Torrisi Bar & Restaurant Opens In SoHo

One of New York’s most anticipated restaurant openings will capstone the end of 2022.

Major Food Group (MFG) opened Torrisi Bar & Restaurant in the landmarked Puck Building at 275 Mulberry St. This is the group’s first big restaurant opening since before the pandemic, and marks the Torrisi team’s return to SoHo, where they started with the Torrisi Italian Specialties, a small red sauce joint that closed in 2015, but inspired this new restaurant. Now, MFG, co-owned by Rich Torrisi, Jeff Zalaznick, and Mario Carbone, has fan favorites across Manhattan including Carbone, Sadelle’s, The Grill, ZZ’s Club, Dirty French, Parm, Contessa, The Lobster Club, and many more restaurants in Miami, Las Vegas, Hong Kong, Paris and beyond.

Torrisi Bar & Restaurant offers the first open kitchen for the restaurant group, to add to the energy of a lively bar, convivial dining room, cozy private dining and al fresco seating. Many dishes are finished tableside, for an extra personal touch. Every seating area offers the same à la carte menu, with different rotating specials in each dining area, reflecting Chef Torrisi’s aim to cook off the cuff.

Chef Torrisi is joined in the kitchen by Executive Chef Charlie England, who formerly served as Carbone’s Chef de Cuisine for five years, and Pastry Chef Stephanie Prida. The menu begins with small bites like hand-pulled Mozzarella, stuffed peppers, San Gennaro Bao and more locally influenced starters. Pastas will include linguine with Manhattan clams, tortellini pomodoro and spaghetti gricia, while heartier entrees will include a pastrami-spiced short rib scottadito prepared using the restaurant’s rotisserie and wood-fired hearth. Torrisi Italian Specialities fans may also recognize some reprised classics like the cucumbers New Yorkese, clam Boule, the Jamaican cavatelli, the lamb alla Judea, and the Bass Dogana. For dessert: Italian ices, almond cheesecake, and Sicilian date cake.

“In the years leading up to this moment, I had a feeling that Torrisi Bar & Restaurant belonged near Mulberry St., surrounded by the stories and traditions that inspire me and this concept,” says Torrisi. “Now that we’re ready to welcome guests at the Puck Building, I’m absolutely convinced that Torrisi Bar & Restaurant could only exist in this space, on this corner, and I look forward to cooking here for many years to come. This is home.”

Complementing Chef Torrisi’s the food is an Italian and American bar program led by MFG’s Head of Bars and Master Mixologist Nathan McCarley-O’Neill, with a worldly wine selection curated by Wine Director John Slover and Beverage Director Brad Nugent. Plenty of martinis, negronis and Old Fashioned are promised, along with a signature Spritz Torrisi, enhanced with rhubarb, peach and prosecco and fresh juice riffs on the Garibaldi. Non Alcoholic cocktails, plus an espresso martini available with fresh brewed decaf, aim to be inclusive to all imbibers.

Torrisi Bar & Restaurant is open Tuesday to Saturday, 5pm to 11:30pm. Reservations now open via Resy