Restless chef Angelo Romano, whose resume includes Roberta's, the short-lived Masten Lake, and a rocky but ultimately well-received year at the Pines in Gowanus, is now opening a pizza restaurant in Kips Bay. Rocky Slims, as the restaurant as called, is slated to open next week, so Romano was probably working on this even before his recent one-month stint at Williamsburg's Concord Hill.
The new restaurant, which fittingly occupies a space that used to house a regular old slice joint on Third Avenue, will have two parts to it: a stylish dining room with a long marble bar, and a takeout slice shop around the corner. The menu is "contemporary" Italian-American. The dining room is equipped with a wood-fired oven, which will turn out square pies topped with ingredients ranging from the standard sausage with peppers and onions, to one with celery root, mozzarella, and both pickled and caramelized onion. Other dishes, meanwhile, include vegetable sides, pastas like conchiglioni with crab brodo, and entrees like a lamb chop with dandelion greens. The slice shop, meanwhile, is equipped with a brick oven, and serves thick grandma slices, slices from regular round pies, and a few sandwiches.
The bar will serve beer, wine, and cocktails created by Lucinda Sterling of Little Branch, which range from the straightforward to something called the "popcorn sazerac," made with rye, popcorn bitters, sugar, and absinthe, and served popcorn tossed in Aleppo butter.
The exact date hasn't been set, but the restaurant opens early next week. In the meantime, check out the menu below: