“Italian food zone” coming to 40 Wall

A huge Italian restaurant is coming to the former Dean & DeLuca space at Trump’s 40 Wall, the first US restaurant for a group of owners with four places in Rome. (The site has been vacant for two years.)

It’s called Nero.lab, and should be open in late summer — all 17,000 square feet of it. Plans call for a smaller bar area with 30 tables (90 seats), 9 bar stools and three window seats and on a higher level, a formal dining area with 111 tables (313 seats). There will also be a grab-and-go counter and classrooms for wine and cooking classes.

The food lab name is an odd choice, but that may a nod to the classes and the approach. The restaurant will be open morning till night with this notion in mind: “Nero.lab concept is based on the integration of bars, pastry shops, ice cream parlours, bistros and fast-food restaurants all in a single multi-service space: it is an innovative project based on the values of traditional our regional cuisine, more specifically Roman cuisine.”

The menu is gargantuan and features (among dozens of primi piatti) two things I had never heard of: the panini burger, which is what it sounds like, and the pinsa romana — an ancient recipe for Roman pizza that is oblong and supposedly has fewer carbs. CB1 approved the liquor license, so more TK this summer.

 

4 Comments

  1. Great to see this huge retail space brought back to life after sitting vacant for 8 years. Milk Cafe closed in December 2011 after a challenging environment surrounding the Occupy Wall Street protests. A few years later, Dean & Deluca signed a lease, but then they got into a financial mess and never even begun work. The Dean & Deluca “Coming Soon” sign stayed up for years. I wish this new venture all the best. A vendor offering the right product should do well there.

  2. It’s in a Trump building. Who would go? Better find a new location like across the street.

    • @Claude Hersh grow up it’s hard enough opening a restaurant in this environment we don’t need people like you making it worse. Show some compassion and wish them nothing but luck. People like you preach tolerance and then say something ridiculous like that.

  3. I’m sure this group of investors from Rome have a clear idea of how to develop and be constructive at the same time within the culinary industry. My comprehension is that in the actual premises classes will be held on learning the cooking skills, which means, classy chefs, will perform at the service of the restaurant itself and teaching the skills of its subject. By adding all these positive aspects to the location in which the restaurant “Nerolab” will be held, will definitely create a very significant atmosphere. Good luck and best wishes to these new entrepreneurs.

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