Fingers crossed, by the end of the year New York will have another restaurant from Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich. The B & B staff is currently hard at work on La Sirena, an indoor/outdoor seasonal Italian restaurant in the former La Bottega space in the Maritime Hotel. It will be the first Batali/Bastianich restaurant to serve breakfast, provide room service, and offer high tea. Batali tells Grub Street that it's "30 percent over budget and three months late," but if everything goes according to plan, La Sirena should make its debut in December. Here are a few more details from Mario:
I think it’ll be the most comfortable and delightful outdoor space in the entire city....It already had a good setup. They had already done a good job. Now we’re going to be in there. It’s going to be a little on the swanky side, a little on the edgy side, because you’re right there on the street, a little gritty. I think it’ll be very celebratory. And it’s going to be less expensive than Babbo, so kind of between Lupa and Babbo.
It's been a while since the duo built a new Manhattan eating and drinking establishment — Eataly opened in 2010, but their last freestanding NYC restaurant was Del Posto, which debuted back in 2005. Josh Laurano, a veteran of Lupa and other B & B restaurants, will helm the kitchen at La Sirena. Babbo's Luca Vesnaver is running the dining room and Del Posto's Jeff Katz is overseeing the operation.