Openings

What to Eat at Charlie Bird, Opening This Week in the South Village

Photo: Bobby Doherty/New York Magazine

If Miles Davis is the improbable muse behind Eleven Madison Park, could Charlie Parker be the creative inspiration—in name, at least—for Charlie Bird, a new, Italian-accented restaurant slated to open this week in the South Village? The venture is a collaboration between chef Ryan Hardy, late of Aspen’s Montagna at the Little Nell, and Robert Bohr, a sommelier and wine-cellar consultant best known for his bull-market reign at Cru. Here, they celebrate their urban terroir in a space discreetly tagged with street art and decorated with Lyle Owerko’s boom-box photos. Hardy’s menu applies Italian technique to local ingredients in crudi like Long Island fluke with pickled walnuts and cult Tuscan olive oil; small plates of lamb tongue and fried zucchini blossoms; and seasonal housemade pasta, like cappellacci with ramps, peas, and guanciale (pictured). And the 100-bottle wine list reflects the collective tastes of Bohr, Momofuku wine director Jordan Salcito (his wife and Charlie Bird investor), and acting sommelier Grant Reynolds.

5 King St., entrance on Sixth Ave.; 212-235-7133

Dinner Menu [PDF]

*This article originally appeared in the May 27, 2013 issue of New York Magazine.

What to Eat at Charlie Bird, Opening This Week in the South Village