In the tradition that is “next door,” there is now Farra Wine Bar, or Atera Next Door — and in that vein, it’s a casual but equally inspired offshoot of its ultra-refined parent, with one of Atera’s chefs installed at the helm. In other words, Farra is to Atera as Zinc Bar was to Chanterelle. They opened on March 12, 2020, but then there was a global pandemic and some inhospitable weather and so on, so here we are now, welcoming the new kid a year later.

The menu is credited to head chef Alec Vaughn, who spent three years next door cooking for Ronny Emborg and before that at Betony and before that, training at the Culinary Institute. He was hooked by restaurants at a young age: as a teenager in Rochester, he needed a job to save up for a car, started washing dishes at his father’s friend’s Greek restaurant and never looked back. He’s worked every weekend since, and back then he gave up all the other activities of youth to feed his passion.

“It was the most important thing ever to me — from that first day I knew the industry was for me,” he said of his time at Eros in Spencerport, NY. “I stopped playing baseball and soccer; I would show up 30 minutes early because I was so nervous. The owner there gave me a fundamental, rigorous training and by the time I got to the CIA, I was so grateful for what he had done for me.”

The dishes at Farra are intended to share: as Vaughn says, it’s “bring-people-together food.” The menu is designed to mix and match — with complimentary flavors — and the wine list by the glass is especially large (and just for comparison, the wine cellar at Atera has a couple thousand bottles). The menu changes seasonally, and can be experienced as a full meal or just snacks. He’s aiming for “refined, cool, approachable.” (I want to note that all the food pics are mine, taken in the dark on the street, which shows you how beautiful the presentation is.)

It is for sure special — and inventive. I could have the salmon tartare with dill and nori — and embedded potato chips for crunch — as a daily meal. The pork ribs had a little bit of kick from jalapenos, red miso and bourbon, making them just the right amount of sticky. Plus they were served piping hot, which, when you are sitting on Worth Street next to a jersey barrier in the pouring rain pour, makes a difference. It’s this kind of detail and effort that is never overlooked.

(And while few may care, I have to give a shout out to the plates, which I thought were the nicest stoneware I had ever seen but are actually Revol, porcelain that has the feel of stoneware but is more refined.)

You might call the lobster ravioli the signature dish, and Vaughn says it’s his favorite to make. This is the fun, he says, of creating a menu with a world-renown chef: “He wasn’t going to let me fail.” Vaughn started with the idea of a ravioli, but with a fun shape. The first try was an S, but that didn’t look very good on the plate, so they went with a switchback, but that also missed the mark. The next day the ravioli evolved into a spiral, and then they added crimped edges.

The sauce developed from straight-up cheese, to cheese foam, to dashi (Japanese broth) made with kombu (dried kelp) and dried fish steeped in lobster shells. And now, “Every time I cook it and plate it, it comes out perfect. It’s the definition of consistency.”

Pandemic update: They now have permanent outdoor huts that are private for each party, heated and can seat as many as six; indoor dining (the max seating indoors is 24) is at 35 percent.

Farra Wine Bar
71 Worth | Church & Broadway
info@farranyc.com