Faustina

If Maialino is an Italian restaurant that faithfully renders the classics, Faustina is the opposite: It takes Italian cuisine and turns it on its head. Why serve cannelloni the traditional way when you can break it down and reconstruct it as separate layers of pasta, cheese and fresh tomatoes? And the art of crudi here is outsourced to a Japanese chef manning a sort of Italian sushi counter in the dining room. This is what’s happening at Scott Conant’s Faustina right now, and the result is an exciting new take on Italian cuisine.

Bacon-wrapped shellfish are nothing new—until you take prawns ($16), and wrap the tender midsection in the thinnest layer of lardo so that the whole thing dissolves in your mouth. These come on a bed of rosemary lentils. The whole dish is the perfect combination of sea and earth.

Truffles get a light treatment in the fonduta sauce with grilled ciabatta and a poached duck egg. Though the sauce could have used a little more salt, the ciabatta was charred perfection, the duck egg and fonduta a decadent side—especially for just $6.

Faustina’s olive oil-poached sardines ($12) from the extensive raw bar (manned by that sushi chef) are a reason for Americans to reconsider their aversion to this much-maligned fish. The accompanying artichokes and preserved lemon give them a Moroccan touch.

The meaty, succulent beef short ribs ($16) were braised to the point of falling apart and served on top of spaetzle, which, though it’s considered Austrian, is also quite popular in Fruili (Lidia’s home town).

The deep, earthy flavor of braised oxtail and bone marrow got a jolt from concentrated tomato. This is country cooking in high form: dollops of rich stew on a symmetrical row of semolina dumplings.

Here’s that cannelloni ($17): the sunshine-y baby tomatoes were showcased on top, while the pasta beneath were buried in melted burrata. It’s like a window into summertime in the dead of winter.

The kitchen doesn’t stop paying attention at dessert: An excellent torrone panna cotta ($9) with nougat, honey caramel and pistachio meringue had a gelatinous feel and balanced sweetness that elevated the traditional dessert to an almost Asian take on the Italian. Scrape your spoon down to the bottom and you’ll reach a thin layer of grated spices for the final flourish.

The bar also hews to a similar jet-setting philosophy: here the Il Fumatore ($12), a vodka and blood orange cocktail, gets a hit of mezcal, making it a very current apertivo indeed.

This all suits the crowd at the Cooper Square Hotel, where English was only one of several languages being spoken around us. Gone are the bad vibes of Table 8, whose smoking patrons famously irritated its neighbors to the point that they strung their dirty laundry across the hotel’s patio in an act of vengeance. The sophisticated, glittering dining room that’s taken its place is quite peaceful by comparison. And though this place is hot right now, it’s not impossible to get a table here. You can book through Open Table and get an early or late slot at relatively short notice, or walk in and sit in the bar area.

Lord knows how Scott Conant had time to launch such a great new restaurant in less than a month and be there seven days a week—especially now that he has a brand-new baby at home, too. But even Cooper Square Hotel detractors in the neighborhood would have to admit: Faustina has brought a democratic take on alta cucina to the Bowery.

Faustina
25 Cooper Square, corner of the Bowery and East 5th Street
New York, NY
212-475-5700
thecoopersquarehotel.com/the-restaurant