A Look Into FigOly, Opening Next Friday in Downtown

Matt Biancaniello making his farm-to-glass “Mamma Mias”

FigOly’s opening is a week away at The Luxe Hotel, but it already has some pretty promising things going for it, as we saw last night during a friends, family, and media cocktail party. The new Downtown restaurant has former la Seine and Cafe Was chef (and Top Chef player) Alex Reznik in the kitchen overseeing a built-in immersion circulator and a cherished 30-year-old pasta machine he copped from the Wilshire Grand’s fire sale for his menu of Northern Italian cuisine lead by local product. It also has Matt Biancaniello behind the bar, gone from The Roosevelt and serving “Mamma Mias” with Milagro tequila, muddled bell pepper and scallions, a cherry tomato garnish and Hepp’s applewood smoked salt and ghost pepper salt in front of a crazy, color-saturated, plasma-screened art display.

And then there’s the location. A sweeping outdoor patio practically sits on top of L.A. Live!, foreshadowing raucous evenings of rabid sports fans and quieter afternoons of watching tourists in shorts decide between Lucky Strike and ESPN Sports Zone as Downtown traffic flies by. Come take a look at our slide show to see just what we saw last night at FigOly.

FigOly, opening July 27 at 1020 S. Figueroa St. 2nd Fl. Downtown.

The view from a crow’s nest set aside for smokers.

FigOly’s wine program includes 62 bottles priced under $50 and 16 pours priced at $9.

Reznik’s potted pork and smoked trout. The chef plans a menu of housemade pastas, fritto misto with squid and pig ears, oxtail arancini, and oysters with basil granita and sabayon mignonette.

The former Library Bar star is now serving his inventive farm-to-glass cocktails at FigOly.

A room decked out in faux gator skin with a tree trunk table is reserved for chef’s dinners and private occasions.

Showing off his cherished pasta machine, of which he’s been told only three of its kind still exist.

Pastry chef Joanne Ponavit’s take on cannoli cheesecake with a pistachio crust.