Photo by Evan Sung.
One of the Village’s busiest restaurant teams has opened a new bar and dining room, and they’ve put as much thought into the walls as the menu. More than 50 portraits of artists, musicians, and writers hang across the two floors, picked one by one by the co-owner.
Upstairs interior. Photo by Evan Sung.
Upstairs interior. Photo by Evan Sung.
Floradora opened on Aug. 27 at 205 Thompson Street from Cody Pruitt and Jacob Cohen. It takes over the space that held their French restaurant Chateau Royale, which opened just last summer. It’s also the partners’ second opening in three months. In June they replaced their Greenwich Street bistro Libertine, which closed in May after three years and a two-star review from the New York Times, with the seafood tavern Capitaine.
Jacob Cohen, Cody Pruitt and Chef Vanessa Velez. Photo by Evan Sung.
Executive Chef Vanessa Velez runs the kitchen at Floradora. The menu pulls from New York’s dining traditions and the Italian-American history of the surrounding blocks, then bends familiar dishes with ingredients from further afield. Housemade pull-apart garlic bread comes with a choice of dips, including stracciatella with chili crisp and a French onion version. The spicy vodka garganelli is built on Korean gochujang, the lasagna is filled with slow-braised oxtail, and the steak au poivre is American Wagyu cooked for 72 hours. There’s a Wagyu cheeseburger and a tuna melt on milk bread, plus fries served three ways, including “Disco” fries buried under caciocavallo and taleggio. Dessert runs to a key-lamansi pie and a bananas Foster split with three scoops of ice cream.
Mozzarella Sticks. Photo by Evan Sung.
Oxtail Lasagna. Photo by Evan Sung.
Scallop Crudo. Photo by Evan Sung.
Veal Milanese. Photo by Evan Sung.
Pruitt built the drinks list, drawing on the bright, showy cocktails of the disco era and the 1980s. It’s organized into sections including “‘Tinis & Sorta-‘Tinis” and aperitivi, with a Giardiniera Gibson made with pickled vegetables, a June Bug with rum, coconut, pineapple, melon, and banana, and a namesake Floradora with gin, raspberry, ginger, cardamom, and soda water. Dry gin and dirty vodka martinis come in mini and full pours. The wine list stays Old World, with France, Italy, and Germany well represented and everything by the glass at $20 or under.
Appletini. Photo by Evan Sung.
June Bug. Photo by Evan Sung.
Singapore Bird. Photo by Evan Sung.
Velez trained in Paris at École Grégoire-Ferrandi and cooked in France at Ellsworth and Verjus before returning to the U.S. She came back to New York last year and worked her way up to chef de cuisine at Chateau Royale.
The redesigned two-floor space is done in warm wood paneling, Tiffany-style lighting, and lacquered finishes. Along with the portraits, the walls hold vintage film posters, including original Italian artwork for “Goldfinger” and a Spanish poster for “Boy on a Dolphin,” plus exhibition posters and lithographs from Cy Twombly and Julian Schnabel.
Downstairs interior. Photo by Evan Sung.
Downstairs interior. Photo by Evan Sung.
Floradora is open for dinner and late-night service. Weekend brunch is expected to start shortly. Reservations are available through Resy, and more information is at Floradora and on Instagram.
