Contrada, Quietly on Hiatus, Reopens Tomorrow With Another New Chef

Contrada, the East 4th Street restaurant formerly known as Calliope, has been closed for the past few days, leading some on Twitter to suggest that the restaurant was done for good. Especially since, as Daily News critic Stan Sagner points out, the closure was sudden and unexpected:

It's sad when a restaurant closes. Moreso when said restaurant neglects to tell guests with reservations on a 15° night. RIP @contradanyc

— Stan Sagner (@ssagner) February 18, 2015

But today owner Eric Anderson tells Eater that the neighborhood Italian restaurant will in fact reopen tomorrow. The reason for the sudden hiatus? The restaurant has a new chef, who has been retooling the menu this past week. He'll launch simple version of that menu tomorrow, with plans to expand upon it from there. Expect new dishes, but along the same Mediterranean lines that the restaurant has served all along.

Remember that this is not the first time the restaurant has undergone a change in staff. Back when it was Calliope, chefs and co-owners Eric Korsh and Ginevra Iverson decided to part ways with Anderson less than two years into the restaurant's lifespan, which is what prompted the change to Contrada, with chef Jason Audette, a Del Posto vet, at the helm. Now Audette too has left, after a little under a year.

Below is  a copy of the (very limited) menu Contrada will relaunch with tomorrow. Stay tuned for more on the new chef, and what sorts of changes he has planned.

Contrada