown restaurant empire, with two eateries on the Lower East Side and one in NoLIta. But his flagship restaurant happens to be his best. Clad in trademark white, Falai is a casual-meets-refined Italian venue with creative, but not stuffy, cuisine. In fact, Falai’s offerings tip-toe for a fine balance: elevating Italian cooking can be tricky, since the cuisine itself was never meant to take an haute route. But Falai does a masterful job of doing so. A Sardinian flatbread, featuring sushi grade tuna, black olive aïoli, fava beans and Meyer lemon, is deceptively simple. Pumpkin-filled saffron pasta, with lobster, teardrop tomato and mascarpone, offers rich textures and layers of flavors. And for a main course, you can’t go wrong with the smoked duck breast, leg confit, foie gras bon-bon, broccoli rabe and fingerling potatoes. The wine list, all Italian, could be less expensive, but with food this good, it’s easy to talk yourself into splurging a bit. Service is relaxed but professional.