Is This the Home of Carbone Italian Specialties?

Update: An official statement from Torrisi: "Reps at Torrisi formally deny opening this night club/restaurant. This is not our space, we are not in the nightclub business and Jay Z is not one of our investors." Though it's unfortunate New York won't get a Jay Z approved Torrisi after hours spot, we still hear there's a new location in the works in that area.

Is this space a future Torrisi Production? Last week Eater first got word that the owners of Torrisi Italian Specialties were expanding with a new restaurant after the opening of their new spinoff Parm. Now new inside sources confirm the expansion and reveal that the lease has already been signed. They say it will be a "Carbone Italian Specialties type thing, with a nightclub in the basement...Also Jay-Z is supposedly investing..." It's all said to be going down on the same block as Mario Batali's Italian neighborhood staple Lupa, and odds are it's this heavily plywooded up space right next door at 168 Thompson St.

A Jay-Z approved Italian restaurant and nightclub in the Village? Is it too good to be true? The folks at Torrisi say they can't confirm anything as of yet, but note "We are in the process of looking at lots of new exciting projects." And Torrisi's Nicole Katz did once say, "I would definitely say that you will see something with Carbone’s name on it sometime in the future."

Stay tuned and keep an eye on those community board agendas.
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