A. caught the first sighting of the Nonna Dora neon — now up at 200 Church, aka Tribeca’s Kitchen aka Marathi. “We don’t have an opening date yet,” the restaurant told me in an email, “but we’re getting close.” They took the lease in February.

In the meantime, a little background: Nonna Dora’s has served handmade pasta out of its restaurant in Kips Bay since 2022, as a showcase for Addolorata Marzovilla, also known as Dora. Now about 87, Dora immigrated here in the 1970s at the age of 34, she first worked as a seamstress but when her son, Nicola, opened a restaurant as an adult, she started making pasta for him. His last place, I Trulli, closed in 2022, so Dora opened her own.

“I like making pasta” Ms. Marzovilla told The New York Times when Nonna Dora’s opened, adding that she also liked being around people. The Times went on: “This allows her to do both. Her son made it clear that this was her project, not his, though he is an adviser…Ms. Marzovilla’s menu, with a strong nod to her native Puglia, cuts no corners, offering a lengthy list of appetizers that includes panzerotti and Sunday meatballs. The pastas, just shy of 20 choices, include cavatelli with broccoli rabe and almonds; tagliatelle with wild mushrooms and truffles; orecchiette in rabbit ragú; three kinds of lasagna; maccheroncini grano arso (burnt wheat) with duck; and mezzelune stuffed with shrimp and mushrooms.”

 

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When Marathi, formerly Tribeca’s Kitchen, closed in July 2023, that was the end of an era for the neighborhood — and a horribly tragic chapter. Owner Andreas Koutsoudakis had transformed the space twice after his father, Andy, died during the pandemic. Andy — and that’s how the whole neighborhood knew him, since he often sat outside the door on a stool greeting passersby and customers alike — opened Gee Whiz in 1989 with his then-partner, Peter Panayiotou, who also died in the pandemic. Peter’s sons operated Gee Whiz after his death until that too closed this past March.