New Restaurant From Quality Italian Vets Makes Red Sauce Food for the Instagram Age

The husband-wife team who created Quality Italian’s hit chicken parm pizza now run their restaurant called Don Angie, a West Village red sauce joint with social media savvy. Specifically, Scott Tacinelli and Angie Rito give Italian cuisine heavy hitters photo-friendly updates primed for Instagram takeovers, like a lasagna that’s shaped in cinnamon bun-esque swirls.

“A lot of dishes are inspired by foods our grandmothers made. But if my grandmother ate them, she probably wouldn’t understand or even see that’s where that derives from,” Tacinelli says.

For example, he and Rito channeled their Italian heritages in dishes like buffalo milk caramelle pasta with persimmon and black sesame — inspired by Rito’s Sicilian grandfather’s favorite after-dinner snack of a persimmon. The dishes look styled for the Instagram age; that pasta is extra-large and features two tones. See the full menus below.

Though Rito and Tacinelli didn’t make the food just for photos, the options here certainly look primed to hit it big on the platform. And it’s a genre they’ve previously nailed. The duo created Quality Italian’s chicken parm pizza — a literal pizza-shaped chicken parm served in slices — that became a signature of the restaurant. Michael Stillman, who owns the Quality restaurants, is a backer here at Don Angie as well.

The restaurant itself has 60 seats, with rich blues, dark wood, and gold accents throughout the space.

Don Angie is now open Sunday through Wednesday from 5:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. and Thursday through Saturday from 5:30 p.m. to 12 a.m., with the bar opening daily at 5 p.m.

Prime rib braciole for two, polenta rossa, and broccoli rabe