THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED The Orchard

THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED The Orchard Restaurant Review:

It isn't every day that you walk into a restaurant where the chef, the designer and the builder are all one and the same. Wooden-slats cover the windows of this eatery where the multi-tasking chef, John LaFemina (previously of Peasant and Apizz), has applied his talents and created a seemingly private oasis that is a stylish blend of bamboo wood, caramel and chocolate hues and the smells of innovative Italian-inspired cuisine. The bar and lounge area (with storage for 2,000 bottles of vino) is a leisurely place to linger over cocktails, but the spacious dining room has intimate tables for samplings of the thin flatbread appetizers such as the chanterelle mushroom with risotto. The menu may be a bit sparse, but it's all about tantalizing the taste buds. The butternut squash agnolotti with cream sauce and a hint of hazelnut is a sweet entrée while the pan-seared foie gras with strawberry coulis has a tangy bite. The place is trendy (as are the diners) but cozy---so bring a date.