Italienne

Jared Sippel—who gained acclaim for his work at San Francisco’s double-Michelin-starred Quince and Boulder, Colorado critical favorite Frasca Food and Wine—moved to New York in 2013 to helm the Manhattan outpost of Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare. When that project didn’t come to fruition (it still hasn’t opened, FYI), Sippel instead started work on this Chelsea restaurant, split into a casual à la carte tavern up front and a tasting-menu dining room in back, decorated with leather banquettes, a Carrara marble salumi bar and pendant light fixtures made from vintage wine carafes. The chef’s menu traverses northern Italy and the south of France (Italienne is the French word for Italian): Dishes include a carne cruda with coriander flower and pine-bud syrup; triangoli with guinea hen and Madeira sauce; and duck with faro verde, fennel mostarda and huckleberry jus.